2011

Featured Entries

MEDIA ADVISORY: DC District Court Upholds Minority Voting Rights

September 21, 2011 Contact: Domenic Powell (704) 281 - 9911 omenic@southerncoalition.org https://southerncoalition.org DC District Court Upholds Minority Voting Rights Preserves Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, likely to influence case from Kinston, NC

DURHAM--Today the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 151-page opinion upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County v. Holder case. The decision is a victory for civil rights advocates and communities of color fighting to have their voices heard in elections.

“The opinion includes an exhaustive review of the legislative record,” says Anita Earls, the Executive Director for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ). “The court’s opinion was very careful to lay out the legal standards for a facial challenge and then to apply them to this statute.”

The court concluded that Congress had before it sufficient evidence to justify renewing Section 5’s protections, which requires certain states to submit changes in their election processes to the federal government or the DC District Court for review in order to prevent laws or policies that make it harder for previously disenfranchised minority voters to vote or to participate in elections, also called “retrogression.” This part of the Voting Rights Act was renewed for 25 years in 2006.

The ruling today could go far towards upholding the Voting Rights Act in other local challenges to discriminatory election practices in the near future. With the most significance for North Carolina, today’s decision lays the groundwork for a similar result in Laroque v. Holder, filed by Kinston State Representative Stephen Laroque and pending before the same Judge, in which SCSJ is defending the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

The opinion can be read in full here. ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

SCSJ Wills Clinic — more to come

SCSJ staff attorney Christopher Brook spoke to more than 100 Edgecombe County residents on September 17, 2011 about the challenges associated with heirs’ property. Heirs’ property is land that has been passed down through a family without a will and has played a part in African-American land loss. Speaking at “Come Be Empowered! Family Matters,” sponsored by the Edgecombe County Clerk of Court, Brook outlined the importance of end of life documents to mitigate heirs’ property problems as well as outlining strategies for families with heirs’ property. Brook also publicized SCSJ’s upcoming October 22-23 wills’ clinic in Edgecombe County.

MEDIA ADVISORY: SCSJ Encourages City Attorney to Stand By His Ruling Permitting Vaughan to Vote on Landfill

September 13, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org https://southerncoalition.org SCSJ Encourages City Attorney to Stand By His Ruling Permitting Vaughan to Vote on Landfill Urges Pollard not to cave to 'specious legal arguments' GREENSBORO--Southern Coalition for Social Justice staff attorney Christopher Brook has again encouraged Greensboro City Attorney Tom Pollard to permit City Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan to vote on whether to award a White Street Landfill contract to Gate City Waste Services. Gate City requested that Pollard reverse his previous ruling that Vaughan must vote on whether to award a landfill contract to its company. This is Gate City’s second effort to exclude Vaughan from voting on their proposed contract. For the first time Gate City now also tries to exclude Councilman Robbie Perkins, while arguing Councilman Zack Matheny should be permitted to vote. “Having failed to convince Greensboro voters of the wisdom of their plans, Gate City now seeks to make an end run around them a month before they go to the polls using an ever-evolving array of specious legal arguments,” says Brook, referring to the letter sent to City Attorney Tim Pollard last week by Gate City attorneys. Gate City first objected to Vaughan’s participation in a vote on their contract when she voiced reservations about re-opening the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste. They had not previously raised issues relating to Councilmen Perkins and Matheny. “Gate City said nothing for months in regards to their current belief that the City Attorney’s office had wrongly excluded Councilman Matheny and wrongly included Councilman Perkins in consideration of the RFP processes. Only when their multi-million dollar contract was imperiled by Greensboro elected representatives did Gate City make their concerns known,” says Brook in his letter to Pollard. Decisions regarding participation by Councilmen Perkins and Matheny were made in May 2011, making Gate City’s new concerns suspicious. These most recent controversies began on August 16, 2011, when a four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council voted to negotiate with Gate City to operate Phase III of the White Street Landfill without saying a word to explain their selection of Gate City. The letter is available here: http://bit.ly/qWytVi ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

