Blog Entry

SCSJ Attends the Social Forum #3

Written by Garrett Sumner, Organizing Intern On Thursday, the first workshop I attended was entitled “Globalization, Criminalization, and Managed Migration: Root Causes and Immigration Rights,” presented by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. We talked about the different forces which drive international migration and expanded the discussion beyond the typical US and Latin American model. For example, we talked about the trade agreement between Italy and Libya, which allows Italy access to Libya’s natural resources. In turn, Italy provides foreign aid to Libya. However, the agreement stipulates that Libya must use most of this aid to enforce immigration policies to limit migration to Italy. Thus, the aid directly benefits Italy itself while, suffering Libyans are unable to migrate to the country that benefits off of their natural resources.

The second workshop I attended was titled “Israeli Apartheid, International Solidarity and Water Justice.” We discussed the detrimental water use policies in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and how Israel diverts Palestinian water as a means of collective punishment. The workshop turned into a healthy dialogue about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and we deconstructed the “us vs. them” mentality often present in the discourse about the conflict.

Later, I walked through Detroit, witnessing at once its lost grandeur and its current deprivation. The plight of the city’s economy was apparent as businesses throughout the city were closed. While its architecture, constructed with past automobile money, seemingly displayed a titan of industry, there are now entire blocks of unoccupied or abandoned buildings. The US Social Forum is an appropriate first step for a city moving forward.

Judge Greg Mathis: stop discrimination against ex-offenders

Judge Greg Mathis, formerly the youngest person to ever hold the post of superior court judge in Michigan, as well as the host of the popular court show Judge Mathis, has written an op-ed about employment discrimination against ex-offenders in Electronic Urban Report. According to Mathis: "Every year, more than 700,000 people are released from state and federal prisons: they all need to find work so that they may support themselves and their families, contribute to their communities and to ensure poverty, frustration and desperation don’t force them to return to a life of crime." SCSJ has been promoting a fair hiring campaign to "Ban the Box", which would remove at the initial state of the employment process questions that ask whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime or been incarcerated . Durham has also recently considered passing an ordinance against this form of discrimination in order to help residents get jobs "based on their current credentials rather than their past indiscretions."

my experience as an scsj intern

During the summer, SCSJ hosts several interns from undergraduate and law school programs around the state and beyond. Here are the reflections of one of our undergraduate interns, Michael Sloan. My experience working with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) this summer has truly been a wonderful opportunity. When my Constitutional Law professor at Howard University discovered that I was from Durham, North Carolina and was seeking an internship in the area he immediately referred me to SCSJ, where he knew Executive Director Anita Earls. Having been a life-long resident of Durham, it came as a surprise to me that I hadn’t previously heard of the Southern Coalition. Upon researching the organization, I was very impressed with their work and felt that an internship where I had the opportunity to work alongside SCSJ’s staff attorneys would prove fruitful and educational. As an undergraduate student and aspiring attorney, I had never considered working for a non-profit organization as a viable career pathway for someone in my field—until now. To be quite honest, I can’t even say I knew a great deal about the inner workings of a non-profit. Over the past couple of months, I have ascertained a great understanding as to how a non-profit functions. It has broadened my scope, opening my eyes the many career pathways there are in the field of law. I primarily work under the tutelage of staff attorney Allison Riggs, who does a lot of work with voting rights and redistricting cases. Coming into the internship, I had a limited understanding of the role redistricting plays in our American political structure. It is an integral aspect of American politics and arguably one of the most self-interested and partisan as well. The drawing of legislative districts has a direct affect on who gets elected in local and presidential elections, so it’s no wonder that politicians and elected officials fight tooth-and-nail over district lines. On a day-to-day basis, my tasks usually include researching information and collating data that can be used to determine if a law or political decision has disproportionately impacted any one group of people—primarily minorities. One of my most enriching experiences as an intern was attending a county meeting in North Carolina where elected officials and community leaders had called upon SCSJ to develop a redistricting plan that gave them a fair chance of getting a minority district drawn. I saw these officials and leaders going back and forth about the politics of drawing district lines and the affect that a poor decision could potentially have on their community. That experience added color, life, and meaning to the standard office work I see on a daily basis. Its one thing to sit behind a desk looking up information and statistics, but it’s quite another experiencing how that research plays out in the lives of real people. As one of the only undergraduate interns, I have also benefited from working alongside law school interns. They have given me great insight into what I can expect from law school and how I should prepare. I believe am abreast of the challenges law school shall surely present; however, I feel resolve in knowing that I am better equipped with the tools necessary to be most successful. As the summer comes to a close, I can really appreciate the edifying experience I have had here at SCSJ. While the organization maintains a professional environment, it is not in the least bit stuffy. I have enjoyed the relaxed and familial atmosphere of the office. As a non-profit still in its infancy, the staff can be classified a small, close-knit group of individuals who value a warm work environment. Going forward, I wish SCSJ much success as it continues to grow and build a name for itself across the nation. With each successful case, be it on behalf of one or many, SCSJ is leaving a lasting imprint on the community it has helped. It is the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and like-minded organizations that are the true do-gooders of our communities. They have shown me, above all else, that real honor in this line of work comes from fighting on behalf those without means to fight for themselves. Put simply, SCSJ gets it right.

