As North Carolina reopens, ReopenNC protesters continue to rail against ‘tyranny’
Organizers of the ReopenNC rallies in downtown Raleigh gave the event a Memorial Day theme this week and used it to highlight some of the few types of businesses that remain closed under state orders meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The rallies have become regular events each Tuesday, but this one was moved to Monday to coincide with the national holiday to remember those who died in the nation’s wars.
“What better day to march for our freedom and to stand and use our voices for freedom and against tyranny,” said Ashley Smith, ReopenNC’s founder. “We’ve seen a dramatic and sudden attack on our Constitutional rights ... so this is just a day to stand against that and memorialize our fallen heroes for the liberty they fought and died for.”
More than 150 people gathered in a state government parking lot near the Executive Mansion carrying American flags and signs deriding Gov. Roy Cooper and his stay-at-home orders. There they listened to speakers cover a range of topics, some more related to the pandemic than others, including one who told them to use hydroxycloroquine, the malaria and rheumatoid arthritis drug endorsed as a treatment for COVID-19 by President Donald Trump despite the risk of side effects and a lack of evidence that it works.
ReopenNC held similar events Monday in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro and Wilmington. Demonstrators paraded through south Charlotte in their cars and trucks, many adorned with American flags, Trump memorabilia or messages critical of Cooper and coronavirus-related closures.
James Mallabone of Kannapolis said he came to Charlotte to protest “the infringement on civil liberties” he sees in the closing of businesses during the pandemic.
“I’m a firm believer that it’s the government’s job to protect your rights, not protect your health,” Mallabone said. He said he, his wife and six children, including one with a compromised immune system, have been staying home. But the closures, he said, have made him “all but unable” to work as a financial adviser.
“I fully support you wearing your mask if that’s what you feel you need to do,” he said. “It’s not the government’s place or responsibility to close down a private business.”
ReopenNC thinks the state has gone too far in trying to contain a contagious respiratory illness that has infected nearly 24,000 North Carolinians and been blamed for killing 754 as of Monday. In late March, Cooper and state public health officials ordered businesses to close to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases they feared could overwhelm hospitals and funeral homes, the way they did in Italy and New York.
Cooper’s stay-at-home order had been in effect about a week when ReopenNC was formed in protest on April 7. Organizers called Cooper’s executive order unconstitutional and said hurting the economy and infringing on people’s civil liberties were worse than the harm done by COVID-19.
Since then, Cooper has begun reopening the economy in phases, starting with parks and an expanded number of retail stores on May 8. This weekend, restaurants, breweries, hair salons, barbershops and pools were allowed to reopen, with capacity limits and other restrictions. Gatherings are limited to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors.
But several types of businesses remain closed while state public health officials wait for more evidence that the coronavirus outbreak has been contained. They include bars, night clubs, gyms and indoor fitness clubs, and entertainment venues such as movie theaters and bowling alleys.
Gym owner vows to reopen despite Cooper order
Ed Smith of Cape Carteret, who owns a dozen Fit4Life health clubs in central and eastern North Carolina, shared the podium with Ashley Smith, no relation, on Monday and said he plans to open them on June 1 despite Cooper’s orders. Smith said he has hired a constitutional lawyer to file a lawsuit Tuesday morning but says he’ll open June 1 regardless of whether he gets a judge’s OK.
“I’m opening. I’m over it,” he said in an interview. “When any government thinks they have the right to tell private businesses that you have to shut your doors, do we live in America or do we live in Nazi Germany?”
Smith acknowledges that he was willing to shut his doors when Cooper ordered businesses closed in late March to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
“I fell into the fear-monger thing that they did. They feared us into it. ‘Oh, millions of people are going die,’” he said. “This is no more than the flu. The numbers are exaggerated, I really truly believe that ... And I’m just totally over it. I tried to do the right thing, and now I’m going to do the right thing.”
Still, Smith said things will be different at his gyms, which include locations in Clayton and McGee’s Crossroads. He said employees will wear masks, and the clubs will limit the number of patrons, encourage them to practice social distancing, have hand sanitizer available, space out the cardiovascular machines that are in use and have full-time cleaning staff following behind each person — all steps taken to abide by recommendations made by the Cooper administration as a condition for reopening.
Smiths say his video wasn’t meant to incite violence
Ashley Smith and her husband, Adam, both of Morganton, were asked about a Facebook video he posted Friday in which he said he would be willing to lay down his life and kill people in defense of liberty. He said a description of the video published by the Raw Story website was taken out of context.
“Of course, I never want to see anyone die; nobody ever wants to see anyone die,” he said. “And I would never just willy-nilly say that I was going to kill someone.”
Ashley Smith said her husband was not speaking on behalf of ReopenNC when he made the Facebook video, but she had it posted on the group’s website because, she said, it reflects the feelings of many people in the armed services.
“I’m sorry but we live in a nation that was born out of a war against tyranny and rebellion against it, at whatever cost,” she said. “They knew that every so often the price of freedom was going to be the blood of tyrants and patriots. These are famous quotes. So nothing that he said was out of that context, and it was in no way inciting any type of violence.”
Adam Smith said he hopes “we never come to that place of having to shed blood.”
“We always want to use our system, the system that’s in place now, to the best of our ability to have a peaceful outcome,” he said.
This story was originally published May 25, 2020 at 2:03 PM with the headline "As North Carolina reopens, ReopenNC protesters continue to rail against ‘tyranny’."
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