Relentless.
That word perfectly describes the current pace of threats to our democracy and to civil rights and liberties. Since the start of this federal administration, we have witnessed rapid and numerous threats to the values that we share as Washingtonians. Amid this chaos, it is important to keep in mind that you are not alone.
We have each other, and together, we are strong.
The ACLU of Washington is working in collaboration with ACLU offices nationwide and with partners and allies in every part of our state. We have carefully analyzed the plans and actions of the federal administration and we have never been more prepared to meet this moment.
We are taking action to defend and extend rights and liberties — here and across the country. Through policy advocacy, litigation, organizing and public education, we are building a Firewall for Freedom in our state. Our plan for Washington focuses on five key areas:
tightening protections for those who seek, provide, and help others obtain reproductive and gender affirming care;
sustaining and expanding existing protections against mass deportation and immigration raids, and increasing resources to immigrant communities;
curtailing data sharing that enables abusive surveillance;
protecting the rights of protesters and political dissidents;
and increasing state civil rights and antidiscrimination protections.
We’ve been busy – and so have you. Working with supporters and community-based allies across the state, we’ve accomplished a lot together.
To help you keep track of it all, we have created a dashboard on our website. It shares our platform to make Washington state a Firewall for Freedom and includes a video explaining the issues and our responses, updates about our advocacy efforts, and opportunities to get involved.
We will be maintaining this page in the coming weeks and months and invite you to bookmark it as a guide to what is happening and what you can do to respond. Defending civil rights and civil liberties takes all of us. The threats we face are relentless. To rise to meet them we must also be relentless together.