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Racial Justice

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Racial Justice

Our society must not discriminate against individuals based on their ethnicity or the color of their skin. America has come a long way in reducing racial bias and inequality, yet much remains to be done. The ACLU works with communities of color to remedy the effects of past and continuing discrimination and to have America live up to its values.

Hirabayashi

Standing Up Against Injustice: We Honor the Courage of Gordon Hirabayashi

Summer Robinson, ACLU-WA Communications and Events Coordinator
Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Gordon Hirabayashi was a senior at University of Washington when bombs fell at Pearl Harbor. Like 112,000 of his fellow Japanese Americans, he would be placed under curfew, ordered into internment, and finally jailed for defying those orders. Forty years later, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated his conviction. On Monday, Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. We here at the ACLU of Washington honor his memory. Read More »
 
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New Joint Federal Guidance Will Lead to Increased Diversity in Schools, Improve Education

December 2, 2011
With many public schools becoming re-segregated, two federal agencies provide a roadmap for designing voluntary programs that will benefit all students by promoting diversity and preventing racial isolation. Read More »
 
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New Joint Federal Guidance Will Lead to Increased Diversity in Schools, Improve Education

December 2, 2011
With many public schools becoming re-segregated, two federal agencies provide a roadmap for designing voluntary programs that will benefit all students by promoting diversity and preventing racial isolation. Read More »
 
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MEDC Founders Award

ACLU-WA Receives Award for Racial Justice Work

Doug Honig, Communications Director, ACLU of Washington
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 11:52 am
On October 22, the Minority Executive Directors Coalition (MEDC) of King County presented the ACLU-WA its Founders Award for our work calling for a Department of Justice investigation of the Seattle Police Department and advocating for communities of color. Read More »
 
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Help stop racial profiling by the Border Patrol

The U.S. Border Patrol is supposed to secure our borders. But far from the border in Washington state, Border Patrol agents have been stopping individuals based on their appearance and accent — without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Tell your members of Congress to stop this illegal racial profiling. Read More »
 
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Redistricting Commission Urged to Create Majority-Minority District for State Legislature

June 6, 2011
The ACLU of Washington and National Voting Rights Advocacy Initiative are urging the Washington Redistricting Commission to establish a majority-minority state legislative district in Yakima County.  In a letter submitted to the commission, the groups said the district is needed as a matter of democratic governance and in order to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read More »
 

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Officer Birk and the SPD's Bigger Problem

Jennifer Shaw
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
I can understand why many people in Seattle are angry that Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk will not be charged with murder. If you or I intentionally shot and killed someone who was not an immediate threat to us, we would be charged with murder or at the very least manslaughter. But the law treats police officers differently. In 1986, Washington’s legislature passed a law that allows police officers to escape criminal charges for killing a person so long as the officer had a good faith belief that his actions were justified and he acted “without malice.” This law protects the officer even if his “good faith belief” was wrong. So, it is not surprising that King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg believed that he would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Birk murdered John T. Williams. Read More »
 
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The Williams Inquest: Will Its Result Bring Justice?

Nancy Talner, ACLU-WA Staff Attorney
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 11:54 am
On January 10, an inquest regarding the August 30, 2010, fatal shooting of First Nations carver John T. Williams by Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk will be held at the King County Courthouse. Reports indicate the police department’s Firearms Review Board preliminarily ruled the shooting was unjustified.

Does this mean the inquest verdict will be the same? Read More »

 
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Student Sues School District After Enduring Years of Harassment

December 7, 2010
A student who endured severe harassment by other students throughout junior high and high school is suing the Aberdeen School District for failing to take steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment. The district's failure to act created a hostile educational environment for the student, says the ACLU-WA, which is representing him. Read More »
 

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Civil Rights and Community Organizations Request DOJ to Investigate Seattle Police

December 3, 2010
The ACLU of Washington and 34 other civil rights and community-based organizations are requesting that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice investigate whether the Seattle Police Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations of civil rights. The action comes in response to a series of incidents in which Seattle police officers inflicted unnecessary and excessive physical violence on residents. Read More »
 

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