Emancipate NC

The HEART coalition has been busy all fall! The City of Raleigh has agreed to new engagement opportunities with the community about alternative crisis response and plans to request funding for a crisis diversion emergency line for FY 2025! Let's bring HEART to Raleigh! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Shared from Proud To Announce, I Have Been Appointed To Serve On The Governor's Roy Cooper's Newly Created Statewide Office of Violence Prevention Advisory Board. Where We Will Approach Violence Prevention From A Public Health/Root Cause Mindset To Stop Violence Across North Carolina. It’s Going To Take All Of Us To Save The People. As Someone Who Has Life Experiences On Both Ends, I’m Honored To Be A Partn Of The Solution To Help End Violence Across The State Of North Carolina.

Mark your calendars for the Free James Richardson Holiday Rally on Saturday, December 16, 2023, at 1:00 pm at the North Carolina Executive Mansion, 298 E Jones St, Raleigh, NC 27601. James was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences without parole and has been wrongly incarcerated for almost 14 years now. Join us in the fight for justice petitioning Governor Cooper to overturn James Richardson's wrongful conviction.

Organized by the James Richardson Freedom Coalition, we will come together for free food, music, and activities for kids. And if you would like to bring joy to a child this holiday season, please consider bringing an unwrapped gift or making a donation to the toy drive!

The Education Justice Taskforce, consisting of the Education Justice Alliance, Advancement Project, Emancipate NC, and Legal Aid of NC, has recently launched a new webpage for submitting complaints about misconduct by School Resource Officers (SROs) in North Carolina schools. The webpage offers guidance on how to file a complaint against an SRO and also provides a means for individuals to request a know-your-rights training concerning SROs.

The new SRO Complaint system provides students and parents with the support needed to submit and monitor formal complaints against school police officers and school security guards who violate rights and harm students attending school or participating in school-related activities. The webpage also links viewers to a toolkit for attorneys or legal organizations to evaluate potential litigation claims against an SRO following an incident.

emancipatenc.org/blog or link in bio!

Systemic and institutional racism and many types of mushrooms have a couple of things in common. First, they both grow in the dark. Judge Osteen’s order, denying injunctive relief to Justice Anita Earls related to the thinly veiled public lynching of a powerful Black woman, confirms as much. He wrote that were it not for the lawsuit Earls filed, no one would even know she was being investigated. This one sentiment encapsulates how the status quo is maintained. Had Justice Earls continued to suffer politically and racially motivated attacks without attempting to fight, no one would know how the system is being used to silence her and so many others like her.

Read the rest of this commentary by Dawn Blagrove on our blog. emancipatenc.org/blog or link in bio.

Check out the investigative journalism of Jeffrey Billman about the Durham child welfare system, focusing here on Team Emancipate's Toia Potts and Elizabeth Simpson

No-Win Scenario Jatoia Potts lost both her children because she couldn’t explain her baby’s injuries. She never stood a chance against the state’s child welfare system.

Check out Part II of investigation with The Assembly on the slow-moving, secretive child welfare court system, featuring Team Emancipate's Toia Potts and Elizabeth Simpson.

Join and hear from Emancipate NC's very own Toia Potts and Elizabeth Simpson tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm for a virtual community conversation on keeping families together.

Tune in to learn more about the historical and contempoary injustices in the family regulation system. Register here for the zoom link: https://bit.ly/nov29thevigil

Join Team Emancipate's Kerwin Pittman and Justice League Fellow April Scales Barber and our friends at on December 2nd, from 1 to 2:30 pm in Raleigh, join people from across NC for a rally to demand commutation of our state’s 138 death sentences!

We’ll gather at 1pm, across the street from the Governor’s Mansion (200 E Jones St) for a brief program of music and speeches and an opportunity to connect with others in our state seeking justice.

Following the program, we’ll process across the street to the Mansion where we will march around the perimeter. Bring your friends and family so we can fully encircle the Governor’s residence!

This event is part of the month-long Vigil for Freedom and Racial Justice held in Raleigh annually.

