I am here as a student to stand by the liberal arts education that made me who I am today. As a woman, I am here to declare that this body is mine. As an immigrant, I am here to remind everybody that at some point our families were from somewhere else.

July 29 marked the 13th Moral Monday protest at the North Carolina General Assembly. Launched by the North Carolina chapter of the N.A.A.C.P, the Forward Together Movement has united progressives, liberals, moderates, even registered Republicans into a large, diverse coalition in opposition to possibly the nation’s most regressive, ultra-conservative state legislative session this year.