Boycott could harm repeal efforts

The N.C. General Assembly's stubborn attachment to discriminatory House Bill 2, aka HB2, has cost the state millions in events that have been relocated and companies that have killed plans to expand here. Now, the state's NAACP wants to see more damage inflicted. But we think its leaders are venturing into overkill that could do more harm than good to the causes it supports.

On Friday, the NAACP, led by the tireless Rev. William Barber, called for an economic boycott of North Carolina. The boycott would remain in effect until specific demands are met, including the repeal of HB2 and the end to racially gerrymandered districts. The move recalls a similar NAACP effort in South Carolina, which for 15 years advocated a boycott of that state over legislators' decision to fly the Confederate battle flag on statehouse grounds.

The NAACP is right in that HB2 should go. The so-called bathroom bill does more than block transgender people from using the bathroom which they are most comfortable with. It also throttles cities' abilities to set nondiscrimination ordinances or wage standards, and broadly sets aside protections for gay and transgender people.

The Rev. Barber's team also has done important work in highlighting examples of overreach by state legislators, to include an assault on voting rights that an appeals court panel said targeted black voters with "surgical precision."

But, different from South Carolina, the NAACP here is calling for a boycott that is already happening. Society has decided already it does not like HB2, and our state has been made into a pariah. South Carolina, which quickly shot down a similar proposal, is happily pulling in events that no longer feel comfortable calling North Carolina home. A crucial deadline has come and possibly gone with the NCAA, and the state could be shut out of hosting NCAA-sanctioned events until 2022.

By taking ownership of the boycott, the NAACP gives critics a chance to make the organization the blame for everything. Some people were already doing that before Friday. The misdirection will make the NAACP the story, not the bad laws.

Instead, the tens of thousands of people who have mobilized against these laws should redouble efforts at lobbying legislators, and show up at public events where legislators attend. These tactics are one reason Republicans in D.C. have hit the "pause" button on repeal of Obamacare, despite promises of speedy action. To be most effective, and eventually get HB2 off the books, the Rev. Barber and the NAACP should leave the black hat where it belongs — firmly on the heads of the leaders in the state house.

The Fayetteville Observer

http://www.reflector.com/Editorials/2017/03/01/Boycott-could-harm-repeal-efforts.html