On July 17th, Democracy North Carolina hosted a creative, youth-oriented, political event called Speak it Loud! The event was very well attended and the performers were talented. We were able to get 9 artists to come and either sing, rap, or do spoken word about the dysfunction of our current political system. It was very [...]
I have lived in the Charlotte area for about 7 years, but I had not heard of the Citizens Review Board until recently. Matt Newton, one of Democracy North Carolina’s big supporters in the area, is leading the campaign to give the Citizens Review Board the power to actually do the job it’s been tasked [...]
On Wednesday June 27, 2013, Charlotte team got a chance to protest against the Duke rate hikes in front of the Mecklenburg county courthouse. We fired people up by leading chants and passing out petitions. We also got the chance to be citizen advocates by giving our testimonies on the stand! This was my first [...]
Again this week, the students participating in the Democracy Summer program are showing the work they're doing every day through photos. The images below offer a view through the lens of the young people who are on the front lines of the fight for voting rights -and so much more- in this state. From historical [...]
Over the past week, the Democracy Summer interns have been hard at work across the state carrying the message that our state wants a government that is of, by, and for the people, free of the influence of big money. Students had the opportunity to speak to their local community groups, join in demonstrations at [...]
This was indeed a long but exciting week! We started off protesting at the NC Legislature in Raleigh during Mega Moral Monday. The mass rally was an exciting experience for us as interns, and everyone that came out in support was fired up! Seeing the huge crowd of supporters as well as the number of [...]
This first week of Democracy Summer foreshadows that this will be one of the most productive summers for Facia and me. We have been working hard, and already have much of our schedule for the next two months planned. Throughout the week, we worked on getting petition signatures and finding activists to attend Mega Moral [...]
As we have reached the home stretch of our Democracy Summer experience, there lingers this sense of “sadness” amidst the enthusiasm and excitement of each day. Now, I placed quotes around sadness because that doesn’t necessarily describe the mood in the air, but it was the closest way to describe the daily joy felt with [...]
Our July 4th event will probably go down as one of the highlights of my summer. Offering a space where members of the community could share their voices and express themselves proved extremely powerful and productive. Art has the capacity to go so far beyond entertainment purposes—it is a tool, an asset to the movement [...]
It’s the fourth quarter and the ball is in my team’s possession, we’re not down but the score is tied with a few seconds left. That is the view I have for the duration of the Democracy Summer Internship and it is up to the Charlotte team to show up in the clutch. This past [...]