Stories from the ACLU of Washington

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Natasha Khanna: Law and Dance

Published: 
Thursday, October 24, 2013
At the suggestion of a college counselor, Natasha Khanna applied to intern with the ACLU in California three years ago.  She didn’t know much about the organization at the time and didn’t end up with the internship, but the ACLU has been on her radar screen ever since.  Natasha is particularly interested in voting rights and the relationship between the church and state.  She thinks that the ACLU is most important because it represents the “big picture.” As she puts it, “Regardless of the specific issue, we are always fighting for equal rights and the Constitution, and people can connect and rely on that.”
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Turning Loss into Action: Mexican Author Javier Sicilia to Speak on the Drug War

Published: 
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Two upcoming events will highlight the ways the War on Drugs has produced painful consequences for not only the United States, but also our neighbors to the south.  Between the more than 70,000 deaths and 10,000 disappearances in Mexico since 2006, and the mass incarceration and disenfranchisement of non-violent individuals in the U.S., the number of lives being destroyed in the name of the War on Drugs has reached epidemic proportions.
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Nate Hards: Challenging Class and Racial Inequality

Published: 
Monday, October 21, 2013
When asked why he is interning with the ACLU, Nathan Hards spoke of “putting knowledge into action.” He is interested in racial and class inequality, and graduated from Western Washington University in Political Science, focusing on race and public policy for contemporary African Americans. His final project focused on social class issues, as he found that significant issues in our country increasingly arise from divisions of class. His professor for that project just happens to be a close friend of an ACLU-WA Board member and recommended that Nate start here.
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Bust Cards: Educating about Rights While We Work for Police Reform

Published: 
Friday, October 18, 2013
Last year, after pressure from the ACLU and a number of community groups, the City of Seattle and the Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement relating to police practices. It avoided a lengthy court battle over DOJ’s allegations that the Seattle Police Department had a pattern or practice of the excess use of force.
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GeekGirlCon: A Place for Women Who Have Found Their Own Voices

Published: 
Thursday, October 17, 2013
GeekGirlCon is here!  If you haven’t heard of GeekGirlCon before, you are missing out on a great event. 
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Sometimes History is Now: The ACLU-WA 2012-2013 Annual Report coming soon!

Published: 
Monday, October 14, 2013
Protecting everyone is a hefty task.  Telling that story is tough, too.  Each year, the ACLU is hard at work protecting everyone from Washington state, to Washington DC, and every state in between. Capturing all of this in one yearly report is a great challenge, and this year we have risen to that challenge with our first-ever online Annual Report: Sometimes History is Now.
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Students and parents: We’ve got your back.

Published: 
Friday, October 11, 2013
Has your son or daughter been “emergency expelled” from school for a minor disciplinary infraction that presented no threat? Has a teacher searched all the texts on your phone because you forgot to turn it off during class? Has a friend who’s trying to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at your high school been told that the group is “too controversial” and cannot hold meetings on school grounds? Know your rights and where to get help!
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Your rights: The most important subject for pregnant and parenting students

Published: 
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Did you know that only 50% of teen mothers receive their high school diploma? Discrimination at school can play a big part in pushing them out and keeping them out.
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Balancing Police Oversight and Privacy: ACLU Offers Recommendations for Body Cams

Published: 
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Police departments across the state have adopted or are looking to buy on-officer recording systems, or “body cameras,” to provide oversight for law enforcement. These cameras can be very beneficial for accountability to prevent or identify police misconduct. But, they also pose risks to privacy for those captured in the recordings.
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RAND Drug Policy Research Center Founder Assesses Three Decades of U.S. War on Drugs

Published: 
Thursday, October 3, 2013
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Meet Our Interns: Divinity and Helping People

Published: 
Friday, September 27, 2013
The ACLU of Washington has many wonderful interns who assist with our work. We would like you to meet some of them. When it was time for Irene DeMaris to choose an internship for her Masters of Divinity at Seattle University, she thought of some of the mail she had received from the ACLU.
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Continued federal prosecution of marijuana possession cases is confusing and carries life-long consequences

Published: 
Friday, September 20, 2013
The federal government’s recent positive response to marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado seems a far and contradictory cry from their enforcement policy on federal grounds.
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