ACLU Archives - Rolling Out

A Texas woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for exercising what she thought was her civic right to vote is seeking to have the decision in her case overturned. Crystal Mason, a resident of Forth Worth, Texas, submitted her provisional ballot in 2016 and was subsequently accused and convicted of voter fraud.…

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Roula David, vice president of 1xRUN and founder and executive director of Murals in the Market, says that she is grateful that 1xRUN could collaborate on a project like the “Your Vote Matters” community art series where art is used in such a meaningful way. 1xRUN is a Detroit-based gallery and art publisher. During this…

In Detroit along Woodward Avenue downtown, or on Livernois south of Six Mile, or down Joy Road, brightly colored murals with “Your Vote Matters” messages emblazoned on the sides of buildings command a striking and bold presence. As a part of efforts to promote conversations around voters’ rights the ACLU of Michigan in partnership with…

The ACLU of Michigan in partnership with MichiganVoting.org, a coalition of statewide organizations, launched an aggressive information campaign designed to educate the public about their voting rights. Particularly important to this campaign, branded “40 Days of Early Voting,” is education around Proposal 3, which passed in 2018 and expands access to the ballot by authorizing…

Nearly 200,000 citizens in Georgia were wrongly removed from the voting rolls in the last election, according to a study that was released on Wednesday, Sept. 02, 2020. Experts conducted a study called “Advanced Address List Hygiene,” a method of residential address verification that was paid for by the nonpartisan journalism group, Palast Investigative Fund.…

The ACLU’s Christopher Bruce comments on the chain of events in the Ahmaud Arbery case.

Christopher Bruce is the political director for the ACLU of Georgia. Bruce has been a leader in the fight for civil rights and liberties across the state and country. He led a campaign against suppressing the Black vote in South Atlanta by preventing the closure of polling locations in predominately Black districts during the 2016…

Alabama joins the ranks of a handful of states that seeking to overturn Roe V. Wade by making abortions illegal. On May 15, the Alabama Senate voted to virtually outlaw abortion, according to the Associated Press. The GOP-dominated Senate 25-6 vote makes performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to…

A man in Bakersfield, California knew his rights and now the city has been forced to pay him because of it. Robert Mitchell, 25, and three other friends were pulled over because cops saw an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. Even though Mitchell was not driving the vehicle, he was the only one…

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JACKSON, Mississippi — If there is one state in the Union that’s practically synonymous with the horrid history of heinous racism and bloodshed in America, it’s Mississippi. No one, however, ever felt that the era of Jim Crowism, hangings and shootings would still echo today in 2017. A federal lawsuit says law enforcement officers in one majority-White…

Illinois resident Karen Scruggs was attempting to “fly while Black” last Saturday. Unfortunately, Scruggs was in for a bumpy ride through security at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. According to WGN, when she attempted to pass through security, Transportation Security Administration personnel stopped her and began fingering her thickly-braided natural hair. Per Scruggs, after touching her braids,…

Two lawyers employed under the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU) were kicked out of a Fresno bar recently. The women claim the reason for their removal was because they are Black. The attorneys, Abre’ Conner and Novella Coleman, wrote about their story on the ACLU’s blog. According to their account of the…

Jeffrey Pendleton went to jail on a marijuana charge and never made it out alive. According to reports by New Hampshire Union Leader, Pendleton, 26, was arrested last week on a misdemeanor marijuana charge. When he went before a judge, his bond was set at $100. However, it was an amount that was too expensive…

The momentum for filmmaker Ava Duvernay seems to be unstoppable. Word around Hollywood is that Duvernay is on the short list of directors being considered to join the powerful Marvel Cinematic Universe. Affectionately referred to as the “MCU,” the media franchise produces blockbuster films based upon characters from Marvel comics such as Captain America, The…

Having a cellphone that can record video is commonplace but the police in Baltimore apparently do not like this fact. When Christopher Sharp pulled out his cellphone to record officers making an arrest, it upset the officers. One officer ordered sharp to “Do me a favor and turn that off. It’s illegal to record anybody’s…

Since the election of President Barack Obama, police and other government agencies have had an increase in their ability to track and detain and snoop and spy on American citizens. Things have only gotten worse since the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. But until now, it has never been known what information police and other…

It was the beginning of the day. I looked forward to understanding the love that black people had for one another. What was frightening and what is still frightening today is the fact that black people do not love each other in popular song or in public display. The mostly united front is in the…

HIV is on the rise in Chicago, especially for African Americans under the age of 25.

Reginald Turner is by all accounts, a man of enormous credibility who is true to his calling — the practice of law as public service. He’s got position, prestige and national prominence. A Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honor reserved for less than one percent of lawyers in each state, Turner was listed…