Register now at bit.ly/NowIsTheTimeRally

Tune into the Black Light Mass Incarceration Podcast to listen to Tim Wright discuss the impact of the media on the incarcerated population with host Cierra Cobb from Emancipate NC. They discuss the detrimental impact of the media in increasing the odds that someone is given a wrongful conviction. In this episode, Tim and Cierra emphasize the perils of media sensationalism in criminal cases and how it can often result in the undermining of the presumption of innocence, making it challenging for those who have been unjustly convicted to obtain a fair trial or have their cases re-examined. The media often concentrates on the initial arrest and trial, neglecting the subsequent appeals and potential new evidence that might demonstrate the innocence of the accused.

“The media has an obligation and responsibility to be accountable for the stories and the agenda they are pushing. They are quick to push guilt but not innocence and yet are accredited with the reason a lot of people are ultimately convicted. ‘Trail by media’ is so difficult to fight against,” states Tim.

Cierra explained that the media's frequent sensationalism, biased reporting, and rush to judgment played a significant role in motivating her to create the Blacklight Mass Incarceration Show. The show provides a non-judgmental space for impacted individuals to share their stories and be welcomed by a supportive community.

Listen to the episode at https://ow.ly/wPvl50Q723Y

Congratulations to Ashlee Inscoe! Today, Wake County Superior Court ordered the North Carolina prison system to move her to a women’s prison. This is the first such court order in state history. Congratulations also to Ashlee’s legal team, Emancipate’s Strategic Director Elizabeth Simpson, along with UNC Law Civil Clinic students, Robin Bleiweis and Eli Longnecker. ♥️🌸

Emancipate NC is seeking a Summer 2024 Legal Intern! The intern will support the organization’s programmatic and litigation work around ending structural racism in the legal system. Legal interns will be exposed to a wide range of legal research and writing projects, including but not limited to litigation support, research for policy reports or press releases, and legal support in the context of organizing campaigns across North Carolina. Examples of recent cases Emancipate NC has litigated include civil lawsuits against the Raleigh and Salisbury Police Departments for wrongful arrest, unlawful searches, and excessive use of force.

For more info and to apply, visit the opportunities page on our website: emancipatenc.org/opportunities/

Last month, Team Emancipate NC participated in a panel discussion with Elizabeth Simpson’s UNC Law Students on the topic of communication between attorneys and clients. During the panel, they highlighted common mistakes made by attorneys, particularly when working with indigent clients who may be incarcerated. Toia Potts and Kerwin Pittman shared their personal experiences of being represented by appointed counsel and expressed feeling ignored and unheard. Their narratives emphasized the urgent need for a paradigm shift in legal representation.

Toia, Kerwin, and Dawn Blagrove then contrasted these experiences by advocating for an approach of representation that values the expertise of clients in their own experiences and needs. They discussed how true advocacy requires not only legal expertise but also a deep understanding and respect for the client's unique perspective. They highlighted the pivotal role of lawyers as counselors and active listeners, working collaboratively with their clients to ensure their voices are heard and their rights are protected.

Dawn Blagrove from Emancipate NC spoke with Kelon Lyons about the recent court of appeals opinion declaring life beginning at the inception of a child and thus the harmful ramifications this has for families involved with DSS.

“This ruling further opens up the door for an already exploitative system to further exploit poverty, racism, and sexism that lives and breathes in the DSS system, and actively works against keeping Black and brown mothers unified with their children,” said Blagrove.

Dawn Blagrove warns of the unsettling dangers of considering Black and Latinx mothers as "unfit" parents even before their children are born.

“The fact that it’s in utero is even more disturbing because we know that babies who are yet to be born, it is much easier to steal those children, place them in new homes, and for those children to never know or have any memory of their birth mother,” Blagrove said. “For the mother to not have a chance to mother her own child, it’s barbaric, and likens itself back to the times of chattel slavery, when black mothers didn’t have a choice in how they loved and mothered their children.”

