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Chantel Cherry-Lassiter

Counsel, Justice System Reform
chantelclassiter@scsj.org

Chantel Cherry-Lassiter serves as counsel on the Justice System Reform team at SCSJ. She grew up in rural Northeastern North Carolina. She earned her M.P.A from Strayer University and her B.S. in Criminal Justice from Elizabeth City State University. Prior to attending law school, she worked for Elizabeth City State University in the Accounting Department. However, most of her ten-year career with the State of North Carolina was spent as a Child Support Enforcement Agent. She earned her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she also earned a Certification in Civil Rights and Constitutional Law. While attending NCCU Law she was President of the Civil Rights and Constitutional Law Society, President of Teens N Transition, and served as a Guardian ad Litem for Durham County.

During law school, she participated in over 700 hours of pro bono legal work. In 2018, she was awarded the Durham County Bar Association’s Adam Lischer Scholarship for her commitment to serving Durham’s underserved population. Chantel was also awarded North Carolina Central University’s Student Service Impact Award. She received a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of dedicated public service from the North Carolina State Bar Association. She was also honored to receive the H.M. Michaux Award for Public Service. 

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Partnering with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the south to defend and advance their political, social and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing and communications.

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Remove Confederate Symbols Where Justice Is Sought

Southern Coalition for Social Justice hereby endorses the resolution originated by NC CRED. This endorsement is in keeping with the N.C. Council of Churches’ foundational emphasis on racial justice. It follows the Council’s statement of principle regarding the disposition of Confederate-themed monuments as adopted in 2017.

February 15, 2021 by Staff Focus Area: Justice System Reform

A Monument serves as a structure erected to commemorate a famous or notable person or event. Confederate Monuments serve as way to honor those who vowed to uphold the values and ideals of slavery. In addition to the evident badges of slavery and injustice that Black and Latinx people face within the courthouse, they are met with these reminders of inequality and hatred on the outside of the courthouse walls.

The attentiveness to justice has been reestablished in the State of North Carolina. Many are focusing on North Carolina’s commitment to a justice system in which discrimination, inequality, and celebrating a history of oppression has no place. This effort has taken many forms, including recent recommendations of the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.

The National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts has taken a lead role in seeking the removal of such symbols. To that end, the Consortium has adopted a resolution put forward by one of its affiliates, the N.C. Commission on Racial & Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System (NC CRED). The Commission is a private, nonpartisan advocacy group based in Durham.

Southern Coalition for Social Justice hereby endorses the resolution originated by NC CRED.

As the resolution now endorsed by Southern Coalition for Social Justice states, “The National Consortium supports proponents who advocate for the removal of Confederate monuments from courthouses and judiciary-operated facilities. These tributes were erected to honor Confederate soldiers, officers and leaders who defended a southern economic system that relied on the enslavement and exploitation of Black people. As such, these Confederate monuments celebrate a political ideology of racial segregation and oppression which the National Consortium deems unacceptable and reprehensible.”

The resolution further asserts, “People of color have expressed outrage and offense at having to pass these monuments as they enter courthouses in their communities to obtain services as court users, or to perform their civic duty on a jury, and thereby, are confronted with the duplicitous public message that tends to both invite the public into the ‘Halls of Justice,’ but at the same time intimidate and discourage some from their rightful entitlement to full access and fair treatment in the judicial system.”

Southern Coalition for Social Justice therefore joins NC CRED and its national allies in urging the removal of all such “Confederate monuments, memorials, flags, plaques, and other symbols and markers of racism and white supremacy, from all public spaces on, around, or within all property upon which courthouses or judicial offices of any kind are located.”

Sincerely,

Chantel Cherry-Lassiter
Counsel for Justice System Reform
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

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Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, Counsel, Justice System Reform
chantelclassiter@scsj.org

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