A Day at the General Assembly

On June 15th, all of the Democracy NC team met in Raleigh at the General Assembly.  (We missed you Shaniqua!)  We decided to make our “Lobby Day” the day after the legislators had spent a long night previously voting on legislation and issues, such as the budget and voting rights legislation. To be honest, Khadijah and I did not know what to expect upon going to the General Assembly. Overall we both though it was a fun experience, especially being able to meet and speak face-to-face with certain legislators, such as Rep. Alexander, Rep. Rosa Gill, Rep. Rodney Moore, and Rep. Larry Womble.

All of the legislators that we spoke with, despite all of the angst against the bad legislation, seemed to be staying positive for the most part. Rep. Jennifer Weiss (HD 35) compared the bad legislation to “whack-a-mole on steroids.” The legislators expressed the importance of what we, as a group were doing, both as young people and grassroots activists. They also spoke a little about the issues that were being passed in both chambers – bad legislation like the Voter ID Bill, shortening early voting, eliminating Sunday voting and so on.

 This was a great experience and it gave each one of us a chance to truly see the democratic process at work. From sitting in on the redistricting committee meeting, to meeting with individual legislators, to sitting in both of the chambers – it was an overall great learning experience. Just being there makes a person realize how important of a role it is to be involved. As Rep. Womble said; “Politics rule you from the day you were born to the day you die.”

And if you have not seen the Winston-Salem Chronicle, the team was featured twice. We were able to publish a letter to the editor that focused on the voting rights legislation that is being discussed now in the legislature and we were featured with the Rec Center that we went to speak to! I must admit it was a pretty good week, one that we can definitely be proud of our successes as a team!

Khadijah and Kayla 

Winston, Salem Team