Stories from the ACLU of Washington

The ACLU of Washington recently succeeded in advocacy that reaffirmed The Militant’s First Amendment right to inform and share its opinions with incarcerated individuals.

As an ACLU-WA intern this fall, Brooke Glass-O’Shea has researched and analyzed a variety of issues, notably Seattle’s Community Police Commission recommendations and a proposal for sobriety checkpoints.  A self-described “policy nerd,” Brooke says that very specific legal issues are her favorite to research because she loves the details of the law.

As part of our recent video collaboration with Macklemore, people from around the country entered a sweepstakes to meet the Seattle rap and hip hop artist at one of his sold-out shows!

The ACLU-WA staff usually can tell when Patti Hackney is in our office because of the goodies that appear – scones one week, coffee cake another week, and occasionally smoked salmon. In addition to her passion for working on good causes, Patti loves cooking for groups.  “I get great joy out of feeding people,” she explains.

Children’s misbehavior should never be something they can’t recover from. That was the overarching message I heard on a recent trip to meet with leaders and advocates from the Baltimore City School District.

Nick Crocker attended an ACLU-WA forum on militarization of police a couple years ago and heard Seattle police chief Norm Stamper speak on the war on drugs and criminal justice in our state. When he went home, he “got online and got involved.” Nick already had Mondays off from his work at an Italian food import store, so he decided spend his day off volunteering at the ACLU office. He has continued to do so for the past two years.

The extraordinary expense of Washington’s death penalty cases was in the news again this month, with taxpayers on the hook for most of the cost.

Henry Seeley has always had a high regard for the ACLU, and chose to intern here because he considers it the best organization for getting good work done. As he puts it, “The ACLU pushes back against those who ignore civil liberties in the pursuit of efficiency of government, politics, religion, protecting children.  Whatever the cause, if they ignore people in the process, the ACLU is there to fight for them.”

Kelsey Engstrom frequently studies ACLU materials and cases as a University of Washington senior studying in the Law, Society and Justice department.  Almost every article she is assigned seems to reference cases that the ACLU has been involved in. One that stood out was Cohen v. California, where the ACLU defended Cohen’s right of free speech to wear a jacket saying “fuck the draft.”

On November 9th, the ACLU of Washington held its annual Bill of Rights Dinner, which celebrates the past year’s work and honors those who have made a difference here in Washington. It was my first time attending and, needless to say, I was pretty excited to be there.  Although I was born and raised here in Washington, I don’t often find myself with this many like-minded individuals; and when I do, it’s pretty exciting.