Meet Our Activists

“If we don’t know each others’ stories, we don’t know each other.”

A group of young people came to me and said, “We don’t know anything about black history.” They asked me, “What is a noose?” So I am teaching them about racism, social justice, organizing, and getting involved in the ACLU.  Each community has a responsibility to teach its young people their own history, and the young people are hungry for it.   I tell them to do like a quarterback, hand this off to each other.

It’s not just the young people who need to know. If we don’t know each others’ stories, we don’t know each other.  Ethnic communities have to tell their own story.  I can support Latinos, but I cannot speak for them. A Hmong can support me, but I must speak for myself.    Then the community at large reaps more unity and strength by relating to each other through our common issues.  The ACLU is a vehicle for this larger community.

I started the National Networking Organization ten yrs ago.  Our motto is, “Educate, motivate, energize, mobilize and organize to take our community to a higher level.”  I teach Know Your Rights presentations nationwide and it’s a joy for me to see people grow through knowledge. Yet when I look at the schools in West Fresno, the system is failing.   A school gave a reading test for 5th-8th graders and two kids passed out of 250.  That’s where stats are made, and that’s how people decide to build more prisons.

We have a lot of good pastors, but a real problem today is our religious institutions.  In West Fresno there are churches 2 minutes from each other.   Between those churches is a war zone.  There’s a lot of, “I’m going to stay in my corner, you stay in your corner, when there’s police brutality I’ll call Reverend Harris, I’m not going to deal with it.” Keep your faith, but let’s not dialogue about faith.  Let’s dialogue about the social well-being of the people.

-Reverend Floyd Harris
Board member, ACLU-Fresno Chapter, and founder, National Network in Action

"I work as a paralegal at the Public Defender's office in Sacramento. It changed my life to see the money trail in California and how lack of funds can create hopelessness, disenfranchise people and keep them in the revolving door of the criminal justice system. We cut programs that give children a way out of the system and then we spend $50,000 each year to incarcerate each child who is unable to resist the lure of crime. The ACLU is helping to change that picture.

The number one factor in combating recidivism is receiving family and community contact while in prison, yet prisons can accommodate visits for only 2.5% of their population. Each week I send my clients who are on death row articles about what the ACLU is doing, which cases are being tried, and what action they can take. It gives them hope to know that people out there are working on their behalf.

The phenomenal thing is that innocence is not the issue. Giving people the same rights is the issue. That is one of the wonderful things about the ACLU. No one is treated more or less human. No matter your view, the ACLU will go in and fight for your civil liberties.

I've worked with people who have gone to Harvard, who do incredible work, who save their clients' lives, and I always thought that they were the only people who could speak effectively. But it takes everyday people speaking with other everyday people to effect change. I urge other ACLU supporters 'Find your voice and speak for the far too often voiceless!'

-Christine Thomas
ACLU Sacramento chapter board member and death penalty activist

"I first started at the Yolo branch in the early 90’s. Our work ranged from protecting the rights of protestors at a local abortion clinic to protecting the rights of "tablers" at the local farmers’ market.  Because we’re situated so close to the capital, many of our members know about state and national issues, as well as local. What becomes clear is that everything is so tied together, whether its reproductive rights, freedom of speech, or budget issues.

My involvement often overlaps with Codepink. One Mother’s Day I participated in an event to bring the California National guard home. It was cold and drizzly, the event was small, maybe 50 of us, singing and handing out information outside of the capital building. Later the Mercury News reported that Schwarzenegger and the National Guard had been on alert that day to gather information about us, the participants, using state money. I contacted the ACLU, who drafted a letter laying out how this violated our First Amendment rights. We stood our ground and we were victorious. For me, the experience symbolizes how the ACLU protects our First Amendment rights and Codepink uses the heck out of them!

It is the people who are one of the necessary checks in the checks and balances of our government."

-Natalie Wormeli
ACLU Yolo County Chapter Leader
San Francisco

"I first heard about the ACLU in 11th grade in my constitutional history and law class. My teacher gave us a lot of cases to study that involved the ACLU and it made a big impact on me. Then as I started figuring out how I wanted to contribute to the world, working for the ACLU was really my dream job.

So I was thrilled when I was hired as the ACLU-NC field representative in the early 1990’s. I got to see firsthand the level of commitment chapter volunteers have. They took their responsibilities very seriously, spending many hours and sometimes their own resources to fight for local issues. It was quite inspirational.

