This morning, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation (ACLU-NCLF), the North Carolina Justice Center, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice launched an investigation into the practice of targeting Latino churchgoers by the Zebulon Police Department and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.

The North Carolina organizations supporting the Trail of Dreams are inspired by the Dream Walkers' courageous commitment to their vision and to their journey from Miami to Washington, DC, to demand justice for all immigrants.

We welcome the walkers into North Carolina as activists challenging multiple oppressions and look to connect their stories and struggles with organizing work of all oppressed communities in the South.

We support their demands for fair and humane immigration reform, access to college education, workers' rights, and an end to unjust immigration enforcement policies. As organizations engaged in immigrants' rights work, we support the leadership and self-determination of those most directly affected by unjust policies. We also honor their place in a long history of social justice movements in our state in which young people have played a leading role.

As each walker shares his or her story, it touches everyone - even to those who do not agree with their demands. We believe that storytelling humanizes policies and is a powerful tool for transformation. The courage of the walkers as they challenge injustice, in spite of the risks they face as undocumented youth, has brought energy and inspiration to our work in North Carolina. We honor them by continuing our work building and strengthening local and statewide movements for immigrant justice, human and civil rights, and progressive social change.

Adelante Education Coalition of North Carolina
North Carolina Justice Center
Reform Immigration For America
Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Student Actions with Farmworkers

To learn more, check out our Blog, Press Release, or some of this great press coverage by The News & Observer, The Herald Sun, and 1360 WHCL.

Breaking News: Supreme Court Ruling on Voting Rights Act, Court Upholds Full and Equal Right to Vote
On Monday, June 22nd, in a case in which SCSJ joined an amicus brief submitted on behalf of grassroots organizations in the south, the Supreme Court did not strike down any part of the recently reauthorized Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional and instead held that all jurisdictions should be allowed to "bailout" if they have compiled with the Act's requirements. SCSJ argued to the Court that Section 5 of the Act, the "preclearance" requirement, is an important protection for minority voting rights. That provision will now continue to be in effect. Click here to read the Court's 8 - 1 decision.