SCSJ Sends Letter to Greensboro Attorney Over Councilwoman Vaughan's Participation in Landfill Vote

August 29, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org https://southerncoalition.org GREENSBORO--SCSJ Staff attorney Chris Brook sent a letter this morning (link) to Greensboro Attorney Thomas Pollard urging him to stand firm on his prior ruling that Councilwoman Vaughan is obligated to participate in City Council’s consideration of Gate City’s plan to re-open the White Street Landfill. Gate City recently pressured Pollard into reconsidering his position in order to help them secure the contract. Noting Pollard’s ruling is “well-ground in the applicable authority and consistent with previous opinions from the Greensboro City Attorney’s office,” Brook highlighted the North Carolina law presumption that City Councilpersons must participate in votes unless barred from doing so by a conflict of interest. The Greensboro Conflict of Interest Policy defines a conflict as “a financial or other interest in the firm selected for the award.” In this case, the City Council selected Gate City. Pollard has previously investigated Councilwoman Vaughan’s interests, finding she had “no financial interest, direct or indirect, in Gate City.” Gate City, along Mayor Bill Knight and Councilpersons Trudy Wade, Danny Thompson, and Mary Rakestraw, challenged Vaughan’s participation only after it became clear she might imperil their previous four-person majority in favor of re-opening the landfill. Prior to the elimination of Waste Industries from consideration for White Street management, Councilwoman Vaughan had not been allowed to participate due to her husband’s legal representation of Waste Industries. After Pollard ruled she must vote, Councilwoman Wade even went so far as suggesting the City Council bring Waste Industries back into negotiations to prevent Councilwoman Vaughan from voting. “Fearing it might lose the game Gate City has decided to complain about the rules and the referee,” Brook states at the close of his letter to Pollard. But “the rules are clear: Councilwoman Vaughan’s only conflict relates to Waste Industries. And the referee was right: Councilwoman Vaughan is compelled to vote on this matter of great importance to her constituents.” ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

Nancy Vaughan Can Vote on Landfill; Four Members of City Council Plot to Exclude Her

August 24, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org Kay Brandon 336-324-7207 https://southerncoalition.org http://theceej.org GREENSBORO--The already absurd, rushed process to re-open the White Street Landfill undertaken by a four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council has taken a turn for the truly Kafkaesque. Last Tuesday, a four-person pro-landfill faction on the nine-person City Council voted to enter into contract negotiations with Gate City Waste Services. Council members Nancy Vaughan and Zach Matheny were excluded due to conflicts of interest. That changed this Monday when interim Greensboro City Attorney Tom Pollard ruled that “there is no basis to excuse” Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan “from voting on the contract award to Gate City.” Vaughan's previous exclusion was based on her husband having served as an attorney for Waste Industries, another potential landfill operator. With Waste Industries’ elimination from consideration on Tuesday, Pollard found Vaughan no longer had a conflict and was obligated to vote again. If Vaughan voted against the Gate City proposal, the Council would deadlock 4-4, meaning the Gate City proposal would die. In 2001, Vaughan voted with a unanimous City Council to close the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste. But the previous four-person majority, consisting of Mayor Bill Knight and Councilpersons Mary Rakestraw, Trudy Wade, and Danny Thompson, is not letting the fact that their plan to re-open White Street lacks Council or public support stop them. At Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council as Councilwoman Trudy Wade warned Vaughan, “If you vote against Gate City, we’re going to have a very serious problem picking anyone but Waste Industries because that would be the only way you couldn’t vote on it.” In short, the four-person faction would contrive a conflict of interest for Vaughan by bringing back a vendor, Waste Industries, it eliminated just a week ago just to keep her from voting. If the four-person majority backtracked and abandoned Gate City and chose to bring Waste Industries back into consideration, then Councilman Zack Matheny’s conflict of interest would disappear, giving him the decisive vote. Matheny has not been allowed to participate thus far due to a financial interest in Gate City. These most recent developments come on the heels of this City Council abandoning its first effort to re-open the White Street Landfill and being forced by two Guilford County Superior Court Judges to abandon their second effort to re-open the landfill after failing to do their legal due diligence. As part of its third Request for Proposals, the council chose to negotiate with Gate City. The then four-person majority selected Gate City without saying a word supporting their decision. It has since come out that three members of the four-person majority, Mayor Knight, Councilwoman Wade, and Councilman Thompson, have received large political contributions from D.H. Griffin, a key player in the proposal put forward by Gate City. "I hope they would show some integrity in dealing with this situation," says Kay Brandon a leader with the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, which opposes re-opening the landfill. "They shouldn't do tricks just to keep a majority--that's basically what they’re doing. It makes the city look bad." ###

