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SCSJ protects Voting Rights Act in NC case

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 is an essential tool for defending minority voting rights because it requires changes to voting practices have approval from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to ensure they do not unfairly burden minority voters. White residents of Kinston, NC sought to institute non-partisan elections, which, by their own admission, would place minority voters at a disadvantage. When the DOJ objected to the change, proponents of the non-partisan elections filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of Section 5. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the court to dismiss the case, Laroque v. Holder. Anita Earls, Executive Director of SCSJ, noted: “Our clients, African-American residents and voters in Kinston and the state NAACP, want to see the protections of the Voting Rights Act remain in place, and this dismissal is one step in that direction.” Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said: “The federal district court properly rejected the challenge to the constitutionality of Section 5, which has been called 'the heart' of the Voting Rights Act. Without it, all attempts to rectify generations of inequality in our democracy through this vital law are meaningless. We applaud the court's decision.” For more information, please contact SCSJ Voting Rights Attorney Allison Riggs at allison@southerncoalition.org.

National Association of Black Journalists’ Webinar on Redistricting

_________________________ From the NABJ website: "Among the unreported subjects that are expected to emerge as a hot button issue after the mid-term election is redistricting and how our main political parties will be affected by the results of the recently completed U. S. Census. To learn more about this subject and develop enterprise ideas, please join the NABJ Media Institute webinar, “Deciphering the Numbers: The Untold Stories of Redistricting.” This free webinar will be held on Wednesday, December 15th at 11:00 a.m. (EST) and will feature Anita S. Earls, Executive Director, Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Charles Robinson, Correspondent/Associate Producer, Maryland Public Television, NABJ Region II Director. The webinar will explain the impact of redistricting on voting patterns and ultimately our system of government. In addition, the discussion will also explain the numbers behind re-districting and how to disseminate accurate and insightful information.. This webinar is for journalists serious about improving their ability to capture unique content for their organizations and the eventual dissemination of information that could help journalists develop new stories and hence a more explanatory way of news reporting. News managers, producers and especially local reporters are highly encouraged to attend." Click here to register.

New Hill Community Association wins Indy Citizen Award

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, November 24, 2010 Durham, NC- The New Hill Community Association, which is waging a battle against placement of a sewage plant in the center of their historic district by the affluent towns of Cary, Apex and Morrisville, has been awarded the prestigious Indy Citizen Award by the Independent Weekly, a Durham-based Triangle newspaper. The Indy Citizen Award honors “people and groups whose activism has positively impacted their communities, whether it's one neighborhood, a city or several counties." In accepting the award, NHCA President Paul Barth said, “We are humbled by this recognition and support for our efforts. This has truly been a community effort to protect our predominantly African-American community from becoming a dumping ground for our wealthy neighbors.” The struggle of the New Hill Community is winning wide recognition for the justness of its cause and for the valor of the residents waging the struggle. Recently Rev. Clanton won the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network’s Florenza Moore Grant Community Award for 2010 for his "faithful work to protect the citizens, community and environment of New Hill." The New Hill Community Association recently scored a victory when the town of Holly Springs recently withdrew from the Western Wake Partners the conglomerate of towns attempting to cite their sewage plant in New Hill. On behalf of the New Hill Community Association (NHCA), the Southern Coalition for Social Justice recently filed a Petition for Contested Case Hearing in the state Office of Administrative Hearings to challenge the Western Wake Partners' proposed placement of a sewage treatment plant in the center of the New Hill community. Dozens of New Hill residents also recently participated in a public hearing in Apex, questioning the Western Wake Partner's plan to discharge from the proposed sewage treatment plant into a distressed portion of the Cape Fear River. Contact: Chris Brook, attorney Southern Coalition for Social Justice (919) 323-3380 Chris@SouthernCoalition.org Paul Barth President, New Hill Community Association (919) 539-8736

