I put roughly 6,000 miles on my tiny Toyota Corolla in summer 2023, traveling between Appalachia, the Outer Banks, and my home in Durham to host 26 town halls in two dozen North Carolina counties.
My team at the voting rights nonprofit, Common Cause North Carolina, and our diverse coalition of pro-democracy partners knew that meeting people where they were, in their own communities, had never been more necessary.
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Our legislature and state Supreme court — made up of hyper-partisan super-majorities — had advanced a cruel agenda that would sharply restrict abortion access, reverse voting rights, gerrymander our communities, crack down on peaceful protestors, cut funding for public education, and more. With limited hearings and rare public comment, lawmakers robbed North Carolinians of any say in the policies dramatically reshaping our lives.
All over the state, sometimes in the most unlikely places, people voiced their frustration and resolve against those in power. On the road in Fayetteville, NC as the most recent legislative session came to a close, I heard from trans North Carolinians terrified by politicians attempting to take away their healthcare. In deep-red, rural Moore County, MAGA Republicans and progressive Black leaders didn’t agree on much, but they both furiously resented lawmakers’ obliteration of public schools in favor of private school vouchers. And in the coastal military hub of Havelock, residents couldn’t recall a single time that a state representative showed up to see them, much less to explain votes often at odds with their constituents’ priorities.
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Thousands of North Carolinians showed up to these town halls, often after a long work day, to make clear their opposition to our state’s extremist turn. They demonstrated that politics means more than just showing up to vote every four years but instead looks like a million small, beautiful actions of caring for our families and our neighbors—a glimpse of real democracy in action.
The town halls suggested that North Carolinians were ready to organize for and beyond elections. Yet, entering January 2024, young people like me faced a wildly uninspiring set of presidential candidates; hate-filled rants from a nominee for North Carolina governor within arm’s reach of power; and our rights under greater threat by a more emboldened legislature and state Supreme court. Our challenge was to bring tens of thousands of young people, disillusioned and disenchanted by politics-as-usual, into our movement.
Buoyed by hope and probably a little delusion, our team responded with an ambitious campaign to make the case for brighter days ahead in North Carolina. Last month, we announced the CAROLINADAZE Music & Arts Festivals, a concert series of, by, and for young North Carolinians featuring incredible artists aligned with our mission. The Raleigh and Asheville shows are headlined by icons like Janelle Monáe, Tierra Whack, and Cavetown, who are performing alongside homegrown talent like Dreamville’s Lute, Asheville indie pop sensations Indigo de Souza, Moses Sumney, and Helado Negro, and local up-and-comers Elora Dash and Pink Beds. From across the state, organizers, poets, and artists will take the stage as well, telling their stories of uplifting communities and healing political wounds caused by unresponsive policymaking.
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CAROLINADAZE promises to be a damn good time, with an impact that will be around for a long time. The concert series will not only raise funds for the causes young people care most about, like abortion access and environmental justice, but also merge culture, community, and civic engagement in ways that we hope will outlast any candidate or election.
Once the 2024 election is over and the national media attention leaves swing states like North Carolina, we’ll still have to contend with politicians who are more than comfortable sacrificing our collective future for their profits and power. Regardless of which party holds the majority when the legislature returns in 2025, or when they redraw congressional and state legislative districts in 2031, our state will need an expansive movement of young people. We’ll be impossible to ignore, ready to flood the legislature and courts with our voices. We’ll build community, take care of our neighbors, and raise righteous hell when politicians do us wrong.
Mile by mile. County by county. CAROLINDAZE is a promise to make this broader movement a reality.
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