Stories from the ACLU of Washington

Washington state’s war on marijuana has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade. Every one of Washington’s 39 counties has spent millions of dollars enforcing these laws.

On last Tuesday evening, community members gathered at Southside Commons in Seattle to hear leaders of faith discuss the problem of mass incarceration. The panel was comprised of SpearIt, an assistant law professor at St. Louis University, Pastor Carl Livingston, founder of Kingdom Christian Center, and Reverend Paul Benz, Co-Director of Faith Action Network. A recent forum in Seattle made some vital connections for people concerned about the enormous volume of people in our criminal justice system. Its topic: "Faith Communities and Mass Incarceration."

The Dept. of Justice and the City of Seattle have agreed on a proposed consent decree with a  court-appointed monitor to improve policing in Seattle. The agreement is an historic opportunity for Seattle to ensure all residents receive equal and fair treatment by its police force.

Teenagers need to be able to explore lots of educational and career possibilities – and to do so without having the military automatically know about their personal explorations.  When you’re in high school (not to mention older), you may not know what you want to be.  Personally, I remember that when I was 16, I dreamt of being a physician.  A fan of Grey’s Anatomy, I thought that a rebellious doctor who happens to find a Prince Charming in an all-white lab coat epitomized the perfect job. 

Martin Niemoller’s well-known insight (“first they came for the Socialists, I was not one… when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up”) affirms the urgency of speaking out against torture and seeking remedy for torture victims and survivors around the world. To speak out against organized harm requires courageous naming, as observed by writer and rights advocate Marge Piercy, who wrote that “we must name the giant in whose belly we are chained.”