Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

Banning Sherman Alexie Book Does Not Help Students

Published: 
Monday, June 27, 2011
This month, the Richland School Board voted 3 to 2 to exclude Sherman Alexie’s award-winning book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from Richland high school classrooms. Alexie’s semiautobiographical novel won the National Book Award for young adults in 2007. It tells the story of Arnold “Junior” Spirit, a teenager growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington, where Alexie also grew up. Junior struggles as an awkward but bright 14-year-old who loves drawing comics. The book tackles many tough issues, including racism, alcoholism, poverty, death, as well as more typical teenage struggles like fitting in. The book was piloted for Richland’s ninth-grade language arts curriculum because of its realistic portrayal of the high school experience and compelling theme of perseverance. The piloting teacher acknowledged that the book contains some profanity and sexual references.
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States Must Take the Lead on Ending the War on Drugs

Published: 
Friday, June 24, 2011
Although President Nixon gets credit for declaring the "war on drugs," it is really state officials who have been waging the war. In 2009, there were nearly 1.7 million arrests for drug crimes in the U.S., the vast majority of which were made by state law enforcement officers. And these arrests came under laws passed by state lawmakers. So the number of individuals in state prisons and jails for drug crimes far outnumbers those in federal prison, despite the fact that more than half of all federal prisoners are there for drug crimes. Because state officials are serving as the front-line troops in the "war on drugs," efforts to reform drug laws should focus on the states.
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The Port Brushes Up on Free Speech Rights

Published: 
Thursday, June 23, 2011
For those of you who took last week’s pop quiz on street speech, you will be glad to know that some area police officers also are brushing up on free speech rights of people on sidewalks and in public plazas.
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Good News for Gay-Straight Alliances

Published: 
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Some good news from the feds: the U.S. Department of Education has just sent a "dear colleague" letter to school districts in Washington and across the nation reminding them of students' legal right to form gay-straight alliances (GSAs).
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Happy Loving Day!

Published: 
Monday, June 13, 2011
Imagine being awakened in the middle of the night by police, arrested, and ultimately convicted and sentenced to a term of one-three years in prison for the offense of . . . loving the wrong person. This is not a hypothetical scenario from a mythical land. It happened in America, and not too terribly long ago. June 12 marked the 44th anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision and ACLU case, Loving v. Virginia, which held that laws banning interracial marriage were not permissible under the U.S. Constitution.
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A Victory for the Right to a Fair Trial

Published: 
Friday, June 10, 2011
In a case (State v. Monday) that drew front-page coverage in today’s Seattle Times, the Washington Supreme Court has issued a strong ruling that racist comments by a prosecutor undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial.
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ACLU-WA Was a Voice for Children in Olympia

Published: 
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
ACLU-WA Legislative Director Shankar Narayan was one of a group of lobbyists recognized with a Voices for Children award at  the annual awards luncheon the Children’s Alliance on Tuesday.  The lobbyist group, known as the Racial Equity Team, was presented the award in recognition of their work to advance racial equality issues in the 2012 legislative session. 
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Redistricting Commission Urged to Create Majority-Minority District for State Legislature

News Release, Published: 
Monday, 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.
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Drug-Sniffing Dogs in Schools Make Every Student a Suspect

Published: 
Monday, June 6, 2011
Last month, a high school in southeastern Washington conducted a suspicionless drug search. Students were asked to leave their classroom so that a police officer with a “drug-detection dog” could check their backpacks for signs of drug possession. After the search, two students were singled out for a more invasive search and questioning. One had marijuana paraphernalia in his backpack; in the other, no signs of drugs or drug paraphernalia could be found. Good news for the second student—after the humiliating and anxiety-producing search was complete, he was permitted to go back to class.
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Redistricting: The Lines on Those Maps Make a Difference

Published: 
Friday, June 3, 2011
  Do you remember all of the publicity about the 2010 census? The numbers have now been tallied, and they will have major impacts in Washington state and throughout the nation. One of the most important ways in which data from the census are used is in redistricting our nation’s political jurisdictions. In the last decade, Washington’s population increased by more than 14%. As a result, our federal congressional delegation will be increased from 9 to 10 members, giving Washington state an additional vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.  
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The 40-Year War on Drugs: It's Not Fair, and It's Not Working.

Published: 
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
June 2011 has the unfortunate distinction of marking the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war which has cost $1 trillion but produced little to no effect on the supply of or demand for drugs. The war on drugs has been a war on communities of color. The racial disparities are staggering: despite the fact that whites engage in drug offenses at a higher rate than African-Americans, African-Americans are incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate that is 10 times greater than that of whites.
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