The right to protest in North Carolina is under attack. 

On May 3rd, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore introduced HB805 - a bill that would stifle Black voices and discourage protesting by imposing harsh criminal penalties on people charged with what the state is calling rioting.

This harmful anti-protest legislation was quickly passed in the House, and is now moving through the Senate. 

Let’s be clear, this bill takes aim at the Black activists who took to the streets last summer to demand real racial justice. 

As a result of our collective action against white supremacy and efforts to end the police terror of Black communities, protesters are now facing unprecedented backlash from Republican lawmakers. State lawmakers have introduced 81 anti-protest bills during the 2021 legislative session — more than twice as many proposals as in any other year.

Laws like HB805 are clearly a reaction to our people power locally and across the country. 

HB805 would make it easier for law enforcement to punish people for exercising their right to protest by stacking charges against peaceful protesters. It would also allow for very serious charges to be brought against someone who is simply present at a gathering that meets the vague proposed definition of riot. 

Additionally, the bill would require a judge, not a magistrate, to set bail for people with riot charges, which all but guarantees that someone arrested at an afternoon or evening protest will spend at least one night in jail before having an opportunity to return home.

These bills popping up across the country are an attempt to scare us and criminalize our right to protest. 

This is why we need you. We need your support to urge Governor Roy Cooper to veto the bill before it makes it to his desk. Sign the petition and demand Governor Cooper protect our right to protest.

Here is the Petition:

Dear Governor Roy Cooper,

Last summer your constituents showed up in historic numbers for the safety of Black lives, their communities, and racial justice in the wake of yet another police killing of a Black person. 

Protests were overwhelmingly peaceful - with protestors handing out water, food, PPE, and taking care of each other. In fact, it was often the police and counter-protesters who were the instigators of any violence.

Yet new anti-protest legislation just passed the North Carolina House and is making its way through the Senate.

HB805 would stifle protest and discourage protesting by imposing harsh criminal penalties on people charged with what the state is calling rioting.

HB805 makes it easier for law enforcement to punish people for exercising their right to protest by stacking charges against peaceful protesters. It would also allow for very serious charges to be brought against someone who is simply present at a gathering that meets the vague proposed definition of riot. 

Additionally, the bill would require a judge, not a magistrate, to set bail for people with riot charges, which all but guarantees that someone arrested at an afternoon or evening protest will spend at least one night in jail before having an opportunity to return home.

We are being punished for our collective action against white supremacy and efforts to end the police terror of Black communities, and we can't let this happen.

This is why we are asking that you stand up for our Constitutional right to protest injustice and veto HB805 today.