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ACLU of MD Update – 4.11.081. Racial Justice News! Podcast: "Driving While Black: Still a Crime Ten Years Later?" 2. Monday! Death Penalty Event at JHU - Voices from Death Row 3. National ACLU News! News Report Reveals White House Approved Torture Techniques 4. ACLU in Annapolis! Full Legislative Session Wrap-Up Coming Next Week ******************* 1. Racial Justice News! Podcast: "Driving While Black: Still a Crime Ten Years Later?" ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah Jeon and ACLU of Maryland Vice President Gary Rodwell, who was a plaintiff in the “Driving While Black” lawsuit against the Maryland State Police, were guests earlier this week on “Maryland Morning” on WYPR 88.1 FM. Jeon and Rodwell discussed the landmark settlement recently reached in the case and whether racial profiling is a thing of the past or an ongoing concern for minority drivers. Click here to listen to a podcast of the interview: In 1998, the national ACLU and the ACLU of Maryland filed a lawsuit against the Maryland State Police on behalf of the state NAACP and individuals who were racially profiled along Interstate 95 in Maryland. The settlement reached last week totals more than $400,000, including a $300,000 payment by the State of Maryland for damages and legal costs. It also includes a commitment by the MSP to pay up to $100,000 to retain an independent police practices consultant to perform an assessment of how the MSP has implemented policy and practices changes to address concerns about racial profiling, related to a far-reaching legal agreement (Consent Decree) reached in 2003 to resolve major portions of the case. Click here to learn more about the “Driving While Black” lawsuit and settlement:
2. Monday! Death Penalty Event at JHU - Voices from Death Row WHAT: “Voices from Death Row”, hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Chapter of the ACLU WHO: Ron Kleine, an exonerated death row inmate who had been moments away from execution; Vicki Schieber, a representative from Murder Victims for Human Rights whose daughter was brutally raped and murdered while a student at the University of Pennsylvania; and a representative from Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, who will give a brief overview of the facts and statistics regarding the death penalty, the current situation in Maryland, and what students can do to take an active role to affect change. WHEN: Monday, April 14 at 6:30 PM WHERE: Mergenthaler Hall Room 111, Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore For more information, please email the JHU ACLU at jhuaclu@gmail.com
3. National ACLU News! News Report Reveals White House Approved Torture Techniques http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/34845prs20080410.html ABC News has reported that in dozens of top-secret White House meetings, the most senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, discussed and approved specific torture techniques for use on detainees. According to this report, Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft sanctioned these tactics. In light of this revelation, the ACLU is calling on Congress to appoint a special counsel to investigate these charges. "If current and former administration officials broke the law, they should be prosecuted for criminal acts. No one is above the law,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. Fredrickson continued: “With each new revelation, it is beginning to look like the torture operation was managed and directed out of the White House. This is what we suspected all along. Congress must get to the bottom of these reports." ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders said that it is time for the administration to stop blaming the front line interrogators alone for tactics it had approved: "After years of the administration pointing the finger at what it said were a few interrogators, if this story is correct, it instead looks more like there were direct orders for specific acts of torture straight from the White House. These are the tools of dictators, not leaders of a democracy." According to the ABC story, then-Attorney General Ashcroft was troubled by the discussions, asking aloud after one meeting: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly." Fredrickson added, "Kudos to ABC News for being the first to report this important story." Click here to read the ABC News story: Click here to read the ACLU letter calling for a special counsel:
4. ACLU in Annapolis! Full Legislative Session Wrap-Up Coming Next Week Check back! |
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