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Unless Gov. Roy Cooper acts in the next few weeks, he will become the first North Carolina governor in at least 40 years – and potentially more than 200 years ­– to refuse to grant a single commutation or pardon. He has not used his commutation or pardon power at all to protect medically vulnerable people incarcerated during the pandemic.

Members of the coalition have been standing vigil in-person outside the governor’s mansion and in solidarity online since the election and will continue to until Inauguration Day to bring attention to the Administration’s ongoing failure to prioritize and appropriately protect Black lives, and the lives of those who are incarcerated.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, November 15, 2020, the Vigil for Freedom and Racial Justice will hold its first socially distanced public event outside the governor’s mansion, at 298 E. Jones St, Raleigh. 

North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman will lead the group in a “Second Chance Sunday” sermon and then a few speakers will discuss the vigil and how they’ve been impacted by the Administration’s failure to act. 

Ronnie Long, a Concord, N.C., man whose conviction was vacated in August after being wrongfully incarcerated for 44 years, will also be present on Saturday. While Long’s conviction was eventually vacated through the courts, the Governor did not respond to requests to commute his sentence despite clear evidence of police misconduct and his Covid-19 risk while his case was pending. He now is waiting for a pardon of innocence. 

Members of the coalition started standing vigil on Nov. 4 and will be 12 days into the 58-day event by Sunday. There will be time at the event to take questions from the press. The event will also be livestreamed on the Vigil Facebook page.