Instead of being just a liberal novelty and, at worst, a fringe movement, protesters hope to translate their persistent campaign into meaningful politics in a region dominated by conservatism. Employing an almost-aggressively Southern metaphor, Buchsbaum calls the entrenched Republican control of government in the South, “as solid as cold grits," adding that for Democrats, mere survival trumps influence.

The movement, however, is a determined one. One Moral Monday activist, Timothy McDonald, told Atlanta’s WSB-TV, "It's growing, and we know that this is not an event. This is the movement, and it's going to take time.”

“We are at the beginning of a new Southern strategy. The changes we need to make in Georgia to transform the state are going to take years. But with the changing demographics of the South, our victory is inevitable. This train has left the station,” Tim Franzen, lead organizer behind Georgia’s Moral Mondays, told the Times.

One of the 41 protestors arrested — who were mainly senior citizens, according to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal — included Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Rev. Martin Luther King was pastor, who staged a sit-in outside Deal’s office. Warnock told a group of about 100 supporters, “It is no exaggeration to say we are here on a matter of life and death,” report Janel Davis and Chris Joyner at the Journal-Constitution. Protesters were also arrested when they tried to block the door to the Senate.

Georgia Sen. Judson Hill, a Republican, supported Deal’s decision not to expand, calling Medicaid “a bill that Georgia and America cannot afford,” while Georgia Sen. Donzella James, a Democrat whose husband is also hospitalized, called out Republicans for opposing expansion on political, not financial, grounds, the Journal-Constitution reports.

While there are busy days ahead as Thursday marks the final workday of Georgia's current legislative session, the movement doesn't look set to retreat any time soon.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.