Stories from the ACLU of Washington

Otis Walter passed away last June at the age of 92. He left his entire estate to the ACLU of Washington and the ACLU of Pennsylvania because he so strongly believed in the broad range of issues on which the ACLU works. He first became a card-carrying member as a teenager in Pennsylvania.  Dr. Walter said he did not want any sort of recognition for his planned gift during his lifetime. We wish to honor Dr. Walter as a kind and loving advocate for civil liberties.

After a solid year of traveling over 25,000 miles across 41 states and speaking to at least 100 schools and community groups, on May 1st the Tinker Tour made its final stop at Mountlake Terrace High School. The tour features First Amendment advocate Mary Beth Tinker, the namesake of the landmark student rights case Tinker v. Des Moines.... 

Last Friday morning I attended the ACLU-WA’s annual Student Conference on Civil Liberties held at the Vera Project in Seattle Center. To my surprise I found a bustling room of high school students who were much more awake than I was at 8:30 in the morning. We had a near-record 207 attendees from 12 high schools from around western Washington.

Last week we told you about the new federal data that highlights the problem of students of color and those with disabilities being systematically denied access to education by being suspended and expelled at rates 3 to 2 times higher respectively than there peers.

Secular Americans and many liberal people of faith have been horrified by the Right’s most recent ploy: “religious freedom” claims that would give conservative business owners license to discriminate. Until Arizona made the national spotlight, the need for lunch counter sit-ins had seemed like a thing of the past. But in reality, advocates for religious privilege have been circling toward this point for some time.