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For nearly three decades, my former colleague Rep. John Conyers of Michigan would introduce H.R. 40, legislation seeking to establish a commission to study and develop reparation proposals. Though many thought it a lost cause, he believed that a day would come when our nation would need to account for the brutal mistreatment of African Americans during chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and th... Read More

Two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Black people in Galveston, Texas were told that they were free. Juneteenth is widely celebrated as “Freedom Day.” Yet is commemorating this date when Black folks belatedly got the news that they could legally no longer be enslaved really the best way to mark their freedom? I often struggle with what it means to be f... Read More

OAKLAND — A lawsuit challenging Caltrans’ practice of unconstitutionally seizing and destroying homeless people’s property will move forward as a class action in accordance with yesterday’s ruling from the Superior Court of California. The plaintiffs seek statewide relief from Caltrans’ encampment sweep practices. The case, Sanchez v. Caltrans, was brought by unhoused persons who have had prope... Read More

Every four years when there is a presidential primary, many voters who decline to state a party preference are surprised when their mail-in ballot arrives and it is missing the presidential candidates. They then scramble to get a replacement, which can result in one voter receiving two ballots. Elections officials in Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties have alleged that they discovered 191 ca... Read More

On December 28, 2018, the Madera County Jail re-imprisoned Ivan Santos Cuevas and unlawfully transferred him into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Santos Cuevas had been arrested the previous night, and was scheduled for release in the early morning. However, at the time of his release, Madera County Jail re-detained him, and held him until ICE agents arrived. On June 26, 2019,... Read More

MADERA — The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a complaint Wednesday with Madera County for illegally re-detaining and transferring former resident Ivan Santos Cuevas to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which then deported him to Mexico. The Madera County Jail deputies’ actions were a flagrant violation of the California Values Act. Santos Cuevas’ case is just the latest exa... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – Axon, a maker of officer worn body cameras used by many United States police departments, today announced that it will not add facial recognition systems to those devices. This announcement comes as the California Legislature considers the ACLU-sponsored Body Camera Accountability Act (AB 1215), a bill that would prohibit the use of facial recognition and other biometric surveil... Read More

This Pride weekend, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, let’s march, let’s celebrate, let’s party. But first let us remember today and always that the lives of Black trans people, and specifically the lives of Black trans women, matter. Let’s recognize and memorialize the great social, political, and civil rights gains achieved over the past 50 years by Black and Latin... Read More

SACRAMENTO — Today, the California Senate passed landmark legislation to strengthen the law on police use of force and reduce the number of deadly police shootings in the state. Assembly Bill 392: The California Act to Save Lives, introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), will establish a “necessary” use of force standard, paving the way for other states to follow suit. Police o... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union along with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), created “We Have Rights,” a national immigrant empowerment campaign to inform immigrant communities of what to do when interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The campaign centers around four animated videos available in seven languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Haitian Creole... Read More