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Duke Energy Provides $25,000 Grant For SCSJ’s 2022 Justice System Reform Work

DURHAM, N.C. (December 21, 2021) — Duke Energy has awarded Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) with a $25,000 grant to expand the educational and advocacy work of the North Carolina-based organization’s Justice System Reform (JSR) team. Through community lawyering, communications, and organizing, the JSR Team promotes social and economic justice by ensuring police accountability,…

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Wills' clinic in Spout Springs, NC

NOTE: we are having another wills' clinic October 22-23 in Tarboro, NC. Contact SCSJ attorney Chris Brook at (919) 323-3380 for more details. Following other wills' clinics we have held across the state, SCSJ conducted its first wills’ clinic in Spout Springs, North Carolina, as part of its efforts to prevent a leading cause of land loss in the South: heirs’ property passing without a will. During the September 23-25 clinic, 18 Harnett County residents had 54 end of life documents made free of charge. Documents drafted included wills, living wills, health care powers of attorney, and durable powers of attorney. Many thanks to everyone who made the service possible: SCSJ coordinating attorney Chris Brook, the Spout Springs Presbyterian Church, which hosted the clinic, and the ten law student volunteers from Carolina and Campbell Law. Carolina Law second-year student and wills’ clinic volunteer Jean Abreu highlighted the rewards in “assisting clients in securing their property for future generations.”

Carrboro rethinks loitering ordinance

From Durham Herald-Sun covers the debate over the anti-loitering ordinance in Carrboro, NC. SCSJ is working with community members to urge the town to reconsider…

The right to stand still

From The Durham Herald-Sun wrote an editorial criticizing the anti-loitering ordinance in Carrboro. SCSJ attorney and Carrboro resident Chris Brook has been hard at work…

'Never give up the land'

From The Charlotte Observer covers the saga of the Reels family in Carteret County. SCSJ Executive Director Anita Earls has represented the Reels during their…

National Call-in day for Iglesia Buen Pastor!

Today we are asking people to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ask that they drop the charges against 22 members of the Buen Pastor congregation. We are doing this in partnership with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. If you haven't signed the petition, do so here.

Dial (800) 394-5855 and tell them:

Hello, I am calling from ______________________ to urge John Morton to drop the charges against all the families involved in the Buen Pastor congregation case in which 22 men, women, and children are facing deportation. Over 800 individuals have signed a petition asking for him to drop the deportation proceedings for this case but have not received a response.

- John Morton has the power to take action today to drop charges.


- Members of Buen Pastor are exactly the kind of individuals who should benefit from President Obama’s August 18th announcement that DHS should use discretion to close cases of individuals who are positive influences on our communities, and who furthermore, are victims of civil rights abuses.


- The church members have filed a complaint and now have an open investigation with the DHS office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for rights violations including racial profiling, denied access to interpreters, denied access to legal counsel, and threats to take away their children.

Victory for Landfill Opponents in Greensboro

By Chris Brook The vendor selected to run the White Street Landfill by a four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council has announced it is terminating contract negotiations. Noting the divisive nature of the push to re-open the White Street Landfill, Gate City Waste Services informed the City Council on Tuesday that continued negotiations were no longer a “palatable option.” This letter comes a week after Gate City and the four-person majority unsuccessfully sought to have Councilwoman Vaughan conflicted out of voting on a contract with Gate City. Councilwoman Vaughan was widely expected to vote against Gate City’s proposal, thus deadlocking the City Council at four votes to re-open the landfill, four votes to close the landfill. The City Council accepted Gate City’s request to terminate contract negotiations Tuesday evening, handing landfill opponents a decisive victory in their effort to keep the landfill closed. Working with Greensboro community groups including the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice as well as the League of Women Voters Piedmont Triad, SCSJ blocked previous City Council plans to expand the landfill via legal action this summer. With Gate City’s abandonment of contract negotiations, the victory for landfill opponents is complete and decisive.

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.