Pickets at Art Pope stores reach small-town North Carolina

Pickets at stores owned by conservative donor and North Carolina budget director Art Pope entered their third week, expanding into towns and cities with a more conservative political reputation.

The North Carolina NAACP, along with the state AFL-CIO and Democracy North Carolina, have organized pickets in 17 locations across the state in December, starting with events at Maxway and Roses stores owned by Pope in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte.

In the last two weeks, pickets have rippled out to smaller towns and cities with a more conservative political history in response to requests from local activists, many inspired by the NAACP-led Moral Monday protests in North Carolina this year. Recent pickets have been held in Burlington, Dunn, Elizabeth City, Rocky Mount and Wilson.

The documentary group Story of America produced a short video about the picket in Burlington, a town with a population of 50,000 about a half-hour drive northwest of the Triangle area. Here's the video:

Barret Brown with the Alamance County NAACP, one of the picket organizers, explained the purpose of the action in Burlington:

The goal is to let as many people as we can know Roses and Maxway are owned by Art Pope, and that he uses the money that they spend with him to inflict legislative harm on poor people.

Organizers say that they are still receiving requests to host pickets at local Maxway, Roses and other Art Pope stores across the state, and that the events will likely continue in 2014.