Gene R. Nichol - Indecent Assembly: The North Carolina Legislatures Blueprint for the War on Democracy and Equality

Early praise
from John Grisham

Back in the 1980s, I had the privilege of serving two terms in the Mississippi House of Representatives. I was inspired to seek office because I was embarrassed that my state still had no kindergarten system. My state was in dire need of many progressive reforms. I took the oath, swore to uphold the seriously outdated constitution, and started filing bills to shake up things. None of them passed.

In those days, and for decades before, the state of North Carolina was the unquestioned leader of modern reforms in the South. It was viewed by us and by legislators from other states as the model of a sensible, workable, state government that got things done and tried to take care of its more vulnerable citizens.

Many times, in the middle of a debate, someone said, This is what theyre doing in North Carolina, and its working. Or, North Carolina passed this law twenty years ago. These were powerful statements because the states legislature was serious about education and equality.

Those days are gone. In 2013, hardcore conservative Republicans won big and put together supermajorities in both the House and Senate. With a like-minded leader in the governors office, they immediately waged war against teachers and schools, the poor, women, elections, the courts, the environment, and those with darker skin.

The changes in North Carolina are shocking and depressing. Gene Nichol was either in the ring or agitating from a front-row seat. He knows this sad story because he was there.

The war is still raging. And hes still fighting.

John Grisham
Chapel Hill, N.C.
August 19, 2019

Early praise
for Indecent Assembly

The radical right chose the once-moderate state of North Carolina as a test site for its project of remaking the nation by rigging the rules of governance and misinforming the people. What will it mean for your life and our country if they succeed nationally? To read this searing survey from the front lines by democracy champion Gene Nichol is to be forearmed.

Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Stealth Plan for America

Gene Nichol, the Tar Heel States progressive conscience, provides a searing indictment of North Carolinas lurch to the political right. Nichol pulls no punches, but provides plenty of documentation, as he tracks the legislatures effort to repeal the twentieth century. If you care about North Carolina, read this book.

Rob Christensen, longtime North Carolina political reporter, columnist, and author

Gene Nichol has long been a clarion voice on issues of race and poverty in North Carolina. Unbeloved by the powerful and beloved by the disadvantaged, in his latest book he unsparingly sets forth the politics of what he calls the state legislatures Blueprint for the War on Democracy and Equality. Without fear or favor, Nichol tells the story of a state once known for moderation on issues of race, but that has become ground zero in partisan extremism and the resurgence of racial recidivism in America.

Ted Shaw, Julius Chambers Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, and former director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

Gene Nichol has long won admiration for his courage and eloquence in forthrightly championing the interests of the oppressed and the neglected. In this electrifying new book, he demonstrates that the assault of the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature on the poor is more than ultraconservative; it represents nothing less than a war of annihilation against our most revered, most fundamental constitutional rights. This is a must-read booknot only for Tar Heels, but for all who abhor injustice and who cherish our republic.

William E. Leuchtenburg, William Rand Kenan Jr. professor emeritus of history, University of North Carolina, and past president of the American Historical Association

INDECENT ASSEMBLY

INDECENT ASSEMBLY

The North Carolina Legislatures Blueprint
for the War on Democracy
and Equality

GENE NICHOL

Blair

Copyright 2020 by Gene Nichol

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Cover design by Laura Williams

Interior design by April Leidig

Blair is an imprint of Carolina Wren Press.

The mission of Blair/Carolina Wren Press is to seek out, nurture, and promote literary work by new and underrepresented writers.

We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing support of general operations by the Durham Arts Councils United Arts Fund.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Blair/Carolina Wren Press or its employees.

ISBN: 978-1-949467-27-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020930206

For my girls:
Glenn, Jesse, Jenny,
Soren, and Belle

CONTENTS

by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II,
and Dr. Timothy B. Tyson

CHAPTER ONE
North Carolina: A Laboratory for Extremism

CHAPTER TWO
Governing as a White Peoples Party

CHAPTER THREE
A War on Poor People

CHAPTER FOUR
Denying the Equal Dignity of Women

CHAPTER FIVE
State-Proclaimed Disdain for LGBTQ+ Tar Heels

CHAPTER SIX
Taking the Public Out of Public Education

CHAPTER SEVEN
Trashing the Natural World

CHAPTER EIGHT
Attacking the Independence of the Courts

CHAPTER NINE
An Assault on Democracy

CHAPTER TEN
Abandoning Truth

CHAPTER ELEVEN
An Agenda of Oppression

FOREWORD

By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II
Dr. Timothy B. Tyson

If you read this eloquent and deeply informed book, you will see that Gene Nichols insights into the mercenary politics of our time resonate far beyond the North Carolina state line. Readers across America will find themes, schemes, and real human beings wedged in struggles that rage in many corners of this nation. If these strike a familiar chord, likely it is because North Carolina has provided a laboratory for the cruel and corrupt policies far-right extremists sooner or later pursue in many other places. The authors observations illuminate the far-flung, corporate-bankrolled assault on moral values that most Americans have experienced, not just North Carolinians. In fact, Gene is not from around here, a phrase southerners have long used to dismiss someone damn fool enough to tell the truth in public. He is from Texas, which is different, though not different enough these days.

Like many of humanitys sublime truth-tellers, Nichol sees with the love and intimacy of an insider, partly because he has lived and worked in this state for almost two decades in jobs that offer deep knowledge of politics and poverty. Though Gene Nichols intimate sense of place brings one kind of clarity, his years of public advocacy and academic prominence in similar bellwether states like Colorado and Virginia grant him a complementary vantage point. That is, he also comes with the clarity of the outsider who often notices things so commonplace to homegrown folks that they may be harder for us to see.