City Council charges toward decision on White Street Landfill

August 11, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org Goldie Wells 336-549-8712 https://southerncoalition.org
City Council charges toward decision on White Street Landfill Will pick a vendor after seven days, 694 pages and before speaking to a single applicant
GREENSBORO--Seven business days after getting 694 pages of proposals from the six vendors, the Greensboro City Council will tonight select a company to operate the White Street Landfill. In a rare, if not unprecedented move, the council will vote on the same night they receive proposal analyses from city staff and before speaking to a single potential vendor. “Seven days isn’t enough time to study nearly seven-hundred pages of proposals,” says former Councilwoman Goldie Wells. “I know they haven’t been doing council work that whole time.” Wells is also a leader in the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, which opposes the landfill. A public hearing will be held on the proposals after the council has made a selection. However, the obvious intent of the council is to sign a contract, rendering any public hearing after a selection meaningless. A recent report from Republic Services—the current solid waste operator for the city—noted that $3.5 million in annual savings could be achieved without re-opening the landfill to municipal solid waste, weakening the primary assertion made by the council that re-opening the landfill is a budgetary necessity. “It makes you wonder if they already have their minds made up,” says Wells. The council is charging towards a decision in order to have a contract signed before voters can offer their opinion in the upcoming elections. City Councilman Robbie Perkins noted at a community forum Monday evening that this was the best rushed process he had seen since coming onto the Council in 1993. This rush to re-open White Street will come at the expense of including Greensboro residents—in particular those who live around the landfill—in a decision that will affect the city for decades. Chris Brook, an attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, will read a letter into the record of tonight's City Council meeting. Read it here (bit.ly/qBi9pq). ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

SCSJ joins amicus brief on Alabama anti-immigrant law

SCSJ joined a civil rights amicus brief filed in the case over Alabama’s HB56, a law considered by many civil rights groups to be the worst of the Arizona SB1070 copycat legislation that has moved through several statehouses in the past year. ACLU Immigrant Rights Project, ACLU of Alabama, Latino Justice PRLDEF, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center are seeking a preliminary injunction to enjoin HB 56 from taking effect next month. The Alabama law goes beyond Arizona’s SB1070 by making it unlawful even to provide shelter to undocumented immigrants. It also bans undocumented youth from pursuing an education in community colleges or four-year universities. It attempts to discourage parents from enrolling their undocumented children in public education by permitting school officials to report children to the Department of Homeland Security whom they suspect to be in the country illegally. In May, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice send a strongly worded letter reminding school systems of their obligations to educate children irrespective of their immigration status. Aside from federal civil rights law, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld these children's right to an education in Plyler v. Doe (1982). Other than SCSJ, 27 Amici organizations have joined the brief. The others are the Alabama State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), The Alabama Council on Human Relations (ACHR), Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC), Alabama NOW (part of the National Organization for Women), Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Birmingham Peace Project, Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR)/National Dominican American Council (NDAC), Equality Alabama, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, Hispanic Federation, Immigration Equality, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), National Council of La Raza (NCLR), National Employment Law Project (NELP), National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), National Immigration Law Project of the National Lawyers Guild (National Immigration Project), New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (Workers’Center), Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI). Read the amicus brief here.

