| ACLU of Georgia and ABLE Launch Campaign Against Racial Profiling |
Know Your Rights/Tell Your Story Forum To Be Held
Saturday, August 1st, 10 a.m. to Noon, at Our Lady of the Americas Catholic Mission
Tell Your Story/Know Your Story" Forum To Be Held
Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE) and the ACLU of Georgia announce a "Know Your Rights/Tell Your Story" Racial Profiling Forum in Gwinnett County. The forum begins a campaign against racial profiling and provides community members of diverse backgrounds an opportunity to share testimonies of racial profiling and to learn about their rights when encountering law enforcement. The ACLU of Georgia will compile those testimonies into a human rights report. Both the forum and the report will shine light on the problem of racial profiling in Georgia, with the ultimate goal of passing anti-racial profiling legislation in the Georgia Legislature.
The forum comes after the recent announcement by the Department of Homeland Security that Gwinnett County will be awarded a 287 (g) Agreement, making it the fifth agency in Georgia to allow for local enforcement of federal civil immigration laws.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation earlier this year reported that ICE was not exercising proper oversight over local or state agencies and that local law enforcement were focusing resources on arrests for minor violations. Despite claims by the Department of Homeland Security that the new standardized Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) include significant improvements, an ACLU review found that those changes have little or no positive operative effect and provide for even less transparency, as the new agreement now declares that documents related to 287(g) are no longer public records. This leaves counties with new 287(g) agreements even more susceptible to racial profiling.
"The new 287(g) MOA leaves the door open for local law enforcement to continue abuses of power such as racial profiling under the guise of federal immigration authority," said Azadeh Shahshahani, the ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director. "The signing of another 287(g) Agreement in Georgia highlights the importance of meaningful checks against human rights violations and racial profiling at the state level."
"The signing of another 287g agreement in Georgia makes it necessary now more than ever for our Georgia Legislature to pass anti-racial profiling legislation," said Rev. Blagec of ABLE. "As Americans, we must demand more, rather than less, accountability and transparency from our government and law enforcement agencies."
Senator Gloria Butler, who sponsored anti-racial profiling legislation at the Georgia Legislature and who plans to re-introduce similar legislation, will be the guest speaker.
The "Know Your Rights/Tell Your Story" Racial Profiling Forum will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2009 at Our Lady of the Americas Catholic Mission, 4603 Lawrenceville Highway, Lilburn, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Forum co-sponsors include: Center for Pan-Asian Community Services, CLILA, Coalition for the People's Agenda, Cobb Immigrant Alliance, Council on American-Islamic Relations - Georgia, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Georgia Rural Urban Summit, Korean American Coalition, Metro Fair Housing Services, Inc., Raksha, and Refugee Women's Network
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| Georgia Judicial Council Adopts Policy Drafted by the ACLU of Georgia Allowing for Religious Head Coverings |
The adopted policy was presented by the ACLU of Georgia to the Supreme Court of Georgia Committee on Access and Fairness in the Courts
Atlanta - The ACLU of Georgia today applauded the adoption by the Georgia Judicial Council, the policy-making body for Georgia courts, of a policy clarifying that religious head coverings can be worn in Georgia courthouses. The policy which balances courts' security concerns with individuals' fundamental right to religious liberty was presented by the ACLU of Georgia to the Supreme Court of Georgia Committee on Access and Fairness in the Courts at their June 12th meeting.
"We are thrilled that the Georgia Judicial Council has decided to adopt this policy, thereby ensuring that no one in Georgia will ever have to choose between their fundamental right to free expression of religion and their right to gain access to a courthouse," said Azadeh Shahshahani, the ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director who attended the June 12th meeting of the Committee on Access and Fairness in the Courts and presented the policy. "This is a step in the direction of ensuring that the guarantee of religious freedom is assured to all Georgia residents, regardless of their faith."
The ACLU of Georgia advocated for the adoption of this policy after learning about troubling reports of incidents at the Douglasville Municipal Court where Muslim women were faced with the choice of removing their headscarves or the denial of access to court. In an incident on December 16, 2009, Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, was arrested when Judge Keith Rollins of the Douglasville Municipal Court found her in contempt of court for refusing to remove her headscarf. Valentine and other Muslim women were refused access to the Douglasville Municipal Court, even after they expressly conveyed to court officials that the wearing of the headscarf is an expression of their faith.
