Congressman G.K. Butterfield addresses ongoing voter struggles in Rocky Mount

​EDGECOMBE COUNTY N.C. (WITN) - Congressman G.K. Butterfield spoke to crowds at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church and online to address continuing struggles affecting communities in the East.

Speakers for the Edgecombe-Nash Political Caucus and Butterfield called for attention on the controversial redrawing of congressional and legislative maps for the state.

“My question to each and every one of you is how will you step up to the plate?” recited Dr. Daniel Bullock, Durham Public School’s first Executive Director for Equity Affairs.

Butterfield titles his address “The Struggle Continues” and he spoke to the hardships of the Reconstruction Era and Civil Rights Movement, drawing connections to struggles felt by North Carolinians today.

“The Voting Rights Act has transformed the South. It has transformed Edgecombe, Nash County, Martin County, Wilson County, it has transformed the South,” said Butterfield. “What we are seeing now, in North Carolina and across the county, is not new. It is the same medicine in a different bottle.”

With lawsuits in action against the new district lines, state senator Toby Fitch reminded those listening to think of what is at stake with each election.

“We have a sizable part of this population,” said Fitch, “but the census today determines how much money comes into your community, how many representatives you may have. So, we need to become equal partners in this thing called the government of the United States of America.”
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Eyes turn now to the Wake County Superior Court where, beginning Monday, a three-judge panel will hear a case challenging the state’s legislative and congressional maps.