Press Release: CEEJ to Wade: Step Aside Due from White Street Consideration Due to Your Conflict of Interest

August 11, 2011

Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
https://southerncoalition.org

CEEJ to Wade: Step Aside Due from White Street Consideration Due to Your Conflict of Interest

GREENSBORO, NC –The Northeast Greensboro Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice is calling upon Greensboro City Councilwoman Trudy Wade to recuse herself from the consideration of proposals to re-open the White Street Landfill. Councilwoman Wade’s first cousin is the President of A-1 Sandrock, Inc., one of the respondents to Greensboro’s most recent Request for Proposals.

“The revelation that Councilwoman Wade's cousin is the President of one of the companies interested in operating the White Street Landfill calls into question whether she can consider the interests of all Greensboro residents,” says Kay Brandon, a leader in the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice. “In light of this conflict of interest, she should not participate in the consideration of the current RFPs to ensure a process all Greensboro residents can trust.”

The Greensboro Conflict of Interest policy prohibits “its officers, employees, or agents from participating in the selection, award, or administration of any contract where a conflict of interest is involved or may exist, whether real or apparent.” The policy goes on to note, “it is essential for the City of Greensboro’s officers, employees, and agents to remain free from all conflicts of interest, whether real or apparent, in order for the City to maintain the public trust of its citizens.”

Councilpersons Nancy Vaughan and Zach Matheny were both conflicted out of even considering whether the city should issue a new RFP by the Greensboro City Attorney’s office. Yet, the Greensboro City Attorney’s office has cleared Councilwoman Wade’s continuing to vote on proposals put forward by her cousin. It is unclear how her voting on her first cousin’s proposals is compatible with maintaining the public trust of Greensboro citizens in this RFP process.

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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

Executive Director Anita Earls honored by national NAACP

Anita Earls, our executive director, was awarded the Champion of Justice Award by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for her years of dedication to civil rights advocacy. During that time, Anita has devoted much of her advocacy to the issue of voting rights. Currently, SCSJ is devoting several staff almost exclusively to redistricting and voting rights cases, whom Anita leads. Anita has over 20 years as a civil rights attorney working to empower underserved communities of color. She was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice from 1998 to 2000. The award was presented by the General Counsel of the National NAACP, Kim Keenan, Esq., who ran out of time in reading Anita's long list of accomplishments. Doug Clark, an editorial writer for the Greensboro News & Record, once discussed the possibility of Anita becoming a federal judge. Aside from her own accomplishments, Anita has led more onto victories through SCSJ and the organizations with whom we partner. Anita continues to be a tireless advocate for justice in our state and beyond.

