Moyers & Company; State of Conflict: North Carolina

January 3, 2014

STATE OF CONFLICT: NORTH CAROLINA offers a documentary report from the state that votes both blue and red and sometimes purple. Art Pope, whose family fortune was made via a chain of discount stores, has poured tens of millions of dollars into a network of foundations and think tanks that advocate a wide range of conservative causes. Pope insists that he is simply "educating the voters on the issues so that they can hear both side of the issues, not just one side." THE NEW YORKER's Jane Mayer says Art Pope has shown "that one really wealthy individual can almost rule." Pope's most ardent opponent is Reverend William Barber, head of the state chapter of the NAACP, who says Pope is the powerhouse behind "an avalanche of extremist policies that threaten health care, that threaten education, [and] that threaten the poor." Barber's opposition to the Pope alliance was a catalyst for the protest movement that became known around the country as "Moral Mondays." STATE OF CONFLICT features several of the Moral Mondays protesters who were arrested for acts of civil disobedience during protests at the state legislature. STATE OF CONFLICT is a collaboration between Okapi Productions, LLC (the filmmakers Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes) and Schumann Media Center. MOYERS & COMPANY is a weekly series aimed at helping viewers make sense of our tumultuous times through the insight of America's strongest thinkers. The program also features Moyers hallmark essays on democracy.