Holding law enforcement accountable

The best way to hold law enforcement accountable is to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! SCSJ's Anita Earls participated in a police accountability workshop in Williamston, North Carolina on Saturday, April 10. Representatives from the National NAACP Criminal Justice Program presented information about the NAACP’s national Rapid Report System, a user-friendly, online reporting tool for witnesses or victims of police misconduct. The innovative RRS form allows residents to send instant texts, emails, or video reports of police abuse to the Association via cell phone. If you experience or witness an incident involving police misconduct of any nature, report it from your mobile phone or on this web form e. Keeping records of law enforcement misconduct is critical for pursuing reform. Report any misconduct you witness and Know Your Rights!

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 the NAACP in Texas Redistricting Case

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice has been representing the Texas State Conference of Branches of the NAACP in ongoing litigation over Texas’s statewide redistricting plans. On Friday, November 25, a three-judge panel in Texas ordered the implementation of a court-drawn interim plan for Congressional elections in 2012. This plan corrects almost all of the major problems that the NAACP identified in the state’s enacted plan. In the court-drawn plan, Congressional Districts 9, 18, and 30—districts currently electing the candidates of choice of African-American voters—are not weakened, as they were in the state’s enacted plan. The court-drawn plan respects the cores of the district and does not split significant communities of interest, as the state plan did. The court’s drawing of these districts in a way that respects the integrity of the districts and complies with the Voting Rights Act makes even clearer the discriminatory intent that infected the drawing of minority districts in the state’s plan. In the state’s enacted plan, Texas had purposefully destroyed a Congressional District 25, a multi-ethnic coalition district based in Austin. The state’s plan carved up East Austin, a historically significant African American community that had always been represented by a single representative, into multiple districts, in order to dilute the voting strength of African American voters in that area. The court’s plan retained the core of CD 25, and kept East Austin intact. Finally, the court-drawn plan creates a new African-American opportunity district in Tarrant County, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. After the 2010 Census, Texas gained 4 Congressional representatives because of population growth of the last decade—population growth that was almost entirely from increases in Latino and African-American population. Despite this fact, the congressional plan that Texas drew created no new African-American opportunity districts and no net increase in Latino opportunity districts. Congressional District 33 is majority-minority, with African-Americans constituting a strong plurality of the citizen voting age population. The drawing of Congressional District 33 is fair and complies with the Voting Rights Act, and will enable the minority community in the Dallas-Fort Worth region to elect a candidate of their choice.

