Rockingham County Moral Monday

Rockingham County Moral Monday was held at Rockingham County Community College on the WL Pryor Coliseum lawn.  Bus transportation from the RCC student center to the event grounds was promised, but the bus service was nowhere to be seen.  A County Commissioner meeting was also promised, but the Commissioners were meeting about ten miles away at the Bethany Civic Center.

The event was sponsored by the NAACP who is famous for getting themselves arrested for protesting in Raleigh.  The NAACP may have been the sponsor, but the audience was more than 90 percent white and nobody was arrested..

Most of the speakers complained about the misfortune brought upon the state by NC Senator Phil Berger.  And, most of the misfortune has been inflicted upon the state's public schools.

I estimate about 200 people attended the event.

Click photos to enlarge

The Kingston Trio provided musical entertainment for the event.  The Trio sang a selection of 1960s folk/protest songs.  Wait, maybe it was Peter, Paul, and Mary.


Dr. Stephen Luking gave a fine speech about the sorry state of healthcare in Rockingham County.


I;m guessing this is an art teacher holding this sign.  Art Pope is some sort of state official.


Former state superintendent of education Bob Ethridge gave a fine speech about the shitty state of education in NC.


Many speakers seemed to take pride in talking about how shitty education is in NC.  The cause of the shittyness is low pay for teachers.  This sign says NC teacher pay ranks 48th in the nation..


This is a high heeled Hispanic speaker.  Sorry I don't know her name or what she talked about...something to do with being hispanic, I think.  I was too focused on her shoes.  It was a treat watching her try to walk on the lawn.


This is the NC Teacher of the Year - Karen Collie Dickerson.  Karen is a former student at Rockingham County High School.  Karen spoke about education and how hard things are on teachers.


I was not aware war had been declared on women.


This is her.  I believe this is Reidsville Review reporter Danielle Bataglia.  It's strange I had imagined Danielle was a fatty.  In fact she is quite the opposite.


These white teachers were all signed up for the event.


Apparently this woman does not support Fracking NC.  She was the sole anti-fracking protester.  Hey, wait a minute, this is the same woman who was holding the STOP THE WAR ON WOMEN sign a minute ago.


Teachers line up with their signs to show support for Moral Mondays.


The man hiding behind the EXPAND MEDICAID sign is former Superior Court Judge Pat Morgan.  Morgan was the sole Medicaid protester.


This is Rev. Clarence Johnson.  Rev. Johnson is a former member of Reidsville's Human Relations Commission.  He is also the nicest person at the Moral Monday event.  When I walked up to him to take his photo, he stood up to shake my hand and then hugged me.  That's a nice man.


A nice photo of the signs.  Education was a featured topic of Moral Monday.  I had guessed that would be case, although it wasn't as bad as I had suspected.


Rockingham County School Board member Nell Rose was the only representative I saw from the School Board.  I asked Nell where Ron Price was.  She seemed annoyed at the question and replied that she didn't know.


Let The People Vote...I suppose this refers to the legislature's recent efforts to suppress the vote


This is the backside of the LET THE PEOPLE VOTE sign


I didn't understand this sign, but it looked interesting.


Eden's NAACP leader Malcolm Allen.  Mr. Allen was also very nice to me.

Celebrity attendees at the Moral Mondays event included former County Commissioner Trish Gwyn, former Reidsville City Councilman George Rucker, and current Reidsville City Councilmen Sherry Walker, Donald Gorham, and Mrs. Mayor Susan Turner and husband Clark.