Read the full article, ‘Life begins at conception’ court ruling could profoundly affect NC families, legal experts say: https://ow.ly/mvXO50Q71LX

On November 1st, 2023, a group consisting of community members, former Vance Monument Task Force Co-Chairs Deborah Miles and Dr. Oralene Simmons, local Vance family descendant Noel Nickle, Emancipate NC's Community Lawyering Fellow Jaelyn Miller, and Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer gathered at the NC Supreme Court to present oral arguments in favor of removing the Confederate statue located in Buncombe County. The statue's removal is being contested by The Society for the Historical Preservation of the NC 26th Troops.

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Emancipate NC, and the North Carolina Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System (NC CRED), along with community members and Vance family descendants, are supporting the statewide effort to remove the statue. At the argument Justice Anita Earls highlighted the absurdity of the Plaintiff's claims regarding standing and that their argument is inconsistent with prior case law. Apart from Justice Allen, the Justice's who asked questions (Dietz, Riggs, Earls, Allen) were dubious of the Plaintiff's claims that they have standing to sue the City for a statute that the City owns, based on a contract that occurred 8 years ago and does not explicitly or implicitly relate to the statue's continued existence/preservation, or based on a statute that doesn't grant a private right of action, which the NC Supreme Court has held before in monument cases (United Daughters/Winston-Salem).

Allen questioned if the special interest group has standing because the AG is not enforcing the statute. The argument highlighted the impact of Justice Earls on the bench, she named the quiet parts out loud.

Meet Toia Potts, a dedicated Organizer at Emancipate NC. As a parent who has been falsely accused of child abuse and a victim of the family regulation system, Toia is committed to raising awareness about the ways in which CPS separates families. Toia frequently shares her personal experience publicly to educate the people and advocate for parents facing similar issues.

Over the past two and a half years, Toia has served on the Durham Community Safety & Wellness Task Force on the Criminal Legal Roundtable. Alongside other appointed members, they made recommendations for reforming Durham Social Services and Abuse/Neglect/Dependency Court. The report they recently launched on October 28th includes recommendations that could be implemented immediately to make short-term improvements for families. Some of these recommendations include increasing parent-child visitation and providing earlier access to legal representation. They also suggested expanding pre- and post-arrest diversion programs, reducing the use of cash bail, implementing suggestions from survivors of gun violence, establishing an Office of Survivor Care to support victims of violent crime and their families, improving conditions at the Durham jail, and expanding Local Reentry Council services for individuals returning from incarceration.

Read more about Toia on our blog and if any parents, community members, or organizations would like to connect with Toia regarding their experiences, resources, or issues related to the child welfare system, please reach out to her via email [email protected].

On October 28th, 2023, law students, attorneys, professors, social workers, judges, activists, and impacted parents all gathered for a first-of-its-kind conference about the national crisis in the child welfare system. The conference was a huge success and focused on the need for zealous representation of parents enmeshed in involuntary family separation.

In the morning, Toia Potts from Emancipate NC spoke on the "A View From the Ground" panel along with Hon. Dorothy Hairston Mitchell, Jessica Fludd, and Sharice Zachary. Potts shared the injustice she experienced as an impacted parent and how harmful families are impacted in the family policing system.

Later in the day, Emancipate NC’s Elizabeth Simpson discussed the explicit harms of the current system and what it might look like to move toward a society that truly values children and families. Elizabeth spoke on the “Moving Forward” panel with Erin Cloud, Amanda Wallace, and Marcela Middleton.

Thank you to all who came, the conference was widely regarded as a great success!

Presented by Emancipate NC, Operation Stop CPS, and the Movement for Family Power, the new short documentary To Be Invisible by Myah Overstreet, and sponsored by The New Yorker, premiered on October 27th at the People’s Solidarity Hub in Durham, NC. The documentary follows the journeys of Alexis and Kellie, two mothers impacted by Durham’s foster care system, as they fight to reunite with their children after they were removed by Durham County’s child protective services. The community came together for an educational event that featured a lively jazz band and delicious food.

