Emancipate NC joins with For the People Action, Common Cause N.C., Democracy N.C., North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Advance Carolina, and El Pueblo to OPPOSE House Bill 237. Dawn Blagrove spoke at a Raleigh, NC press conference on June 6th, revealing how House Bill 237 hurts North Carolinians. The bill gives power to wealthy interest groups while diminishing the voice of the people. While the first part of the bill makes it illegal to wear an ordinary mask to protect your health, the second part allows the super-rich to hide their identity from public view while sending big campaign donations to their favorite candidates.
H237 would grant members of the public the authority to demand individuals remove their masks, evoking Jim Crow-era citizen arrest. It even limits the types of masks that can be used for “health purposes” and gives law enforcement discretion to determine what types of masks are allowed. Criminalizing personal identity and bodily autonomy based on what a person is wearing would enable profiling, racism, and discrimination.
H237 targets and penalizes people’s right to use roadways and streets for protest and demonstration purposes, a primary mechanism for collective action, and to make demands of unresponsive lawmakers.
HB 237 creates a political money laundering scheme by allowing federal political committees and organizations, like Super PACs, to make contributions to parties without fulfilling the reporting requirements provided by the State Board of Elections, creating a significant campaign finance loophole. State law currently bans corporations from giving money directly to political candidates, but corporations can give direct — and unlimited — funding to certain federal political fundraising committees.