Amber Brown was going to Raleigh on Tuesday, even if it meant going alone.

Brown, 40, who lives in Kernersville, made the 90-minute trip without knowing if other healthcare professionals were going to be there. It didn’t matter. She wanted to be at the protest for her two children, family, friends and those who couldn’t represent themselves.

Tuesday morning, about 1,000 people converged on downtown Raleigh to protest in an effort to get Gov. Roy Cooper to reopen the state. North Carolina has been closed since March when he issued a stay-at-home order and closed schools and non-essential businesses due to the spread of the coronavirus.

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Brown, an oncology nurse practitioner, was there as the opposition.

She was mad. She had devoted her career to advocating for patients and the vulnerable. Brown said her patients at Wake Forest Baptist Health, where she’s worked since 2015, will always be her patients. She made the trip for them.

“I kept thinking about the fact that these people (protesters) were putting them at risk,” Brown told the N&O in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Part of it I think is they don’t understand science and they aren’t maybe getting the best sources.”

Many at the rally didn’t observe social distancing rules or wear masks. Some carried signs with messages like “Stop social distancing from truth and logic,” “Fear God, not COVID 19” and “We are not NY,” which references the state that has more than 250,000 coronavirus cases, almost 15,000 deaths and hospital systems that have been overwhelmed by patients with the disease.

The protest was the second organized by ReOpen NC, a group that wants Cooper to reopen businesses and end the state’s stay-at-home order. It started as a Facebook group that now has more than 66,000 members.

Amber Brown, a health care provider from Greensboro, stands as a counter protester during the ReOpen NC protest in downtown Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Ethan Hyman ehyman@newsobserver.com

Brown gets it. Her job has changed since the coronavirus began to spread through the state. She graduated from Duke in 2018, but is having a hard time picking up nursing shifts right now. Her household, like many of the protesters in downtown Raleigh, has been affected by the coronavirus. But that didn’t change her stance.

Being heckled by protesters

Brown arrived in Raleigh wearing a mask, goggles and a blue protective gown with the phrase “Rally Together and Die Alone” written on it. As she maneuvered through the crowd of protesters, the hostility and heckling started when another counter-protester grabbed her arm and said, “You’re with us.”

In front of the Legislative Building, other medical professionals dressed in scrubs, masks and lab coats awaited the ReOpen NC protesters. So Brown found a spot and stood there in a silent protest.

Protesters converged on her, first attacking her weight. Some called her a strain on the healthcare system, saying obesity kills more people than the coronavirus. But she stood strong.

“I didn’t say anything,” Brown said. “I had a message, and I think it was pretty clear. I didn’t think I needed to say any words. When people are in a mob like that and they are angry and screaming, there is no reasoning with them. I wasn’t going to change their mind. I wasn’t there for them, I was there for my patients.”

She said she felt threatened. There were Raleigh police officers there, but Brown said there were not many counter-protesters. A dispute could have escalated quickly.

“They were really mad, really fast,” Brown said. “There was some fear there. At the same time, when you’re a nurse, you run towards the stuff everyone else runs away from.”

One of ReOpen NC’s founders, Ashley Smith, said she disapproved of the heckling.

“As we have no control over any outsiders, or even our own people, I can’t be responsible for the behavior of people either good or bad,” Smith said in a text message to The News & Observer on Tuesday. “But one important thing I want to say to you is that as a person I respect the opinions of everyone there, even those with opposing points of view. Do I believe that people in attendance should’ve jeered those healthcare workers? Of course not! That’s disrespectful and that is not representative of our movement.”

Affected by the coronavirus

COVID-19 has affected Brown and her family just like it has many others in North Carolina. Her shifts have been cut. Her family has a business selling goldfish and koi, and they are hurting from the lack of customers.

She’s been around people who not only have had COVID-19, but have died from it.

“Patients die without family since there’s a strict no-visitor policy due to COVID,” Brown said. “Just a nurse by their side. I’ve held enough hands as people die without any family.”

She wondered if the protesters might have a different view if they imagined someone in their own families being on their deathbeds. She described some of the things she heard on Tuesday as “selfish.”

“‘The old are going to die anyway,’” Brown recalled. “I heard that yesterday. Would they say that if that was their parent? Would they say that if that were their grandparent?”

When asked if she had a message for them, she thought about what she wanted them to know.

“They need to think of the vulnerable population,” Brown said. “They need to make it personal for them. If it were their family member who was going to die. If they had to go pick someone out of their family and say ‘OK, you I can sacrifice so I can go back to work.’ I think they need to look at it that way.”

As of Wednesday evening, 7,220 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, 242 people have died and 434 are hospitalized.

Forever a nurse

Brown didn’t see herself becoming a nurse. Other people saw it in her, but she didn’t. She started her professional career as a chemist, but said she was “bored.” She switched paths, and became a certified nursing assistant before becoming a nurse practitioner. She was a floor nurse from March 2016 until September 2019. She has been a nurse practitioner since September 2019, until this month, when shifts were reduced.

“I’ve never had a boring day at work since I went into healthcare,” Brown said. “I’ve never regretted it.”

She doesn’t regret going to Raleigh on Tuesday, even though she found herself an easy target for upset protesters. She would do it again. She hopes other medical professionals saw her take a stand and are now inspired to do the same.

“I live by a code by Mahatma Gandhi,” Brown said. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. That’s what I do everyday.”

Steve Wiseman contributed.