After watching the documentary, a panel discussion was held to talk about the issues of child protective services in Durham. The discussion was moderated by Erin Cloud and included impacted parents Toia Potts and Bashirah McDaniels, along with Amanda Wallace and filmmaker Myah Overstreet. Toia Potts and Bashirah McDaniels discussed their personal experiences of avoidable harm and trauma that the system wrought on their families.

The film will be officially out in 2024, look out for a viewing near you and follow on Instagram at .

An increasing number of state court judges and justices are being targeted by state officials for not advancing their interests. On a recent episode of Broken Law, Taonga Leslie speaks with Dawn Blagrove (Emancipate NC) about how Justice Anita Earls, the only Black justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court, is being targeted for factual remarks she made about the lack of diversity on the NC judiciary. They discuss why the situation in North Carolina should concern everyone who cares about judicial independence and achieving a judiciary that reflects the diversity of the public it serves.

Check out the episode at https://ow.ly/4nVt50Q2bSm

On October 10, 2023, Cierra Cobb from Emancipate NC was invited to speak at the Hospitality HR Summit hosted by Penn State University. During her speech, Cierra emphasized the significance of hiring individuals who have been impacted by the justice system. Her podcast content was well-received by the Penn State students who attended the summit, and they had several questions related to it. These students are aspiring HR managers and plan to create a podcast episode that highlights the importance of hiring justice-impacted people.

Team Emancipate’s Dawn Blagrove participated as a panelist in the 10th Annual Brewed for Excellence event at UNC Charlotte on October 15th, 2023. The panel discussion, entitled "Shaping Tomorrow's Campus: The Affirmative Action Dialogue," aimed to shed light on the purpose of race-conscious admission programs and the transformative impact it has had on college students since its implementation. The panelists analyzed the history, success, and challenges of this policy, promoting a comprehensive understanding of how it has shaped the academic landscape. They also debated the potential effects of overturning it, and how it would negatively impact college campuses.

Dawn also spoke to North Carolina A&T State University’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority social justice event. The topic of the event was focused on educating students about their rights on and off campus. The event was co-chaired by Emancipate NC’s Justice League Fellow, Kylie Rice. As a guest speaker, Dawn incorporated her legal perspective into the conversation about not only educating students about their rights but also about what to do when they’re violated and how to handle police interactions adeptly.

Finally, Dawn also taught a Continuing Legal Education seminar for Law People USA in North Carolina titled Race, Self-Defense and Law Enforcement. Dawn discussed the role of race in self-defense cases and the choices a client faces when law enforcement employs deadly force. Dawn also provided participants with a grounded understanding of the obstacles race can play in mounting a self defense claim.

Emancipate NC’s Jaelyn Miller partnered with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and hosted a screening of a documentary on the creation and success of Durham’s H.E.A.R.T program on October 18th, 2023. Following the documentary Jaelyn led a discussion with the attending community members on ways to get involved with the Raleigh H.E.A.R.T campaign and the campaign’s progress and responses it has received from city officials about bringing a heart to Raleigh.

Community members voiced overwhelming support and excitement about bringing a H.E.A.R.T. program to Raleigh. Our coalition campaign to bring H.E.A.R.T. to Raleigh was covered deeply in the Indy Week last week, with an extensive interview with Jaelyn Miller.

"By dispatching the ACORNS unit or other non-police responders directly through the 911 center, social workers can respond to more calls and connect more people with the resources they need. By establishing an alternative response unit independent of the RPD, officers will also be freed up to respond to calls about violent crime, Miller says.

An unarmed response team, alongside ACORN’s co-response model, would “tremendously cut down on a lot of these incidents [downtown],” Miller argues. If people experiencing drug addiction are able to get help, it will cut down on drug use and drug deals, she says. Housing unsheltered people could cut down on panhandling. Connecting people to mental health services might prevent some incidents of harassment or threats."

“The goal with HEART is to be able to address the root cause and not the symptoms,” Miller says. “Instead of continuing to put them in the cycle that ultimately results in them losing things like Medicaid because of criminal charges, we are proposing a solution.”

