Moral Monday: How The Marginalized Are Prohibited From Civil Disobedience

From UNC's The Daily Tar Heel

One of the things my father taught me when I was a kid is that you have to fight your own battles.  I can remember when daddy (what I called him then) told me, under no circumstance was I to back down from the bus stop bully.  If I did, I would have a whipping waiting for me at home.  Sure enough, I didn't back down, and surprisingly, daddy became my own version of Batman, ordering the bully never to put hands on me again.  That was in 1977, when in North Carolina, James Hunt was the governor. Now, I'm a father, a professor, an agent of social justice, and again a target of a bully. This time, my bully is exponentially bigger than the one I dealt with in second grade.  The bullies are the legislators of the North Carolina state capital; up to, and including Governor Pat McCory.  Literally, as I sleep, and even with my eyes wide open, I'm witnessing state robbery without a gun.  The laws of inclusion are systemically being dismantled; voter disenfranchisement is rapidly becoming legalized; and education budgets are being decimated with unswerving accuracy.  In essence, my worst nightmare has been sowed; the Confederate South is ‘rising again’ with North Carolina on course to become a post modern, post racial, antebellum state, under the guise of industrialism.

In response to this threat, local NAACP chairperson Dr. William Barber has organized weekly "sit-ins" to challenge the legislative actions of the state: Moral Mondays.  The NAACP and others have strategically challenged the NCGA's actions by formally adopting civil disobedience to protest and hopefully force a consciousness raising among the folks who are in the political drivers seat.  Here is where I have the challenge.

I would like to be arrested for this political cause because to me, this too, is my fight, yet regrettably, I can't go.

First and foremost, I'm an African American man who has a skeletal job.  I'm a non-tenured professor.  I'm actively on the job market, even at my current place of employment.  Acquiring a criminal record, no matter how just the cause, for me, in my social position only adds another reason for potential employers to say, we'll pass on this applicant.  Not too long ago was I on the negative side of the employment statistic; no job, no insurance, no benefits.  I remember vividly the stark reality of having to go to the department of social services to file for much needed assistance so that my son and I could live week-to-week, check-to-check, prayer to prayer.  Do I risk my job as an adjunct professor, which Dr. Cornel West would call, “hope on a tightrope,” for what I know is morally just and spiritually correct?  

Another point I raise, do I have access to the financial and social capital to recover from an arrest?  In this age of social media, anyone can get access to your criminal record in a matter of seconds.  Chief among the folks who would know I've been arrested would be my students and of course my employer.  There's this tabloid called The Slammer which we know seeks public information on those who've been arrested, including the most visible sign, one's mug shot.  Imagine walking into class, knowing you've been arrested for social justice, but your students only see you've been arrested. Motivations, to the non critical student, mean nothing to them: what they see is a juicy hot topic for gossip that will undoubtedly make its rounds through their social networks, let alone your department chair, dean, and provost. Civil disobedience, I'm slowly learning is an act for the financial and social elite.  Yet with the political rollbacks, which in my opinion are more criminal, happening to me and countless other North Carolinians represents my fight.  I strongly feel a need to be there on the front lines, picketing, vocalizing my grievances, and yes, if need be, arrested.  Again, regrettably, I can't go.

Who I do see in attendance however are quite a few of my white liberal friends from Duke, UNC, and NC State Universities eagerly, and in some cases repeatedly getting arrested at the Moral Monday protests.  Being a student of critical race theory, for them, White privilege enables greater access to civil disobedience.  Very few of my White counterparts have to face the realities others and I have to negotiate.  Rarely do they know the anxieties faced by being challenged on your racial, economic, or immigration status.  As the overwhelming majority of those impacted by the actions of the North Carolina General Assembly those historically living on the margins, the cost in social capital is grossly disparate in comparison to those who are morally conscious yet have White privilege. White dissidence in this case signifies an exercise of one's First Amendment rights while minority civil disobedience could mean 1) increased incarceration time, 2) time from work, 3) a through vetting in the criminal justice system and 4) a challenge to ones immigration status.  I feel the Moral Monday protest functions not only as a call to political action but also a spiritual obligation (regardless of one’s faith). I refuse to be deterred, as I'm going to work through this so that I can actively participate, even up to and if need be; being arrested.  I may even write a letter from jail.  But I just want to make sure I have an opportunity to let it be known that even in civil disobedience, in my DuBosian tone, there are two systems, one that is privileged; one that is suspect.