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We worked with and beside community to advocate at the state and local levels to protect and expand civil rights and civil liberties for all. We also joined in celebration to honor and recognize the history and pride of marginalized communities across the state. Together, we…
Celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Montes v. Yakima and the Washington Voting Rights Act
In August, the ACLU-WA celebrated the 10th anniversary of Montes v. Yakima, a voting rights case that reformed the election system that the City of Yakima used to elect its City Council — which helped the Legislature see the need to develop the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA). The WVRA has led to fairer and more representative elections in Washington. In Montes, a federal court ruled Yakima’s former election system violated the Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act because the at-large voting system in use in Yakima City Council elections diluted the Latinx community’s votes. The federal court ordered Yakima to change its at-large election system to a by-district voting system, giving Latinx residents a fairer chance to elect candidates of their choice — in the first election under the new system 3 Latinas were elected to the City Council and one served as Mayor.
Stopped Racially Polarized Voting and Supported Community Empowerment in Sunnyside
This summer, we supported a community resource fair and celebration of a successful effort to use the WVRA to prevent racially polarized voting in school district elections in Sunnyside, which will increase Latinx representation on the Sunnyside School Board. The ACLU-WA co-sponsored the event and provided know your rights education.
Fought the Expansion of Government Surveillance
This year, the ACLU-WA advocated against multiple attempts to expand the scale of government surveillance across Washington. In Seattle, the City Council proposed plans to deploy an automated gunshot location system, CCTV cameras, real-time crime center software (RTCC), and automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in multiple neighborhoods that would surveil and collect extensive data on residents. These technologies are ineffective at reducing violent crime and violate people’s privacy, chill free speech, cause disproportionate harm to communities of color, and put vulnerable groups at risk, including out-of-state visitors seeking reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. While the City dropped their plans for a dangerous and ineffective automated gunshot location system, they ultimately approved the other surveillance technologies despite serious concerns outlined by the public and the ACLU-WA and other advocacy organizations. We will continue to advocate against the use of harmful surveillance technologies and for strong regulations to protect against the risks faced by vulnerable and marginalized groups.
Opposed Seattle’s SOAP/SODA zones
In September, the Seattle City Council passed the controversial Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay Out of Area of Prostitution (SOAP) zones. The zones would create certain areas of the city where people with drug and prostitution-related arrests are not allowed to go. Proposals like these do not work, and cruelly target our most vulnerable populations – especially those struggling with poverty and substance use disorder. These policies expand police powers to harass individuals based on their perceived status, disrupting essential services for those in need rather than addressing the root causes of their issues. The ACLU-WA opposes these bans and advocated against their passage in front of the city council. We will continue to fight to protect those affected by these bans.
Mobilized to Fight Book Bans
In recent years, there has been an aggressive rise in attempts to restrict the availability of certain books to the public, often targeting materials that center the stories of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, as well as LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. ACLU-WA staunchly defends the right to read without censorship and will continue highlighting the importance of keeping books – and therefore knowledge and ideas – available. We track censorship attempts across our state, including the number of bans and the reason for the ban. We created several new resources regarding book bans on our website, including a censorship tracker, tips for advocating in front of your school board, and an FAQ on what you can do to prevent book banning. We also provided legal support to the team challenging Lewis County’s attempt to close their library because they did not like the books that were on display there.
Advocated in Olympia
The ACLU-WA organized our first co-hosted, in-person Advocacy Day in January 2024, joining together with 17 community organizations to rally on the Capitol steps and meet with lawmakers to advocate for a variety of criminal legal system reform bills. Over 130 advocates joined us in Olympia and together, we met with over 50 lawmakers. Join us on February 10, 2025, for our next Advocacy Day with community partners.
Educated on the importance of criminal legal reform
We worked with the Minority and Justice Commission to plan the 2024 Washington Supreme Court Symposium, during which justices heard extensively about the harmful, racially disproportionate impacts of our current sentencing policy and how existing policies do not actually create meaningful public safety. Michele Storms moderated a discussion about charting a more effective path forward, closing the symposium with the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated people asking for investment in community-driven sentencing alternatives and prevention.
We also put on three sentencing education events in the fall. We hosted a sentencing advocates summit, to share information about the impacts of Washington’s laws and develop common frameworks to help advance our mutual goals. We organized an event in October, hosted by the University of Washington, featuring formerly incarcerated people alongside ACLU-WA policy experts where we discussed restorative justice, violence prevention, sentencing reform, and how criminalization policies and tough-on-crime rhetoric during election seasons undermine public safety. And, we co-hosted a panel to educate lawmakers and the public about what takes place during a resentencing hearing and to address fears and misinformation about the process.
Celebrated with Community
In May, the ACLU-WA set up an information and photo booth and hosted a happy hour for supporters to meet staff experts at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, which brings together journalists, newsmakers, and innovators from around the country to talk about the issues that are animating our cultural conversations.
We joined the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle's EcoDistrict and ARTE NOIR for a REVIVAL Juneteenth celebration pop-up. The event featured Black retailers, food vendors, and community organizations. At the ACLU-WA table, we invited community members to answer Know-Your-Rights trivia questions, collect swag and pick up Know-Your-Rights resources. On June 19, we hosted an ACLU-WA booth at the Juneteenth – Road to Economic Freedom 2024 event in Tacoma to offer community information about voting rights and other Know-Your-Rights materials.
We celebrated at 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride events in communities throughout Washington, leading with our theme of “We’ve Got Your Back!” to celebrate and to support creating space for 2SLGBTQIA+, Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color to celebrate Pride.
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