2000s

The government's response to the events of 9/11 catapulted the ACLU, nationally and locally, into an unprecedented level of activity. The ACLU-NC and other affiliates fought against the round-up and detention of thousands of Muslim and Middle Eastern men, deportations without hearings, unblinking passage of the Patriot Act and special registration and racial profiling at airports. As government surveillance of private individuals on many fronts came to light, the ACLU-NC fought back.

But even the overwhelming events of 2001 could not derail the organization. The skills, experience and tenacity gained from seven decades of fighting for civil liberties strengthened the ACLU-NC.   Having honed our legal and communication skills; having built coalitions around race, women's rights, lesbian and gay rights and criminal justice; having faced formidable opponents in the courts, in the Legislature, in the Governor's Office; having dared to speak out against Japanese American internment, the death penalty, immigrant raids and race segregation - sometimes as a lone voice - the organization was steeled and ready to face the future.

As the late Edison Uno, an ACLU-NC Board member, noted, "We may have eliminated the statutory provisions for detention camps, but we must always remember it takes eternal vigilance to improve democracy.  We must struggle to eliminate the camps of fear, hate, racism and repression."