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Racial Justice

The authors of the Declaration of Independence outlined a bold vision for America: a nation in which all people would be free and equal. Yet the forced removal of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of those of African descent marked the beginnings of a system of racial injustice from which our country has yet to break free. Despite important gains made by civil rights activism, the school-to-prison pipeline, mass incarceration, and racial profiling and bias in policing are but a few of the racist injustices that mark the distance between America’s reality and the dream we seek to achieve: liberty and justice for everybody.

Resources

Latino Voters Make History in Yakima

News Release, Published: 
Thursday, October 29, 2015
An historic advance for Latino voters in Yakima has taken place in the wake of an ACLU-WA legal victory
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Proposal to increase traffic infraction penalties will harm the poor, people of color

News Release, Published: 
Monday, April 27, 2015
The ACLU of Washington is urging the Washington State Supreme Court to reject a proposal to increase monetary penalties for traffic infractions, saying that doing so will unfairly burden the poor and people of color.
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Court Orders New District Voting System to Provide Meaningful Voice for Latinos in Yakima Elections

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
The U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington today issued an order requiring Yakima to implement a plan for seven single-member districts for City Council elections. The action followed a 2014 ruling that the city’s election at-large election system unlawfully diluted the votes of Yakima’s Latino residents. The decision came in a lawsuit by the ACLU of Washington challenging Yakima’s system for violating the federal Voting Rights Act.    
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Federal Court Rules Yakima’s Voting System Violates Voting Rights Act

News Release, Published: 
Friday, August 22, 2014
A federal court today ruled that the City of Yakima’s election system for City Council violates the federal Voting Rights Act. The court ruled that the system dilutes Latino votes and that “… City Council elections are not ‘equally open to participation’ by members of the Latino minority.”  According to the ACLU of Washington, although Voting Rights Act lawsuits have forced reforms in many cities’ election systems across the country, this case is the first such suit in Washington state.
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Report to UN Decries Violations of Religious Freedom of Indigenous Prisoners

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
On July 25, Huy and a coalition anchored by the National Congress of American Indians, Native American Rights Fund and American Civil Liberties Union, decried the United States’ violations of American indigenous prisoners’ religious freedoms, to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
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The Housing Crash and Racial Disproportionality

Published: 
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Racial disproportion is endemic in America. A new report on the impact of the housing crash provides fresh evidence of how families of different races are impacted disparately by economic forces. 
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New data from the feds shows need for school discipline reform.

Published: 
Friday, March 21, 2014
The US Department of Education has just released new data on school discipline and arrests.  
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The School Discipline Conversation is Catching On

Published: 
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Students of color, disabled students, and low-income students are all disciplined more often and more harshly than their classmates, despite evidence that they don’t misbehave more often or engage in more troubling behavior.
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Settlement Reins in Border Patrol Stops on the Olympic Peninsula

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) announce a settlement agreement in a lawsuit that challenged the Border Patrol’s practice of stopping vehicles and interrogating occupants in the Olympic Peninsula.
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ACLU Brief Says Conviction and Capital Sentence Should Be Overturned Because of Racial Bias

Published: 
Thursday, July 18, 2013
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees every person the right to a fair trial.  However, if the prosecution is making racist remarks and presenting racially-charged evidence throughout the trial, this right is violated.
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