Rally for Fair Hiring in Durham

____________________ Read our press release about the recent campaign kick off event on November 15 to learn more about the issue. SCSJ is part of the Durham Second Chance Alliance, which is heading up the campaign. End job discrimination against people who have formerly been convicted! For more information contact: Gloria DeLos Santos, 919-794-8210 Gilda P. Womble, 919-680-8000 Ajamu Dillahunt, 919-856-3194

Chatham's say-so

____________________ Cary, along with Apex and Morrisville, wants to run a sewer line through southeastern Chatham County as the link between a planned new wastewater treatment plant and the Cape Fear River. But for some reason, Chatham residents aren't strewing roses in the Wake Countians' path. And without the Chatham Board of Commissioners' approval, the line doesn't get built. Talk about leverage. For that approval to be forthcoming, Chatham has given Cary a list of demands to be met - including, no more of those pesky cross-border annexations without Chatham's OK. And no Chatham property could be condemned for the sewer line. So, how many millions would the final, essential parcel command? The treatment plant would be built in the Wake community of New Hill, where residents understandably are opposed. It would fulfill a mandate to keep treated wastewater in the Cape Fear basin, a worthy objective. But this project as now conceived has so many issues, it might be better if it just went down the drain.

Advocates push to ban felony question from applications

____________________ BY THOMASI MCDONALD - STAFF WRITER RALEIGH - More than 20 years ago, a Warren County Superior Court judge sentenced Wonis Davis to 10 years in prison for second-degree murder. Since his release in 1999, Davis has bagged groceries, cooked, supervised a restaurant kitchen, worked as a church custodian and had two of his fingers sliced off while working in construction. But his past haunts him every time he fills out an application and has to check the box next to the question: "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" Advocates for fair hiring think it's a question Davis and others like him should not have to answer. They want to "Ban the Box." Gaining momentum across the nation, the movement had seen new laws removing the felony question in Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii and New York. About 21 cities, including San Francisco, Cincinnati, Boston, Chicago and Austin, Texas, have already banned the box. Local advocates want Raleigh and Wake County to take the first step to remove the question on applications for public-sector jobs. About 150 people gathered in Durham last week to push for city and county ordinances to ban the felony question. A Ban the Box rally is scheduled Dec. 13 at Durham City Hall. Thousands affected More than 1.6 million people in North Carolina have criminal records. The Community Success Initiative, the Raleigh Second Chance Alliance, Congregations for Social Justice, and the N.C. Justice Center all say removing that question in this state is a critical step toward former offenders finding jobs and the economic security that may keep them from returning to prison. The Community Success Initiative provides support for people coming out of prison and jail. Its founding director, Dennis Gaddy, said 22,000 to 26,000 people come out of North Carolina's prisons each year. As of August, more than 6,700 people were under the supervision of the state Department of Correction on probation or parole in Wake County alone. In Durham County, nearly 4,000 people are on probation or parole, according to Durham Second Chance Alliance members. Thousands more have criminal convictions. The issue is "important for a couple of reasons," said Ajamu Dillahunt, an outreach coordinator with the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh. "Right now the economic crisis we're in makes it difficult for people to find employment. We need to remove the barriers that exist so that people can find jobs." Employers who invest in people with criminal histories are ultimately investing in the safety of the greater community by helping them secure legitimate employment, he said. Raleigh manager's take Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen said he was sure the City Council would be happy to discuss the Ban the Box proposal's merits and listen to why it would be good for Raleigh. But he has concerns about removing the felony question from city applications. "Particularly for public-sector jobs, we need to bevery aware," Allen said. "The fact of the matter is that employees in the public realm get very close to people's homes, children. And then you have police, fire and other aspects of public safety; energy, water, financial information ... it's important that we have applicants who are truthful and fully disclose whatever is in their background." Allen said if someone has been convicted of a crime but has managed to turn his or her life around then it's appropriate for that job candidate to submit letters of recommendation and other statements of support to counter the criminal record. "There's no prohibition against that," he said. The initial application But those pushing for the change in Raleigh are only proposing that the question be removed from the initial application so that employers won't be immediately dissuaded by a criminal record before learning more about a job candidate's experience, skills and personality. A criminal background check would still be required before the applicant is hired, but making it to the interview phase would give the applicant a chance to explain the nature of the crime, how long ago it occurred, incarceration and rehabilitation efforts. Davis, 42, admits that his criminal record was 12 pages long when he was sent to prison, but he says he hasn't been arrested since he was released from prison more than 10 years ago. "When I see the box, the box doesn't even give you the chance to say, 'That was me then. Look at me now,'" Davis said, taking a break at Blaylock's Barbershop and Hair Salon in downtown Raleigh, where he works as a barber. "I'm always honest, but when I put the charge on a job application, they tell me, 'We don't hire violent offenders here.'" A difficult journey Davis has come a long way. "I got a little breathing room," he said. "It's kind of like swimming - take a stroke and breathe." He was sentenced to life plus 10 years in prison along with several other people for the second-degree murder conviction. But he said the life sentence was dropped after investigators found that he had little to do with the killing. "They got me for association," he said. When he got out of prison, he went to live with his sister in Warrenton. She bought him $150 worth of clothes and let him stay at her house for two months, before she told him to leave because he hadn't found a job. "I stayed homeless for about three months," he said. Then temptation and the lure of fast money through crime came calling. "A guy called me and said he heard about my situation. He offered me a 'care package.' The package was $10,000 in cash and a half-kilo of cocaine." Small jobs, hard work Instead, Davis got a job at a Burger King through a friend who knew the manager. That's how he has beat the box for the past 10 years - by finding work through friends willing to give him a chance. He worked minimum-wage jobs until he scored a job at a Golden Corral in Warrenton. Davis spent a year working up the ladder to become a kitchen manager in training. Then a new store manager checked his application and accused him of lying about his criminal history. "I did a telephone interview back then," Davis said. "They accepted it. The new manager came along and said I checked 'No' in the box." He was fired. Still, there was a silver lining. Davis had acquired enough cooking skills to start his own catering business. Love Life Catering struggled, but Davis figured he was on his way to becoming an independent business owner. "I didn't have to worry about the box because I can't fire myself," he said. While he operated his business part time, Davis worked for a Durham construction company and severed two fingers off his left hand in 2006. In 2008, he attended barber school in Raleigh and went to work at the downtown barbershop where he has built a customer base. Thursday, he catered a meeting in which former inmates like himself shared their stories and their difficulties trying to find work. It was an opportunity for them to organize and strategize - to Ban the Box. Staff writer Anne Blythe contributed to this report.

