Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court broke new ground for a state court in the South. Not only did the justices nullify a death sentence poisoned by racism, they also spoke directly to the death penalty’s “egregious legacy” of racially discriminatory application. “The same racially oppressive beliefs that fueled segregation manifested themselves through public lynchings," the court wrote, "the disproportionate application of the death penalty against African-American defendants, and the exclusion of African-Americans from juries.”