my experience as an scsj intern

During the summer, SCSJ hosts several interns from undergraduate and law school programs around the state and beyond. Here are the reflections of one of our undergraduate interns, Michael Sloan. My experience working with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) this summer has truly been a wonderful opportunity. When my Constitutional Law professor at Howard University discovered that I was from Durham, North Carolina and was seeking an internship in the area he immediately referred me to SCSJ, where he knew Executive Director Anita Earls. Having been a life-long resident of Durham, it came as a surprise to me that I hadn’t previously heard of the Southern Coalition. Upon researching the organization, I was very impressed with their work and felt that an internship where I had the opportunity to work alongside SCSJ’s staff attorneys would prove fruitful and educational. As an undergraduate student and aspiring attorney, I had never considered working for a non-profit organization as a viable career pathway for someone in my field—until now. To be quite honest, I can’t even say I knew a great deal about the inner workings of a non-profit. Over the past couple of months, I have ascertained a great understanding as to how a non-profit functions. It has broadened my scope, opening my eyes the many career pathways there are in the field of law. I primarily work under the tutelage of staff attorney Allison Riggs, who does a lot of work with voting rights and redistricting cases. Coming into the internship, I had a limited understanding of the role redistricting plays in our American political structure. It is an integral aspect of American politics and arguably one of the most self-interested and partisan as well. The drawing of legislative districts has a direct affect on who gets elected in local and presidential elections, so it’s no wonder that politicians and elected officials fight tooth-and-nail over district lines. On a day-to-day basis, my tasks usually include researching information and collating data that can be used to determine if a law or political decision has disproportionately impacted any one group of people—primarily minorities. One of my most enriching experiences as an intern was attending a county meeting in North Carolina where elected officials and community leaders had called upon SCSJ to develop a redistricting plan that gave them a fair chance of getting a minority district drawn. I saw these officials and leaders going back and forth about the politics of drawing district lines and the affect that a poor decision could potentially have on their community. That experience added color, life, and meaning to the standard office work I see on a daily basis. Its one thing to sit behind a desk looking up information and statistics, but it’s quite another experiencing how that research plays out in the lives of real people. As one of the only undergraduate interns, I have also benefited from working alongside law school interns. They have given me great insight into what I can expect from law school and how I should prepare. I believe am abreast of the challenges law school shall surely present; however, I feel resolve in knowing that I am better equipped with the tools necessary to be most successful. As the summer comes to a close, I can really appreciate the edifying experience I have had here at SCSJ. While the organization maintains a professional environment, it is not in the least bit stuffy. I have enjoyed the relaxed and familial atmosphere of the office. As a non-profit still in its infancy, the staff can be classified a small, close-knit group of individuals who value a warm work environment. Going forward, I wish SCSJ much success as it continues to grow and build a name for itself across the nation. With each successful case, be it on behalf of one or many, SCSJ is leaving a lasting imprint on the community it has helped. It is the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and like-minded organizations that are the true do-gooders of our communities. They have shown me, above all else, that real honor in this line of work comes from fighting on behalf those without means to fight for themselves. Put simply, SCSJ gets it right.

Ban the Box: from a fellow member of the Second Chance Alliance

Daryl V. Atkinson, a Staff Attorney in the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services recently wrote the following op-ed for the NC Public Defender Association newsletter. SCSJ works with Mr. Atkinson as part of the Second Chance Alliance in support of the Ban the Box campaign for fair hiring. People with criminal records suffer from pervasive discrimination in many areas of life, including employment, housing, education, and eligibility for many forms of social service benefits. “Ban the Box” is a fair hiring campaign that seeks to end the employment discrimination faced by people with criminal records. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the criminal background check industry has grown tremendously. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management more than 90% percent of companies reported using criminal background checks for their hiring decisions. For many companies, criminal background checks have become the primary screening tool for prospective employees. However, these background checks often return information that is inaccurate, outdated, and unrelated (from any reasonable perspective) to the applicant’s fitness for a particular position. Ban the Box ordinances remove the questions about an applicant’s criminal history from the initial stages of the employment process so the hiring authority can first get an opportunity to learn about the candidate's experience, skills and personality as they relate to the position to be filled. Delaying the criminal background check until an applicant has been made a conditional offer of employment has improved the employment outcomes for people with criminal records. For example, Minneapolis passed a Ban the Box ordinance in 2007. Prior to the ordinance, only 6% of people with tarnished records were able to find work. After the Ban the Box measure was passed, this figure jumped to 60%, without any increase in theft or violence in the workplace. No other public policy has been shown to provide this level of improvement in transforming people with criminal records into responsible and productive tax-paying citizens. To date, over twenty cities and five states across the country have passed Ban the Box laws. The policy has proven to benefit potential employees, employers, and communities at large. Workers benefit because Ban the Box ordinances remove the chilling effect that questions about criminal records have on job applicants. Moreover, delaying the inquiry into an applicant’s criminal history levels the playing field by allowing the applicant to be judged on all of their qualifications and experience, not just their criminal record. Employers benefit from having an increased pool of applicants to choose from and reduced human resource expenses because they are not conducting unnecessary background checks on unqualified applicants. Finally, the community benefits from increased public safety and reduced corrections costs. In sum, Ban the Box is a win-win proposition for people with criminal records, prospective employers, and society as a whole. Currently, the North Carolina Second Chance Alliance is encouraging the City Councils and County Commissions in Durham and Raleigh, NC to pass Ban the Box ordinances.