Later as director of the ACLU-NC’s Friedman Project, I felt honored to share the lives of some of the most brave and wise young people I have ever met.  And I was grateful to the dedicated teachers who helped us build the Project. I witnessed firsthand the power of knowledge – young people who may never had heard of the ACLU before were soon fighting for their rights and the rights of others.

The ACLU’s crucial role was brought home to me back in the 1990s, when California was preparing for its first execution since the death penalty had been reinstated. To me, the death penalty is the ultimate exercise of the government’s power over the people. I saw how hard everyone at the ACLU fought to save Robert Alton Harris from execution, and it made me proud to be a part of this critical organization.

I donate regularly to the ACLU because regardless of who holds political power in our country, there will always be the temptation to misuse it. So we need the ACLU to monitor those in power and keep safeguards in place. And our responsibility as donors and activists is to ensure that the ACLU is strong and healthy enough to do its job well."

-Nancy Otto
Member and Activist
San Francisco

"I'm the chair of the new ACLU chapter in Fresno.  The chapter has been very busy since we first got started in March, 2007.  I'd like to say that we search out opportunities to defend civil liberties in the Central Valley.  The sad reality is that situations find us without the need to look.

The ACLU-NC's efforts on behalf of the homeless in Fresno were already under way when the chapter got started; and the situation of the homeless was a motivating factor in starting the chapter.  We continue to monitor that situation.

We've tried to limit and regulate the installation of video surveillance cameras in Fresno, and we've worked on many free speech issues.  For over a year we've worked with the city on the proposed film ordinance which, in its early forms, was a clear violation of free speech rights.  We were successful in opposing a fee for registering voters on Fulton Mall, and we insisted that the County Library not discriminate in who they allow to use their meeting rooms.

We often speak at City Council Meetings.  We present workshops to high school students about their Constitutionally guaranteed rights.  And we keep close ties with many local community organizations.

When my kids no longer needed me to do Boy Scouts and Band Boosters and such, I got involved in the Peace Movement and in opposing the Iraq War.  That led to involvement in many local social justice issues.  And that led to the ACLU.  Civil Liberty is the foundation for all of it.

For me, a patriot is the person who loves his/her country and is willing to oppose whatever is wrong in the country.  We have to do everything we can so that our country lives up to its potential and its Constitutional promise."

-Bill Simon
Chair, Fresno Chapter ACLU


"I started working with the ACLU as a graduate student at Texas A&M in 1981. Back then there were two cases coming forward – one about the recognition of a gay student organization, and another about a female cadet trying to join the all-male band. I was at one of the most conservative schools in Texas, and being there brought out my strongest underlying personality trait: to be an advocate for the underdog. I see the Bill of Rights as the primary defense of the individual against the majority.

In Dallas in the late 1980s I became a volunteer legal observer – that was when Operation Rescue was very active in protesting at women’s clinics. I continue to volunteer as an ACLU legal observer. I feel that my presence under the umbrella of the ACLU helps to promote positive behavior on the part of police, activists and protestors alike and thus promotes First Amendment activities.

The ACLU is willing to stand up for those who have absolutely no support elsewhere.  While the judicial branch is a branch of government that absolutely should be there – must be there – to protect and promote the rights of the individual, the ACLU will also be there to shepherd that cause.

I love the Constitution, but the Bill of Rights is where my true passion lies."

-Jim Rogers
Board Member & Treasurer
ACLU Mt. Diablo Chapter

"When I first came out as gay, I had a lot of anger that I successfully channeled into a political activist direction.  Over the ensuing decades, however, I became numb to all of the transgressions and policies of Reagan, Wilson, Deukmejian, and Bush and Bush.  I'm finally reconnecting with my youthful outrage and see the ACLU as an opportunity to attune, amplify, and funnel that energy once again.

Guantánamo is clearly the most tangible example of the United States' retreat from respecting basic human rights.  Even the most heinous (alleged) terrorists remain "persons," and our values demand that we treat them as such.

Why is it important for us to speak out against torture, illegal spying and other abuses of power? Besides the fact that these are all unbelievably wrong, and I wouldn't wish them upon my meanest enemy?  Because I feel guilt and embarrassment that I'm associated with the perpetrators, and sadness that alone, I’m helpless to resolve the problem.

Early on, the ACLU appealed to me because of the way conservatives were always angry at it for defending people who looked like me.  And I respected the ACLU for standing up for people I disagree with.  Finally the day came when someone invited me to join, and I wondered why I hadn't done it earlier."
 
-Ollie Graves
ACLU-NC Member & Activist 
San Francisco