Pack Square Park on August 5th, 2013.
Asheville, North Carolina.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9451305679/[/flickr]

Moral Monday ran for an uninterrupted 12 weeks in the North Carolina State capital of Raleigh. Nearly 1000 individuals were arrested in defiance of draconian measures implemented by the North Carolina State Legislator that have severely rolled back much of the social progress made in the State over the last 60 years. This includes and is not limited to women’s reproduction rights, cuts to education, infringement of voting accessibility, the privatization of city water supplies, and the introduction of fracking running an environmental risk to the very water private enterprises are striving to procure and operate for profit. Under the guidance of Dr. William Barber from the NC state NAACP (and to put things into perspective, Dr. Barber was introduced by Asheville’s first African-American mayor, Ms Terry Bellamy), the thirteenth “Mountain” Moral Monday was held in downtown Asheville attended by a police estimate of some 10,000 people.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9454058852/[/flickr]

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9454073520/[/flickr]

In spite of the personal outrage and the number of people in attendance (including those who expressed their own conservative beliefs via anti-abortion signs and bloodied effigies), the event was a positive and inspiring two hours of peace, music and unity.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9454061126/[/flickr]

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9454078972/[/flickr]

The long term plan under the guiding hand of Rev. Barber is to take the protest movement to all 13 of North Carolina’s congressional districts.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/9454062800/[/flickr]

For more photos, please visit Mountain Moral Monday Set.

All images © Joe Longobardi. All Rights Reserved. joelongobardiphotography.com/