Read the full article and learn more about Raleigh’s H.E.A.R.T. campaign: https://ow.ly/khzQ50Q2aiE

Last week, the Indy Week published the op-ed "It’s Time for Durham County and Courthouse Leaders to Engage on Reforms to Foster Care System" by Emancipate NC's Elizabeth Simpson. The piece addresses the state's latest ruling on parental rights and the ongoing issues with Durham's "child welfare" system.

"This week, there was news of a North Carolina Court of Appeals decision about a child with the pseudonym 'Opal' who was taken away from her mother because she was in utero at the time that a half-sibling was abused. State law permits termination of parental rights for any abused child, as well as for any non-abused child who resides in the home at the same time. The Republican appellate judge who wrote the decision reasoned that 'life begins at conception,' so therefore, Opal 'resided in the home' while she was in the womb.

To Durham residents, most of whom are supporters of abortion rights who reject personhood arguments for embryos, this might sound like some kind of Handmaid’s Tale story. What hasn’t been widely reported, however, is that Durham’s own elected judge, Doretta Walker, opened the door to this dangerous legal precedent—one that will surely migrate into state court decisions related to abortion rights—by entering the original order terminating the mother’s parental rights based on a dubious legal theory."

"Americans have been acculturated to think of the so called 'child welfare' system as a force for good, but the reality is that the foster care system embeds the exact same institutional harms that we see play out in the criminal legal system: racial disproportionality; a punitive, rather than restorative mindset; failure to grapple with how trauma and poverty impact people’s lives; bureaucratic backlogs; and an inadequately staffed public defense system."

Read the full op-ed at https://ow.ly/xs1r50Q29UH

Congratulations to Dawn, Cierra, and Kerwin, our Black to the Future Policy Fellows!

Black Futures Lab

Join us in solidarity on Wednesday, November 1st, 2023, to support local and statewide efforts led by Emancipate NC, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty to remove all Confederate monuments in North Carolina. The NC Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments about a case challenging the removal of the Vance monument in Buncombe County. Let's stand together to have all Confederate monuments removed from our state!

Meet us at 9:30 AM on November 1st at the NC State Supreme Court, 2 E Morgan St., Raleigh, to show your support for this critical effort.

Team Emancipate’s Toia Potts is a justice-impacted member of the Durham Community Safety and Wellness Task Force and has served on the committee making recommendations about the legal system, the jail, and the foster care system.

Join Toia for a public event on Saturday, October 28th, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. for the Report Launch Event at the Holton Resource Center, 401 N Driver Street.

All members of the community are encouraged to attend as the matters in the report impact all people in Durham County. During the event, the full set of task force recommendations will be revealed to the public. There will also be an opportunity for community conversations about safety and wellness in Durham, as well as collective imagining. Additionally, we will celebrate the work that has been done so far and look forward to the work that is yet to come.

The city of Salisbury and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Emancipate NC’s client, Stephanie Bottom, a 71-year-old librarian. In 2019, she was pulled out of her car by her hair during a traffic stop while she was driving to a funeral. Bottom claimed that she posed no threat to the police officers who stopped her for driving 80 mph in a 70 mph zone and not obeying blue lights. Her lawsuit filed in federal court stated that, in addition to the rough handling, she suffered a torn rotator cuff and a dislocated shoulder.

Bottom said she’s convinced that her race played a role in the traffic stop. “It’s a matter of driving while Black,” she told The Charlotte Observer.

To access the complete article and follow coverage, go to our blog: emancipatenc.org/blog

Join the Black Light Mass Incarceration Podcast and listen to Vincent Schiraldi, an activist, reformer, and author, along with host Cierra Cobb, as they discuss the intertwined and violent nature of probation and parole. Vincent shares insights from his recently published book, “Mass Supervision, Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom,” providing a unique perspective from his extensive experience both inside and outside the carceral systems.

