“Death Penalty – Racist Roots” by Noel Nickle

It has been sixteen years since the last execution in North Carolina, yet the death penalty remains on the books. To honor this anniversary, please join the NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) for a presentation and screening of the film Racist Roots. This 25-minute film, created by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, exposes the death penalty’s deep entanglement with slavery, lynching and racism. The film highlights the diverse voices that are central to the movement to end North Carolina’s death penalty and reminds us why we must work together to ensure that state-sponsored executions are never again carried out in our names. Following the film, NCCADP Director Noel Nickle will facilitate a conversation focused on the movement to end the death penalty in our state.

Noel Nickle (she/her/hers) serves as the executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Noel has worked as a mitigation specialist on trial and post-conviction death penalty cases in North and South Carolina since 2006. Working with attorneys from The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, Noel secured life sentences for two individuals previously sentenced to death. Noel has a long history of community organizing in opposition to the death penalty, including her leadership in a successful community effort for the Asheville City Council to adopt a resolution supporting a moratorium on the death penalty. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Noel founded a social media group (WNC Response to COVID-19 For Those In Custody) for families who have loved ones in jail and prison custody and advocated for early release for incarcerated individuals. Noel is deeply committed to the principles and practices of restorative and transformative justice. She has a master’s in social work from UNC-Chapel Hill and lives in Asheville.