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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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SCSJ Wills Clinic

Right: SCSJ interns Cameron Bond and Will Johnson work with an attendee to help prepare end-of-life documents. SCSJ conducted its fourth wills’ clinic in Tarboro, 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 July 15-17 clinic, fifteen Edgecombe County residents had forty-six end of life documents made free of charge. Many thanks to everyone who made the service possible: SCSJ coordinating attorney Chris Brook, the office of the Edgecombe County Agricultural Extension, and the ten law student volunteers from Carolina Law and North Carolina Central Law. Carolina Law rising second-year and SCSJ summer legal intern Jean Abreu highlighted the rewards in “assisting clients in securing their property for future generations.”

Another Study Confirms Elevated Rates of Pancreatic Cancer Around the White Street Landfill

July 20, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook: (919) 323-3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org Kay Brandon: (336) 324-7207 kaybran@triad.rr.com ***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Another Study Confirms Elevated Rates of Pancreatic Cancer Around the White Street Landfill The North Carolina Division of Public Health has released the results of a study investigating the incidences of cancer in the areas surrounding White Street Landfill in Greensboro, NC, which found that, there appears to be an elevated rate of pancreatic cancers in the study area relative to typical rates observed in North Carolina.” Although cancer has many causes, the report states that, “The increased number of pancreatic cancers in the study community cannot be attributed to differences in age, gender and race since the control population was selected for its demographic similarities to the reference population.” Kay Brandon, a member of the Greensboro Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, is disappointed that the Greensboro City Council is trying to re-open the White Street Landfill before fully studying these instances of pancreatic cancer. “For those of us who have lived in the community long enough, there are enough anecdotal stories of cancer that it seems more than coincidental, especially when you look at the high numbers of people affected in each family,” she said. The study maintains that the elevated cancer rates have not yet been linked to environmental exposure associated with White Street Landfill. In support of this the report notes a clean soil cap is now placed on the landfill each day to entrap toxic chemicals. However, the report fails to note this is a new procedure that did not occur for the first 50 years of the landfill's existence, when many of the current residents were already living in the area. It also fails to note Phases I and II of the landfill are unlined.

Redistricting Event on C-span

The drawing of legislative district boundaries is arguably among the most self-interested and least transparent systems in American democracy. Every ten years redistricting authorities, usually state legislatures, redraw congressional and legislative lines in accordance with Census reapportionment and population shifts within states. Most state redistricting authorities are in the midst of their redistricting process, while others have already finished redrawing their state and congressional boundaries. A number of initiatives—from public mapping competitions to independent shadow commissions—have been launched to open up the process to the public during this round of redrawing district lines. On Monday, July 18, SCSJ Executive Director Anita Earls will be speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. about fair Congressional redistricting. The event will be covered live on C-SPAN.

GOP redraws district map

From Lawmakers respond to concerns that the minority vote would be diluted under new plan. SCSJ’s Anita Earls comments on the retrogressive nature of the…

Greensboro City Council To Put Forward A Third Request For Proposals For White Street Landfill

July 11, 2011 Contact: Chris Brook: (919) 323-3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org ***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Greensboro City Council To Put Forward A Third Request For Proposals For White Street Landfill Compact timeline does not allow for due diligence A four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council intends to put forward a new Request for Proposals (RFP) today to re-open the White Street Landfill. This new RFP requires the City Council to complete—in less than two months from now—a process that would re-open White Street. “It’s impossible to conduct a thorough RFP process on such a compact timeline,” said Chris Brook, the staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice who is representing Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the expansion of the landfill. “We urge the City Council to do what it has not done before—its due diligence.” This is the third solid waste management RFP issued by the current City Council. The first RFP was discarded by the Council after months of consideration. The City Council abandoned their second RFP after more than six months of consideration when two Guilford County Superior Court judges ruled it failed to comply with North Carolina landfill laws. The RFP calls for private contractors to submit proposals to re-open White Street by July 25 and then for the City Council to conclude contract negotiations by August 31. This would give the City Council only seven weeks to receive, analyze, and debate RFP submissions, conduct contract negotiations and then finally set a course for Greensboro’s future solid waste management plans. The timeline for this most recent RFP would allow the four-person majority pushing the landfill plans to re-open White Street before they face Greensboro voters in upcoming municipal elections. A copy of the draft Request For Proposals can be found here or at the link below. ### 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.