Throughout the podcast, Cierra and Vincent explore the historical context of mass incarceration that was initiated in the late 1970s by the Nixon administration's War on Drugs. They delve into the relationships between prison, probation, and parole staff members, incarcerated individuals, and their families. They also highlight the disconnection between elected officials and the issues specific to probation and parole, the difficulty in making officials care and effect change, and how probation and parole are becoming increasingly harsh with more surveillance.

Tune in at the link on our blog to hear Vincent's experience implementing reforms and firsthand accounts of trying to enact change through different avenues.

Join us tonight 10/24! To strategize what an alternative response unit looks like! Share widely! Follow for more info and virtual meeting option ♥️

Earlier this month, team Emancipate participated in a Plant and Sip event hosted by Bahr Jervay at Pedal to Petal, a local bike and plant shop in Raleigh. The team members were excited to learn about various types of plants, and they had the chance to get their hands dirty planting a Syngonium Strawberry Shortcake while unwinding from their busy schedule.

Bahr, who is knowledgeable about all things natural, shared his expertise and passion for this stress-reducing activity with everyone present, making it an unforgettable experience for all.

That part!

Lewis Pitts: The flimsy case against Justice Anita Earls More than 1.8 million people in North Carolina voted for Anita Earls in 2018 to become a justice on our NC State Supreme Court. She soundly defeated two Republican opponents,

Meet Cierra Cobb, a dedicated Prison/Jail Family Advocate for Emancipate NC. She works closely with incarcerated individuals and their families, particularly those struggling with mental health issues. Cierra is actively involved in various important projects, including Emancipate NC's Black Light Mass Incarceration Podcast and statewide coalitions seeking the end of solitary confinement and decarceration of state prisons. Cierra is inspired by everyone living in North Carolina’s prisons and jails, but in particular, her husband, Jeffrey Cobb.

One of her current projects involves collaborating with partners from UNC Chapel Hill and Drexel University to address the lack of data about incarcerated individuals with autism. Cierra aims to identify those who are currently incarcerated and have autism, but have not been diagnosed or received appropriate care. Cierra's project also seeks to create a method to identify such individuals through mental health assessments or surveys in collaboration with psychologists.

Additionally, Cierra is advocating for incarcerated individuals to receive the appropriate mental health services to help them cope with ongoing issues that interfere with their daily lives. Currently, she is working on implementing a program that focuses on mindfulness, yoga, and breathing techniques to self-regulate emotions for those struggling with PTSD. Her project is inspired by the polyvagal theory, which studies how our neurophysiology responds to situations and how different therapies can rewrite the impacts of previous trauma.

Finally, Cierra raises awareness about the poor conditions of confinement within jails and prisons in North Carolina. She is committed to making a difference in the lives of incarcerated individuals and their families by advocating for their rights and needs. Stay tuned to learn more about Cierra's crucial projects and initiatives.

Join Emancipate NC, Duke Law School, UNC Law School, and North Carolina Central Law School on October 28th, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for the national conference Keeping Families Together: Crisis in Child Welfare. This conference will be focused on defending parents from involuntary family separation and bring together academics, activists, and attorneys from around the country and North Carolina to analyze the Family Policing regime.

CLE credit is available for North Carolina attorneys.

This is your last opportunity to register for this conference that will be held at Duke Law School.

Join Raleigh HEART coalition tonight for a viewing of this documentary about Durham’s experience with unarmed crisis response for mental health. We need this resource in Raleigh!!

During the Sixth Annual Women of Color Leadership Forum on September 30, 2023, Emancipate NC’s Dawn Blagrove, played a pivotal role in a panel discussion that focused on the challenges faced by rural communities in the Western region of North Carolina. Dawn Blagrove spoke specifically about the voter suppression issues that rural communities face in the state. The discussion highlighted their unique challenges, such as limited access to lending and other essential resources. People of color and women encounter additional obstacles in such areas.

It is worth noting that the Western region of North Carolina has 24 out of its 26 counties designated as rural, thereby presenting specific challenges related to workforce development, access to capital, infrastructure, health, land use, environment, and community preservation. The panel aimed to address these issues and create an avenue for dialogue that will empower allied communities. Please stay tuned for future updates!