SCSJ Leads Another Successful Wills' Clinic in Tarboro

Woodra Harrell of Tarboro, North Carolina just could not stop raving about her wills’ clinic experience. One of 19 people who received 62 end of life documents on November 13 and November 14, 2010, Mrs. Harrell “would recommend” the Southern Coalition for Social Justice wills’ clinic “to anyone” despite the “daunting subject matter.” “Sometimes when you get something done for free people make you feel that. It was not that atmosphere at all. [SCSJ] cared and made you feel part of the process,” concluded Mrs. Harrell. And we couldn't be happier for that! The Tarboro wills' clinic is SCSJ's third since July. Thanks to our coordinating attorney Becky Jaffe, the Edgecombe County Agricultural extension, 10 UNC and Campbell law student volunteers and the serviced families who all made it possible!

Packed House Kicks Off Fair Hiring Campaign

SECOND CHANCE ALLIANCE MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 16, 2010 Durham, NC: A campaign for fair employment for people with a conviction history got off to a spirited start last night at an overflow meeting convened by the Durham Second Chance Alliance. More than 150 people came together at Durham’s main library to say: “We deserve a Second Chance.” They vowed to move ordinances before the Durham City Council and Durham County Commissioners removing the box that asks whether an applicant has ever been arrested or convicted of a crime from employment applications. “I refuse to be defined by the worst mistake I ever made.” “I should not be prohibited from employment for the rest of my life because of a stupid move I made a long time ago.” “I have come a long way, and I deserve a chance to make a living and support my family.” These and other stories were shared by meeting participants. More than 1.6 million people in North Carolina have criminal records; many are African American. In Durham County nearly 4,000 people are currently on probation or parole and thousands more have criminal convictions. They face constant discrimination in hiring, housing, and services which undermines their families and whole communities. “Employment is crucial to reduce recidivism-returning to prison, resulting in a safer community and lower cost to taxpayers,” argues Gilda Womble of the Second Chance Alliance. The Second Chance Alliance was initiated by InStepp, Inc., North Carolina Justice Center, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Southside Neighborhood Association, Organization for D.A.D.S. and Action NC. The next step in the campaign is a noontime rally at Durham City Hall on Dec. 13. More than 24 cities and several states have passed “Ban the Box” ordinances, as such fair hiring initiatives are often called. “We understand that a person’s complete background and qualifications must be considered before they are offered a job,” says Alliance member Daryl Atkinson. But a person’s conviction history should only be considered when it might actually affect a person’s ability to do the specific job applied for.” The group plans to bring an ordinance before the Durham City Council by the end of January 2011. Contact: Bob Wing, Organizing and Media Coordinator Southern Coalition for Social Justice 919-323-3380 Gilda Womble, Executive Director InStepp, Inc. 919-680-8000 Ajamu Dillahunt, Community Outreach Coordinator NC Justice Center 919-856-3194

