× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

There was a time when North Carolina was a symbol of Southern enlightenment. Compared to the policies of the old “Solid South” — Democratic, conservative, fervidly anti-civil rights — the state embraced relatively progressive policies in such areas as education and race relations.

No longer. In the new, suddenly solid Republican South, the Tar Heel state is racing to lead the pack in conservative anti-city and implicitly anti-black politics.

Just check the record of what’s occurred since Republicans for the first time since 1896 won in 2010 control of both houses of North Carolina’s Legislature.

They’ve passed a tax bill that will reduce state revenue by more than a half-billion dollars a year, benefitting higher-income taxpayers while actually increasing taxes for small business owners and lower- and middle-class taxpayers.

Moves on unemployment insurance will cut benefits and length of coverage for many North Carolina workers.

The state’s earned income tax credit is being closed off, raising the tax burden on thousands of the working poor.

Aid to elementary education is dropping even as the state spends less on public schools than it did in 2007.