SALISBURY — Rowan County Democratic Chair Veleria Levy described her trip to “Moral Monday” at the Raleigh legislature as “humbling.”
“I’ve been wanting to go and participate but my concern has always been I can’t get arrested. I’m a single mom with a kid. I have to go to work on Tuesday. How do you fit that all in?”
But Levy said she found she could participate up until police asked protesters to disperse.
“You can still protest and then at a point when the police come in and say, ‘You all are trespassing’ or whatever they say, then you can disperse,” she said. “So it gives you an opportunity to protest and show that you don’t agree with the laws that are being set forth.”
The numbers of protesters has continued to swell in recent weeks, with more than 150 arrested last week. Protestors have criticized many of North Carolina General Assembly’s bills, including a controversial Voter ID bill and cuts to education funding.
The Rev. William Barber, head of the NC NAACP, organized the weekly demonstrations.
He has urged supporters to travel to Raleigh to advocate against legislators. Two weeks ago, local NAACP President Scott Teamer was peaceably arrested at one of the protests.
Levy said she went in opposition to several bills filed this spring, but also because of the money being funneled into politics.
“They’re trying to pass legislation that’s not fair to the average, everyday person,” Levy said.
Criticizers of the legislature’s decisions should travel to Raleigh, Levy said, to show their displeasure.
She also said she thinks people have become “apathetic” to politics with the legislature’s decisions and have stopped paying attention to reputable media reports.
“I think people need to know more about what’s in the paper. You can’t always trust a blog. A blog isn’t bound by any source of ethics,” Levy said. “Anybody can have a blog. My kid can have a blog. That doesn’t mean he has to report facts.”

SALISBURY — Rep. Harry Warren said he will have his June town hall meeting in downtown Salisbury on Friday, June 21.
In his weekly newsletter, Warren said the meeting will take place in the county commissioners’ room in the Rowan County Administration Building at 130 W. Innes St.
The meeting is slated from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 21.