Latin Kings file complaint with DOJ alleging civil rights violations by GPD

____________________ By Jordan Green A Durham-based social justice organization has filed a complaint with the US Justice Department alleging that the Greensboro Police Department has engaged in a pattern of discrimination against the North Carolina chapter of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation. Based on Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the complaint alleges that the police department’s “gang suppression” strategy intentionally targets the group commonly known as the Latin Kings because of their race, color and national origin. The complaint, which was filed on Oct. 30, alleges that the Latin Kings have been subjected to a pattern of unlawful traffic stops and searches and unjustified arrests, that members have been charged with serious crimes that are later dismissed for lack of evidence, that officers in the gang enforcement unit have been going to members places of employment to get them fired and have used excessive force during arrests. Many of these alleged abuses have been richly documented in stories published by YES! Weekly over the past two and a half years. The complaint filed by the Latin Kings comes at a time when three black and Latino police officers who have made allegations of discrimination and retaliation have been fired. AJ Blake, who was assigned to the gang unit at one time, has publicly criticized its practices. Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, compared the Latin Kings’ filing to a complaint filed by a local chapter of the NAACP against the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland alleging racial discrimination in which the Justice Department found that police subjected African Americans to different treatment during stops. “A memorandum of agreement was reached between the Justice Department and the Montgomery County Police Department based on much less compelling evidence,” Earls said. “The allegations here are more severe based on a longstanding pattern of treatment by the gang unit. I think we are raising very serious claims and they’ll take a close look at it.” Earls served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department under President Clinton. In addition to her work at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, she serves on the NC Board of Elections. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, including law enforcement agencies and hospitals. The law allows individuals who feel they have been subjected to discrimination to file an administrative complaint with the Justice Department as an alternative to resorting to litigation in the federal courts. “I think it’s worth noting that these are things that could have caused grounds for a civil suit seeking monetary damages,” Earls said. “Jorge and the Latin Kings made a deliberate choice to pursue this remedy rather than litigating because they wanted to make sure the police department works for the entire community.” North Carolina Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell said during a press conference at the Beloved Community Center last week that he decided to found the group after an incident he witnessed in which four Hispanics got into a vehicle accident near the Greensboro Coliseum and ran from the scene and Greensboro police officers responded by going inside a nearby restaurant and arbitrarily arresting four Hispanics who had nothing to do with the accident. Cornell said the Latin Kings were harassed by Greensboro police almost from the inception of the North Carolina chapter, but that scrutiny increased dramatically after he made a call for peace among street organizations in the summer of 2008. “I’ve tried every single avenue in this community to fix the wrongs done by the police department,” Cornell said. “I’ve filed report after report with the human relations department. We’ve sat down with ministers, and they’ve talked to the police, but they’ve broken their promises. We’ve sat down with city council members, but everything falls on deaf ears. Please understand that this is not just an Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation thing. This is for the whole community. We just happen to be the ones standing up.” Following a community meeting at Oka T. Hester Park in which police Chief Ken Miller defected questions from an African-American captain who alleges he was fired for discriminatory reasons, the chief dismissed the Latin Kings’ complaint. “My position is they’ve reached out to [the] Justice [Department] like they’ve done before to say, ‘We’re a street gang and we’re being picked on,’” Miller said. “We’ll see what they say.” This is the first and only complaint that the Latin Kings have filed with the Justice Department, although Cornell took part in a