Thousands Join Moral Mondays' March for Voting Rights in Winston-Salem

Against a backdrop of a trial that started on Monday challenging North Carolina's controversial election law that disenfranchises North Carolina voters, especially African Americans, thousands of protestors from across the state swarmed the Federal Courthouse.

"This is what Democracy looks like!" they chanted. The throng included more than 25 CWA members and other activists belonging to the Moral Mondays coalition, including the NAACP, League of Women Voters, Common Cause and others.

"This is our Selma," said the Rev. William Barber, head of the North Carolina NAACP. "When President Johnson signed the voting rights act of '65, he said it was a victory greater than any victory we've ever won on any battle field. But, almost 48 years later, on June 25, 2013, five supreme court justices dismantled the voting rights act and they, in essence, said to Southern legislators, led by extremists like ours, now that your state does not have to worry about preclearance, not have to worry about voting laws being reviewed, you can initiate and inaugurate a new season on voting rights."

About 25 CWA activists joined thousands of protesters marching through downtown Winston-Salem, N.C.