Blog
Protest Defense Update
Photo was taken by Associate Director Elizabeth Simpson while legal observing in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 30, 2020. It has been more than a year since the summer of BLM protests that rocked North Carolina, demanding righteous and transformative change to the...
Defending The Right of Witnesses in Alamance County
Photo credit to the News & Observer October 4, 2021, Executive Director Dawn Blagrove pushed back against the systemic and institutional racism that permeates Alamance County by representing two Black women. These women are witnesses in a defamation case brought...
Emancipate NC Files Writ of Mandamus
On September 30, 2021, Associate Director Elizabeth Simpson filed a writ of mandamus in Wake County Superior Court against Prison Commissioner Todd Ishee to compel him to transfer Ashlee Inscoe from a men’s prison to a women’s prison. Ms. Inscoe is a female intersex...
Wake DA & Challenger Go On the Record
Emancipate NC hosted a panel discussion on The Future of Wake County Criminal Justice Reform with Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, Wake County District Attorney Candidate Damon Chetson, Emancipate NC’s Kerwin Pittman, and Save Our Sons’ Dr. Kimberly...
Poetic Justice 2021 Recap
Emancipate NC’s Poetic Justice 2021 was a powerful testimony. Our Advocate, Cierra Cobb, and our Poet-in-Residence, Hausson Byrd, curated our poets. Cierra cultivated five currently-incarcerated poets: Phillip Vance Smith, II, Timothy Johnson, Larry...
Oust Pretend Progressives
By: Attorney Dawn Blagrove, Executive Director of Emancipate NC As recent months have unfolded, many Americans, and people of color especially have been forced to wrestle with feelings of powerlessness. We are bombarded with news of threats to the dreams of...
We Demand NCDPS Transfer Ashlee
A coalition of legal and gender justice advocates is taking action to demand the transfer of Ashlee Inscoe, an intersex, transgender woman currently housed in a men’s prison in North Carolina, citing Eighth Amendment requirements. Emancipate NC Associate Director...
Join Us: The Future of Wake County Criminal Justice Reform
Please join Emancipate NC Executive Director Dawn Blagrove and Emancipate NC Organizer Kerwin Pittman for a nonpartisan panel discussion on local justice reform, prosecution, and racial equity in Wake County. Emancipate NC and Save Our Sons representative, Kimberly...
A Step Toward Progress: SB 300
Image depicts Kerwin Pittman (left), standing behind Governor Roy Cooper as he signs SB 300 into law on September 2, 2021. On September 2, 2021, Governor Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 300: Criminal Justice Reform into law, aligning with some of the recommendations of...
When White Hypocrisy Meets Policy: The Dangerous Case of HB805
Essay by J Hallen; Photo Credit The Daily Tar Heel Whenever the brutality of state-sanctioned repression reaches a certain extreme, the people of this nation rise up against the never-ending wave of police brutality, police murders, and targeted mass incarceration....
“I Wanted To Find A Way To Give People Hope”
Photo depicts Phillip Vance Smith II. Currently, in North Carolina, there are 1627 incarcerated people who are sentenced to life in prison (News and Observer). Phillip Vance Smith II and Tim Johnson are two of them. In an environment where two out of three meals a day...
Emancipate NC Launches Police Misconduct Database
Grievances against law enforcement officers and police disciplinary records are usually kept secret from the public due to state laws that shield them from scrutiny. These laws protect bad police officers at the expense of the public's right to know. Today,...
“Y’all Gave Me a Glimmer of Hope”
Associate Director Elizabeth Simpson represented Emancipate NC client Sandy Dowell Marriner in her bid to marry her long-term partner, Amanda Marriner, in 2019, and in her attempts to secure release from a life sentence during the COVID-19...
Opposing the Anti-Protest Bill
Kerwin Pittman gave powerful testimony at the General Assembly on H.B. 805, the anti-political protest bill that would create felony penalties for activities deemed to be “riots” and any “assault” on emergency personnel, even without the causation of a physical...
O.P.P.: Oust Pretend Progressives
Emancipate NC will participate in the Taking Power Summit with Community Change and the Black Freedom Collective to celebrate the resilience of Black people on August 24 and 25. Check out the promo video, featuring Executive Director Dawn...