delegation to the agency headquarters in Washington with a number of black and Latino officers in September. The Justice Department began an investigation of the police department in 2009 to look into allegations of employment discrimination and underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics on the force. The results of that investigation are not known. YES! Weekly is currently seeking correspondence between outside counsel for the city and the federal agency through a public records request. In response to a request for comment, Assistant City Manager Denise Turner released a statement maintaining that “the city of Greensboro does not tolerate discrimination against any class of persons by city employees and the management fully enforces the policy against discrimination. The Greensboro Police Department working with the human relations department aggressively investigates and pursues all complaints of inappropriate treatment by Greensboro police officers through the citizen review complaint committee.” The statement also indicates that the city “will cooperate fully with any investigation from the Department of Justice but we feel confident they will find that the behavior of the city of Greensboro and the Greensboro Police Department mimics our commitment to the equal treatment for all residents of the city.” Earls said her organization has chosen to not publicly release the complaint at this time so that the city will have an opportunity to respond to it and provide data to the Justice Department. That process is likely to take a couple months, she said. The complaint also alleges that the police department’s internal process to investigate citizen complaints and the outside complaint review committee “do not constitute an adequate complaint procedure.” Anthony Wade, the city’s human relations director, said last week that he had not been aware of the complaint. “The complaint review committee has been a mechanism that’s been used in responding to citizens’ complaints and working within city departments between the police and the city manager’s office,” he said. “That’s all I can actually say without knowing more about the specific complaint.” Among the remedies suggested in the complaint is an immediate cessation of harassment; dismantling or retraining the gang unit and abandoning the suppression policy towards gangs; installing mobile video and audio equipment in all patrol vehicles; a requirement that officers provide detailed documentation for each traffic stop, including information about race of the driver, whether consent to search the vehicle was requested and granted, and whether a nonconsensual search was conducted. The complaint also calls for stronger citizen oversight of the police department, including granting the complaint review committee the power to subpoena witnesses, access to officers’ personnel files and the ability to initiate investigations based on media reports. A grassroots group calling for police accountability and professionalism will hold a meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Bethel AME Church, at which citizens will have an opportunity to file additional complaints based on racial and other types of discrimination with the Justice Department. Organizers say they expect representatives from two different section of the Justice Department to be present at the meeting. Mayor Bill Knight, City Manager Rashad Young and Chief Ken Miller have also been invited, although the chief has a conflicting community meeting scheduled at Lewis Recreation Center.

Heirs' Property Owners One Step Closer to Legal Victory

On October 28, 2010, the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Committee unanimously passed 2009 FEO 8, an ethics opinion protecting heirs' property owners in North Carolina. The opinion forbids attorneys from both representing developers seeking to partition heirs' property and serving as the commissioner tasked with selling this family land at auction. When an attorney holds these two roles, developers can purchase the land for cheap and family members' could receive less than market value for their ancestral homes. In practice, the opinion will result in fewer situations where a developers' attorney runs an entire partition proceeding. "This is a huge step towards fairness in heirs' property proceedings here in North Carolina," said SCSJ staff attorney Christopher Brook. SCSJ headed up a coalition in support of 2009 FEO 8 featuring North Carolina Representative Angela Bryant, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, Land Loss Prevention Project, the North Carolina Justice Center, the UNC Center for Civil Rights, the Heirs' Property Retention Coalition, and Self-Help. The ethics opinion now goes to the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Council for final approval.