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(Graham, N.C.) – A N.C. court this afternoon rejected the extraordinary prosecutorial effort to ban Reverend Gregory Drumwrightleader of the Oct. 31 “I Am Change” march in Graham, N.C., from all Alamance County propertyThe Alamance County Sheriff office recently issued felony charges against Reverend Drumwright and misdemeanor charges against two other members of Rev. Drumwright’s organization, Justice for the Next Generation. The proposed ban was to be placed on only Rev. Drumwright as a condition of his pre-trial release pending resolution of the trumped-up charges, which came more than two weeks after his arrest on Oct. 31, at which time he was charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse.

The following is a statement from Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:

“We are gratified that this attempt to stop Reverend Drumwright from continuing his racial justice activism by banishing him from all county property has been rejected by the court. Such a banishment provision would constitute yet another form of intimidation against North Carolinians by local officials seeking to silence protest against police misconduct and institutional racism in Alamance County. Efforts to banish Black people merely because of their work to fight for racial justice is a new form of modern-day Jim Crow.” 

Background:
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and ACLU of North Carolina filed a lawsuit against Graham Police Chief Kristy Cole and Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson on Nov. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. The lawsuit aimed to protect protesters’ rights to free speech and assembly under the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as rights protected under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. Police violence over the weekend is cited as a violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was initially enacted to protect the suffrage rights of formerly enslaved people, including by protecting them and their supporters from violence, intimidation, and harassment.  

Legal Challenge Results in Transparency and Protections for People Protesting in Graham, N.C.
Graham, NC. Assault on Peaceful Voting Rights March is Voter Suppression
N.C. Protesters Will Need Protections on Eve of the Election, Lawsuit Contends   

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The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all, particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and hate crimes.  For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org