David Berger: Back to 1930

Regarding the Dec. 31 news article “New laws set on abortion, ‘ag-gag’. ”: Although the clocks now read January 2016, I swear the New Year in North Carolina is actually an old one, perhaps 1930. Our legislature has successfully turned back time to an earlier era of prejudice, discrimination and oppression.

Each anti-woman, anti-minority and anti-immigrant law upsets me deeply. I’m equally appalled by the ag-gag law. This law promises to silence anyone who would dare expose animal abuse on a factory farm, essentially outlawing important undercover investigations such as the one recently conducted at a Perdue farm in Richmond County, which uncovered horrific mistreatment of chickens.

I was one of the people who protested against the ag-gag bill at the N.C. Capitol, and I will keep working with fellow animal advocates to see this law overturned.

As backward as our legislature is, I’m encouraged by the still-strong movements of compassionate, open-minded people working to bring our state back to 2016.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "David Berger: Back to 1930."