Department of Justice Issues an Objection to Redistricting Plans in Greene County

Last week community members in Greene County, Georgia succeeded in convincing the Department of Justice to issue an objection to the County’s proposed redistricting plans. Using its authority under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the Department prevented the implementation of new election districts that would have prevented black voters in the county from being able to elect candidates of their choice. In the objection letter dated April 13th, 2012, the Assistant Attorney General writes, “The elimination of both ability-to-elect districts was unnecessary and avoidable. Although there has been a decrease in the black share of the county’s population over the past ten years, the ability to draw at least one black ability-to-elect district still existed.” This victory was a result of the efforts of the local NAACP chapter, and African American leaders who paid close attention to the redistricting process, and then organized to ensure their voices were heard. SCSJ board member, Jerry Wilson, who lives in Greene County, helped to ensure that the local group got the assistance they needed. . He says that SCSJ played an important support role. Community members attended meetings, engaged county commissioners and school board members opposed to the proposed changes, drew alternative maps demonstrating it was possible to maintain an ability-to elect district for Black voters, and wrote letters talking about how they would be affected by the changes. The objection is significant for Black Belt counties like this one in Georgia. Over 60% of the county formerly was African American, before an influx of white retirees, people moving out of Atlanta, and investors began to settle in the area and developed major resorts around Lake Oconee. According the 2010 census, the county is now only 38.4% African American. Without this action by the Department of Justice, black voters in the county would have lost their voice in local government.

SCSJ Secures Legal Victory for Heirs' Property Preservation

Thanks to efforts led by Southern Coalition for Social Justice families with heirs' property can sleep a little more soundly this evening. On January 21, 2011, the North Carolina State Bar Council approved 2009 Formal Ethics Opinion 8. Most significantly, this ethics opinion limits the circumstances in which an attorney for property developers can also serve as a commissioner selling the land in question. This clear conflict of interest can result in one attorney driving a difficult to understand process that results in the loss of property that has been in a family for centuries. “Partition actions are still a danger to families with heirs’ property, which is particularly common in rural African-American families. And, while it cannot solve all problems relating to partition actions, 2009 FEO 8 makes these proceedings a little more equitable for those trying to hang out to their ancestral lands,” said SCSJ staff attorney Chris Brook. Picture: The Freeman family stands on Freeman Beach, a historically black-owned beachfront property located at the north end of Carolina Beach that was the only beach accessible to African Americans in the South during Jim Crow years. SCSJ represents Freeman family heirs in preserving the land from a takeover by a developer.

Human Trafficking: Combating modern-day slavery on North Carolina farms

Agricultural production in North Carolina is 46 billion dollar industry which involves the fifth most farmworkers of any state (Legal Aid of NC). For tens of thousands of farmworkers, it’s an industry which remains seeped in extreme exploitation and, for some workers, modern-day slavery. The issue of human trafficking has become a point of action for the governments across the world, while here in North Carolina,(the Southern Coalition for Social Justice) is teaming up Student Action with Farmworkers Student Action with Farmworkers to build awareness about and to combat human trafficking on NC’s farms. What is Human Trafficking? Human trafficking, defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) is any recruiting, harboring, moving, obtaining, or maintaining of a person by fraud, force, or coercion, for a commercial sex act, involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery. In 2007, at a time when the US Senate was fiercely debating immigration reform, the New York Times published a story about a guest worker from Thailand, Worawut Khansamrit, which described the horrors of fraudulent recruiting and labor trafficking in North Carolina. The story is simple, proving that human trafficking could happen to anyone. Mr. Khansamrit, a former farmer in Thailand, mortgaged his family farm in Thailand for the opportunity to work in North Carolina. Mr. Khansamrit was promised to make more than thirty times what he made in Thailand, which would have allowed him the ability to afford his daughter a quality education. When Mr. Khansamrit arrived in North Carolina, the job he was promised no longer existed, which led him to working in New Orleans cleaning up debris from Hurricane Katrina, a job for which he was never paid. This story is repeated by many of the 120,000 guest workers per year allowed to get work visas. Guest workers fill a historical role in the work force in the US, a role based on paltry wages, no rights, and horrid working conditions. Faced with systematic exploitation, similar to the former plantations of yesteryear, the workers are faced with an assault on their basic human rights and little way out. What are signs of Human Trafficking? Human trafficking can be broken into two basic different forms; commercial sex trafficking, labor and service trafficking. Traffickers, including recruiters, pimps, small business owners, and criminal networks, are driven by enormous profits and huge demand for trafficked people to be exploited in labor and in sex work. Victims of human trafficking are controlled by constant threats of violence, confiscation of identification documents, threats towards the victim’s family, threats of deportation, debt bondage, isolation from one’s community and the public, and language barriers. Signs of human trafficking include involvement in commercial sex work, underpayment for work, confiscation of documents, lack of physical mobility, denial of communication, threats if a worker wants to leave, and a different work situation than promised. Trafficking does not require smuggling or forced movement, movement across borders or physical abuse. What is being done? Mr. Khansamrit and 21 other Thail workers, with the help of Legal Aid of North Carolina, filed a class action lawsuit against several labor contractors and farm owners in North Carolina for fraud, breach of contract, minimum wage violations and illegal human trafficking. Yet this is not the usual case for most people who are victims of human trafficking. The US State Department, as well as governments across the world, are working hard to combat human trafficking. This summer, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice has had the great opportunity to have an intern with Student Action with Farmworkers Into the Fields program who has been researching, compiling information, and designing popular education workshops about the trafficking of farmworkers in North Carolina. Also, we have been reaching out to farmworker camps, low-cost clinics that serve farmworkers, and partnering with Legal Aid of North Carolina's Farmworker Unit to combat human trafficking. Through these efforts, we have been building community awareness about the illegality of human trafficking and the legal remedies for trafficked farmworkers. “This means that the fear workers once had of being deported can be exchanged with the hope people now have of obtaining a Visa and social services if they have been a victim of trafficking,” said Cris Kontopidis, “Into the Fields” intern with SCSJ. “Our goal is to eventually reach all the locations where trafficking takes place in North Carolina, from the most urban to the most remote, and raise the awareness that people can have a way out, and reduce the potential for trafficking to continue happening,” said Kontopidis. For more information check out Legal Aid of NC Farmworker Unit Legal Aid of NC Farmworker Unit The Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Collateral Damage of the War on Drugs

