Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “American Civil Liberties Union”
Violence has become the problem of the 21st century. This claim is indebted to W. E. B. Dubois’ much quoted notion that “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of color line.”[1] For Du Bois, racism was one of the most pressing problems of the time and could not be understood outside of the gross inequities of wealth, power, …
Just one week in, an indefinite hunger strike at an all-women’s immigrant detention center in Texas—operated by the for-profit prison company Corrections Corporation of America—has swelled to hundreds of refugees and migrants who are uniting behind a single demand: immediate freedom. While the exact number of participants is unknown, a person who regularly visits the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor …
The Pre-Debate Debates, Right Here on Free Your Mind Friday!
Leid Stories listeners won’t be waiting for the other party’s Oct. 13 dog-and-pony show in Nevada to find out what the issues are and where the Democratic presidential candidates stand. It’s grist for mill on “Free Your Mind Friday,” the best open forum on the planet.
Call in (888-874-4888) and join our regularly scheduled People’s Debate.
Obama’s Education Secretary Quits; Attack on Public Schools Won’t
A Lead-Poisoned River Runs Through It: Water Woes in Flint, Michigan
Ferguson, Missouri, Being Readied for Forced Bankruptcy
Dr. Thomas C. Pedroni, associate professor of curriculum studies and policy sociology at Wayne State University and co-director of the Detroit Data and Democracy Project, discusses the shameful legacy of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and why, after Duncan quits at the end of the year, his policies are likely to continue.
The cash-strapped city of Flint, Michigan, currently under state-imposed emergency management, is distributing free water filters to residents after elevated levels of lead were found in children. Since last year, the city has been using water from the Flint River to cut its water costs. Curt Guyette, an investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan, says local authorities consistently denied that a public danger existed, and now residents are in a pitched battle to safeguard their health.
In a commentary Leid Stories reveals that the City of Ferguson, Missouri, is being readied for a forced bankruptcy.
The Ferguson Commission Report: An Exercise in Futility?
CNN Takes Its Turn As Carnival Barker At Two-Ring Circus
The Ferguson Commission—a 16-member blue-ribbon panel appointed last November by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to look into underlying causes of the rebellion that enveloped the city three months earlier, after the police shooting of Michael Brown—concluded its task two days ago with a 198-page report.
Titled “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,” the report makes 169 recommendations in four areas it identified as requiring urgent attention— the law-enforcement/criminal-justice system, issues uniquely related to local youth, economic development, and entrenched racism.
Our guest, Al Gerhardstein, a Cincinnati-based civil-rights attorney with a long history of successfully litigating police-brutality cases and forcing court-ordered reforms in the criminal-justice system, discusses the Ferguson Commission’s report.
CNN takes its turn tonight as carnival barker at the two-ring circus it’s calling a presidential debate. Leid Stories in a commentary explains how CNN is merely filling its role as one of “The 3 M’s” in this political season.
America’s descent into totalitarian violence is accelerating. Like the Bush regime, the Obama regime has a penchant for rewarding Justice (sic) Department officials who trample all over the US Constitution. Last year America’s First Black President nominated David Barron to be a judge on the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Barron is responsible for the Justice (sic) …
Military prison authorities are allegedly denying whistleblower Chelsea Manning access to the facility’s legal library, just two days before a disciplinary board hearing that will decide whether she is placed in solitary confinement for what her supporters and lawyers say are innocuous offenses—like possession of a tube of expired toothpaste. As Common Dreams reported, the Chelsea Manning Support Network revealed …
The Nobel Prize-winning author Ngugi wa Thiong’o has insisted rightfully that “Children are the future of any society,” adding, “If you want to maim the future of any society, you simply maim the children.” (1) If one important measure of a democracy is how a society treats its children – especially children of color, poor and working-class youth, and those …
Politicians love to tell us that we live in the richest and greatest country in the world despite the fact that our actual ranking when it comes to overall living standards and democratic rights is far from numero uno. We rank 23rd on the “Satisfaction with Life Index” (Cf. Wikipedia). But no one will get elected telling us we are …
Year-over-year, America sets new prison records. No other nation on Earth comes close to America’s “lock’em up” ethos. Therefore, assuming that imprisonment records are accurate, the U.S. is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. How else explain the enormous “lock’em up” numbers? What’s going on? Is America riddled with criminals? Jeez, it’s a wonder that tourists come …
