By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It was a weekend of tribute, commemorating history, and preparing for a future of continued struggle and needed unity.
Last weekend, the 2026 Joint Annual Conference of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers (NCABL) and the Old North State Medical Society convened at the Hotel Ballast in Wilmington under the theme “Bridging Justice and Health: Collaborative Leadership in an Era of Uncertainty.”
“There is perhaps no better place to explore this theme than Wilmington, a city whose history reminds both of the extraordinary progress we have made and the work that still remains,” said NCABL President Kimberly Moore in a welcome letter to conference attendees.
“This conference is not simply about reflecting on history,” she continued.” It is about learning from history so that we can shape the future.”
And learn attendees did, with a weekend of CLE (continuing legal education) instruction; awards honoring outstanding legal practitioners throughout the state; presentations and panel discussions about important community challenges; and speakers giving their perspectives about access to healthcare, legal and legislative priorities.
On legislative priorities, two of North Carolina’s top Black judicial and legislative leaders warned of decisions and policies from both the Republican-led NC Supreme Court and the NC General Assembly that negatively impact Black North Carolinians.
“We have to be real about what we’re facing,”admonished NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, one of two Democrats currently serving on the state’s high court and the Supreme Court’s only African-American. Justice Earls is currently running for re-election for a second term.
During her “view from the bench,” Justice Earls reminded attendees about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling effectively crippling the 1965 Voting Rights Act and doing away with so-called majority-minority voting districts. Justice Earls added that she’s traveling the state during her campaign to make sure African-Americans understand why that ruling is important to them, and why they need to ”recognize and understand” what is happening at the state level.
“And how the state Supreme Court has contributed to the challenges [that we face],” she said.
` Justice Earls recounted how the state’s Republican-led high court reversed the Leandro decision, which a previous Democratic-led state Supreme Court upheld to ensure that public schools in North Carolina’s poorest counties receive the same funding as the state’s richest counties to uphold the North Carolina constitutional guarantee that every child has the right to receive “a sound basic education.”
“People need to understand that while it’s the legislature’s role to enforce education policy, it’s the court’s role to enforce educational rights,” Justice Earls said.
Earls also talked about how the court has allowed utility companies in the East charge exorbitant rates to the point where people with no air conditioning and no fans can’t afford their electric bills in 100 degree heat, and are having their power cut off until they pay their outstanding bills off in full.
One Black family in Rocky Mount who was behind in their electric bill, died from the fumes of a gas-powered generator that was inside their trailer home.
Earls said state law requires that energy rates should be set at the lowest for consumers, and the state high court is not enforcing the state law to protect.
Justice Earls said things in North Carolina are “so extreme right now,” that it is “easier to vote in Mississippi than in North Carolina.” She added that funding for legal aid, which helps those who need legal assistance to address evictions and domestic violence but can’t afford it, has been been cut by the legislature.
Earls also cited HB 377, a bill that allows Chief Justice Paul Newby to suspend without pay any trial judge under investigation in the state, a power that Justice Earls says no other chief justice in the country has.
When Justice Earls was under investigation for alleged comments she made about how the Republican-led state Supreme Court operated, if HB 377 had been in place, she would have been suspended by Newby without pay.
On Monday, Gov. Stein vetoed HB 377, saying that it would have a “chilling effect” on the state’s judicial independence.” He also vetoed House Bill 958, which made several changes to early primary voting.
Finally, Justice Earls shared more data that she said was “distressing” that Black attorneys would understand.
“From January 2023 when Republicans took charge of our [Supreme Court] until December 2025, during those three years, our court issued opinions in 66 criminal cases, and we ruled for the state in 63. We never ruled for a retrial in any one of them.”
“We are really [seeing] a concentration of power in the hands of a few in a way that is really hard for the public to understand,” Earls said. “We really are facing a challenge.”
NC Democratic Leader Robert Reives (D – Chatham) delivered the view from the NC House, and his message to his colleagues was simple – “We’ve got to do more.”
Reives recounted how the Republican majority in the NC House has done damage eliminating DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) from state government agencies, schools and universities. Leader Reives said yes, the community must vote come November, but in order to bring about the real change that is needed, more must be done beyond voting.
“We’re only one generation in for having rights,” Rep. Reives told his Black legal and medical colleagues, warning them that government is being weaponized against their community. “We have got to get involved. You say it’s time to vote? It’s way past that time! You are leaders in your community. You are a professional in your community. Your community is good to you. Let’s be good to our community. Let’s do more than vote. Let’s get active!”