Over a decade ago Benjamin was convicted of misdemeanor possession of marijuana.  Watch how his life was changed forever:

Collateral Consequences: Benjamin’s Story
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Ban the Box: from a fellow member of the Second Chance Alliance

Daryl V. Atkinson, a Staff Attorney in the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services recently wrote the following op-ed for the NC Public Defender Association newsletter. SCSJ works with Mr. Atkinson as part of the Second Chance Alliance in support of the Ban the Box campaign for fair hiring. People with criminal records suffer from pervasive discrimination in many areas of life, including employment, housing, education, and eligibility for many forms of social service benefits. “Ban the Box” is a fair hiring campaign that seeks to end the employment discrimination faced by people with criminal records. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the criminal background check industry has grown tremendously. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management more than 90% percent of companies reported using criminal background checks for their hiring decisions. For many companies, criminal background checks have become the primary screening tool for prospective employees. However, these background checks often return information that is inaccurate, outdated, and unrelated (from any reasonable perspective) to the applicant’s fitness for a particular position. Ban the Box ordinances remove the questions about an applicant’s criminal history from the initial stages of the employment process so the hiring authority can first get an opportunity to learn about the candidate's experience, skills and personality as they relate to the position to be filled. Delaying the criminal background check until an applicant has been made a conditional offer of employment has improved the employment outcomes for people with criminal records. For example, Minneapolis passed a Ban the Box ordinance in 2007. Prior to the ordinance, only 6% of people with tarnished records were able to find work. After the Ban the Box measure was passed, this figure jumped to 60%, without any increase in theft or violence in the workplace. No other public policy has been shown to provide this level of improvement in transforming people with criminal records into responsible and productive tax-paying citizens. To date, over twenty cities and five states across the country have passed Ban the Box laws. The policy has proven to benefit potential employees, employers, and communities at large. Workers benefit because Ban the Box ordinances remove the chilling effect that questions about criminal records have on job applicants. Moreover, delaying the inquiry into an applicant’s criminal history levels the playing field by allowing the applicant to be judged on all of their qualifications and experience, not just their criminal record. Employers benefit from having an increased pool of applicants to choose from and reduced human resource expenses because they are not conducting unnecessary background checks on unqualified applicants. Finally, the community benefits from increased public safety and reduced corrections costs. In sum, Ban the Box is a win-win proposition for people with criminal records, prospective employers, and society as a whole. Currently, the North Carolina Second Chance Alliance is encouraging the City Councils and County Commissions in Durham and Raleigh, NC to pass Ban the Box ordinances.