From Staff Reports

The Rev. William J. Barber II fired up a large crowd that showed up Aug. 4 for Mountain Moral Monday in downtown Asheville.

Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, was the keynote speaker and he and a host of other speakers repeatedly slammed the Republican-dominated state General Assembly for what he termed its legislation that is taking the state in the wrong direction.

While Asheville police estimated the crowd at more than 5,000 people, others said the turnout numbered somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people.

Regardless, several political observers agreed that it was one of the largest demonstrations in Asheville in recent history. Many in attendance were carrying signs, singing protest songs and applauding the various speakers.

Barber previously had led 13 weeks of protests during a series of Moral Mondays in Raleigh. Asheville was his first venture in the campaign outside of the state capital. He and others judged it a resounding success.

The protest expressed opposition to what its leaders call the disenfrashisement of voters, the take-away of women’s rights and the tormenting of people who are powerless.

Other issues addressed by the speakers were health care access, workers’ rights, immigration reform and education.

“Instead of depressing us, they’ve made us determined to fight,” Barber told the crowd. “Instead of dividing us, they have united us.”

Barber also said the protests have become “personal not political,” and that a new generation of young voters have become involved.

Thirty officers from the Asheville Police Department were assigned to the protest and no arrests were reported.