Ms. Valentine and her husband accompanied Shahshahani to the June 12th meeting of the Committee on Access and Fairness in the Courts where Ms. Valentine was provided with an opportunity to speak about the experience she faced at the Douglasville Municipal Courthouse.
"I am very happy to know that no person of faith will ever have to suffer at any Georgia courthouse the type of egregious treatment I suffered because of the expression of my faith," said Ms. Lisa Valentine.
The Anti-Defamation League and the Georgia Association of Muslim Lawyers also submitted letters in support of the policy which has now been adopted by the Georgia Judicial Council.
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| Alternative School Case Continues Without Private Company |
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ACLU Drops Community Education Partners from Federal Lawsuit After Atlanta Severs Contract
Responsibility For Ensuring All Students Receive Adequate Education Falls Squarely On Atlanta Independent School SystemATLANTA - After the Atlanta Independent School System (AISS) severed its contract with Community Education Partners, Inc. (CEP) to run the city's alternative school, the American Civil Liberties Union today dropped the private, for-profit company from its federal lawsuit challenging the inadequate education provided by the school to its students. AISS declined to renew its $7 million annual contract with CEP to run the school - one of the most dangerous and lowest performing in the state - after the ACLU and the ACLU of Georgia filed a lawsuit last year against CEP and AISS for violating students' constitutional rights.
AISS remains a defendant in the lawsuit and now bears full responsibility for improving the school's performance and practices, which have been abysmal by nearly every available measurement.
"The appalling performance of the school while run by CEP highlights the significant problems inherent to the privatization of public education and AISS deserves credit for ending its relationship with CEP," said Reginald T. Shuford, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. "It is of paramount importance, however, that this be only a first step. It is now incumbent upon AISS to honor its commitment to provide all of its students with an adequate public education."
The ACLU's initial lawsuit charged violations by the school district and CEP of students' constitutional rights under federal and state law, including the students' rights to due process and to be free from unreasonable searches. The school, managed by CEP since 2002, was designed as a privately-run, taxpayer-funded alternative middle and high school for students with behavioral problems. However, the placement process is often arbitrary and students referred to the school are routinely denied meaningful opportunities to challenge compulsory assignment to the school.
CEP's administration of schools in other cities has also come under attack. CEP has run alternative schools in Houston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Orlando and Florida's Pinnellas and Bay districts through contracts with public school systems since 1995. In 2005, CEP's annual revenues totaled $70 million. Since its contract began with AISS in 2002, Atlanta's taxpayers have paid CEP more than $50 million.
"The driving motivation of private, for-profit educational companies is not to provide quality education, but rather to make money," said Debbie Seagraves, Executive Director of the ACLU of Georgia. "And, too often, these companies are not held accountable. Here in Atlanta, it's the children and taxpayers who have paid the price."
Classes at Atlanta's public schools begin on August 10.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case include Shuford and I. India Geronimo of the ACLU Racial Justice Program, Chara Fisher Jackson of the ACLU Foundation of Georgia, Nancy Abudu of the ACLU Southern Regional Office and lawyers from the Davis Bozeman Law Firm PC and Covington & Burling LLP.
Additional information about the ACLU's work to combat the School to Prison Pipeline is available at: www.aclu.org/stppAdditional information about the ACLU of Georgia is available online at: www.acluga.org |
| Reflections on Immigration and Human Rights Town Hall |
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by
Nureen Gulamali,
ACLU of Georgia,
Summer Intern
Picture Left:
Deepa Iyer
Executive Director, SAALT
I'm lucky to be interning at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia this summer and was grateful to be a part of the Immigration and Human Rights Town Hall meeting back in June. The event which was primarily targeted at South Asian immigrant communities in the metro-Atlanta area and their family and friends was co-sponsored by the ACLU of Georgia. Deepa Iyer (Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together), Aparna Bhattacharyya (Executive Director of Raksha), and our own Azadeh Shahshahani (National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director at the ACLU of Georgia) were all speakers at the event and encouraged a discussion-based atmosphere for the forum. Every single person who made the effort of coming out to the forum left having gained insight and perspective about the hardships faced by South Asian immigrant communities due to the inhumane nature of immigration laws and human rights violations at immigration detention facilities. Participants also made a commitment to becoming more involved with human rights groups such as the ACLU of Georgia that are striving to advocate for more humane policies at the local, state, and federal levels and to ensure accountability for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in treatment of immigrants. |
| The Dignity in Schools Conference |
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Advocates, Parents, and Students Convened to Discuss Positive Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance and School Pushout
The Dignity in Schools (DIS) National Conference was held in June at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. The DIS national campaign is a collaborative effort of its core members: ACLU of Illinois; Southern Poverty Law Center; Children's Rights Litigation Committee; American Bar Association; Anna Lambertson, Parent Advocate; Monica Llorente, Advocate; Rodney Skager, Professor Emeritus, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies; National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; Lynn White, Advocate. DIS core members, along with many other organization partners are focused on bringing a human rights framework to education and school discipline. The ACLU Racial Justice Project was one the major sponsors of the conference as part of its School to Prison Pipeline initiative. The ACLU is committed to challenging the "school to prison pipeline," a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This two-day event that brought parents, students, teachers, and education advocates together with organizations to reaffirm the human right to an education as well as collaborate on how best to use what works back in their respective communities.
