"People around the country are watching us, and they're really confused," Governor Beverly Perdue told NBC affiliate WITN. "To have been such a progressive, forward-thinking, economically-driven state that invested in education and that stood up for the civil rights of people, including the civil rights marches back in the '50s and '60s and '70s. Folks are saying, 'What in the world is going on with North Carolina?' We look like Mississippi."