Blog
Justice is Served in Alamance!
In October 2021 and in December 2022, we covered developments in an Alamance County defamation suit against a Black anti-racist activist, Dejuana Bigelow, and the role that Emancipate NC has played in the case over time. Last week, Ms. Bigelow and her attorneys, Erika...
Lunch & Learn with Movement for Family Power and Operation Stop CPS
The Family Policing ("child welfare") System tears families apart rather than providing them the resources they need to thrive. It's time to build the power of families struggling against this system. Next Friday, June 16, at 12:00pm, Emancipate...
Dawn and Ben Crump Team Up Again to Represent the Family of James Lanier
James Lanier, a Black man, was unarmed, unclothed, and suffering from a mental health crisis when he was tased, shot, and killed by police in February outside a mini mart in his hometown of Wallace, NC. Lanier had struggled with schizophrenia from a young age; police...
Locked Up 20 Years for a Crime You Didn’t Commit
Have you shared and subscribed to the Black Light Mass Incarceration Show yet? Host Cierra Cobb is dropping new episodes every Thursday full of intimate, earnest, heart-wrenching, and inspiring stories. From the 17-year-old convicted for decades on...
Settlement Reached in Irving v Raleigh
Photo credit: Cornell Watson (Kenya Walton (L) and Yolanda Irving (R)) On May 23, 2023, the Plaintiffs in Yolanda Irving et al. v. City of Raleigh et al., reached a settlement in their federal lawsuit with the City of Raleigh for $350,000.* Plaintiffs—two Black...
Team Emancipate Meets with USDOJ About Raleigh Police
On Wednesday, Team Emancipate met with attorneys from the Civil Rights Section of the United States Department of Justice. USDOJ agreed to meet with us after we sent a letter detailing systematic constitutional violations by the Raleigh Police Department (RPD). ...
More Witnesses Speak Out about the Harms of Durham DSS
When Mrs. Priscilla Smith shared the story of how the Durham Department of Social Services (DSS) mistreated her family, it inspired several others to come forward. Three additional individuals have offered their own painfully similar accounts of how Durham DSS and the...
Support LGBTQ+ Rights at Drag Trivia
Please support our friends at the Pauli Murray Bar Association by attending a drag trivia event next month. They stepped up to host it after the North Carolina Bar Association suddenly canceled the event out of fear of the homophobic and transphobic political climate...
Dawn Pens Op-Ed for Mental Health Awareness Month
Emancipate NC Executive Director Dawn Blagrove writes an urgent call for action in Raleigh this Mental Health Awareness Month: Helplessness. Fear. Internal turmoil. These are just a few of the emotions you may feel if a loved one was having a mental health crisis. You...
Grandmother of Disabled Baby Institutionalized by DSS Returns to Durham to Call for Change
Image credit: WRAL News The harm inflicted on Priscilla Smith’s family by the Durham Department of Social Services was so excruciating that she hopes no other family ever has to endure the same pain. Smith, who now lives in Ohio, joined Emancipate NC at a press...
Emancipate NC & Ben Crump Renew Call for Justice for Darryl Williams
Image credit: ABC 11 News Last Friday, after meeting with Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, national civil rights attorney Ben Crump joined again with Emancipate’s Dawn Blagrove at a press conference to call for the termination and criminal prosecution of...
An Afternoon of Awards with Angela Y. Davis
None other than abolitionist visionary Angela Y. Davis was in North Carolina last month to deliver the keynote address at Blueprint NC’s annual awards celebration. Emancipate NC staff and their families attended to receive the two awards for which Emancipate had been...
Tim Smith Talks with Cierra About Grief
In the most recent episode of the Black Light Mass Incarceration Show, host Cierra Cobb interviews Timothy Smith about how experiencing the death of his daughter while incarcerated profoundly changed him. By its nature, this podcast does not deal in light topics. A...
Emancipate NC Launches Parent Support Group
Struggling with Child Protective Services (CPS)? You’re not alone. Looking for support carrying the burden of parenthood? You’re not alone. On Saturday, May 27, 2 - 5pm, Team Emancipate’s Toia Potts will be hosting the first Healthy Healing Parent Support Group event....
Kerwin Attends 2023 NC Second Chance Lobby Day
Earlier this month, Kerwin Pittman joined up with the North Carolina Second Chance Alliance for its annual Second Chance Lobby Day at the General Assembly. This coalition comprises a statewide group of people with criminal records, their family members, service...