We learned from school administrators how to effectively use positive behavior supports (PBS) to reduce disciplinary issues, which in turn accelerate the learning. Judge Brian Huff from Alabama provided a glimpse into how he significantly reduced the juvenile arrest and detention rates stemming from school based issues and thus mitigating the School to Prison Pipeline in Jefferson County. Citizens for a Better Greenville Mississippi and Padres & Jovenes Unidos brought their community and parents' perspective. Students from Philadelphia, PA shared how they mobilized to shut down a "late room" in their school where tactics were employed that violated their human rights. Several advocacy organizations informed participants about the policy and legal advocacy work that is going on around the country. Conference attendees were also engaged in dialogue sessions designed to discuss and brainstorm about positive alternatives and strategies for change, and honed a draft National Resolution on Ending School Pushout that was initially crafted based on input gathered by educators, advocates, and communities across the country.
The resounding theme infused throughout the conference was to use data to drive policy changes which is also outlined in the ACLU of Georgia's Best Practices for Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline report. The outcome of the event will be a Conference Report of Strategies for Ending Pushout.
The conference was highly successful and left participants re-energized and more knowledgeable. To learn more about the Dignity in Schools campaign and view the conference materials visit www.dignityinschools.org. |
| August Civil Liberty Holiday |
 Voting Rights Act of 1965
While several impactful judicial civil liberties decisions have been enacted in the month of August, perhaps the most relevant to recent times is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Not only does it protect the vote of minorities across the nation, but it also protects lower socio-economic group from being disenfranchised. Issues with this bill have recently been heard in the Supreme Court, and to the pleasure of civil liberties groups nationwide, the conservative bloc of the court unexpectedly upheld the Act.
Following many violent, racially-motivated events, from the attack on marchers in Selma, AL to the murder of activists in Mississippi, the Voting Rights Act finally came into fruition at the behest of President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6th, 1965. Written to address the areas that the 15th Amendment failed to authoritatively address, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the key that opened the door for much higher minority participation in the electoral process. The act also contained what the Department of Justice refers to as "special enforcement provisions targeted at those areas of the country where Congress believed the potential for discrimination to be the greatest." This consists of Section 5 of the act, which mandates that "jurisdictions covered by these special provisions could not implement any change affecting voting until the Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the change did not have a discriminatory purpose and would not have a discriminatory effect." These jurisdictions lie many within the south, across the southern states where discrimination, gerrymandering, and Jim Crow has traditionally been the worst.
Three years ago, after Congress extended the Act for another 25 years, a Texas district covered by Section 5, challenged it as "unfair and outdated." The Supreme Court finally reached a decision on June 22nd, 2009, in which it surprisingly upheld the Voting Rights Act, although the Court did limit the Act's scope by allowing counties the ability to escape the restriction of Section 5 with proof of a "clean record" for the past 10 years.
The Voting Rights Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation made during the Civil Rights Movement. Political participation is seen as the most basic of rights for Americans and the ability of minorities to participate in this process not only enriches their lives, but the political and social landscape of our country. The ACLU was pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement leading up to the Voting Act and has been a beacon of leadership after its passage, ensuring that its protections reach every citizen nationwide. We now celebrate the day that President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law as a civil liberties holiday. After 49 years of protecting the voting rights of Americans, the passage of this Act deserves to be commemorated.
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