What’s behind Reopen NC?

A grassroots group that wants to reopen North Carolina for business is heading back to Raleigh to protest the state’s current Stay-At-Home order. Reopen NC started on Facebook last week and continues to grow in support.

The group argues the economic toll outweighs the public health crisis, "My main concern if we don’t get back to work soon, this is not financially sustainable. What will we have to return to when this all over with?," says Ashley Smith, co-founder of the group.

The group has attracted more than 60,000 members on Facebook. Now, some politicians plan to protest too, including Republican Congressman Dan Bishop and Republican State Senator Vickie Sawyer.

"It’s going to be a talking point for many republican candidates on the campaign trail," says Meredith College political science professor David McLennan. He adds this movement reminds him of another conservative uprising a decade ago, "This is very similar to in 2010 the rise of the Tea Party movement, which started as a grassroots movement, then got very much professionalized."

Co-founder Smith calls herself a conservative and acknowledges similar viewpoints are joining the cause, but disputes any assertion of outside control,"We’re zero funding from any other organization. We’re unaffiliated with anyone else. This was literally three moms who got together who did not like the way things were going in our state and decided to stand up."

While the pandemic has divided us physically, in some cases, the fight against the virus has brought a sense of community out. However, McLennan says the coronavirus restrictions are only adding to already divisive political climate, "I think it does just add more fuel to the partisan fire that’s already been there and the fact that the president is encouraging the behavior."