Panelists at North Carolina Central University say acknowledging and honoring the history of Juneteenth is the best way to move toward racial equity in the criminal Justice system.
Two North Carolina Supreme Court justices and one retired superior court judge emphasized the importance of applying the law equally during the NCCU event.
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"If there is to be sanctity in the law, it has to be applied fairly and uniformly to everybody, regardless of what you may look like," retired superior court judge Gregory Weeks said.
A 2020 report from Governor Cooper's task force for racial equity in criminal justice shows black adults in the US are 5.9 times as likely to be incarcerated than white adults.
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls was the co-chair of that task force.
"One of our very first recommendations after meeting was that there should be implicit bias and racial equity training for all justice system actors," Earls said.
When asked whether citizens can trust the court system, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan had a message of hope.
"I am not going to give up on our system," Morgan said. "Justices come and go. Judges come and go. Institutions remain."
Students from the NCCU law school's summer program attended the event. The four women say there is work to be done and their generation will be the one to do it.
"We still have a lot of changes to do today within our system and within our government as well," said Myriah Fox, a Florida A&M student.
"We have to realize that Juneteenth is a celebration, but it's also a point of remembrance of where we can go from here to make the country better as a whole," said Tougaloo College student Lachassity Jackson.
That celebration at NC Central also featured local musicians, poets, and actors.