Since the 1980s, Governors across the country have participated in an annual Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon, "an often humorous ceremony in which the birds are pardoned, given a second chance at life after they are spared from ending up on a family's Thanksgiving table."

Governor Cooper, pardons are not humorous; your decision to use your powers of clemency on human beings locked in cages should not be joked about or parodied. We urge you to let our people go and #PardonPeopleNotTurkeys.