ANNUAL REPORT: Writer: Neydin Milián. Designer: Nicole McCann. Contributors: Jenny Trust, Craig Lee, Shaqué Ingram, Dana Vickers Shelley, and Corey Stottlemyer.
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“Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it’s really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power.” –Former President Barack Obama
Dear Friends –
For the past 90 years, we have defended our Constitution and democracy, empowering Marylanders to raise their voices and claim their power. The coming year will be no different. The ACLU of Maryland (ACLU-MD) remains ready to center racial justice, invest in Maryland communities, and challenge government abuses.
Wherever our government initiates state-sponsored police violence, violates the rights of immigrant families and communities, or abuses our freedom of speech, ACLU-MD member-donors and friends will see us: urging people to march in the streets, launching effective lawsuits, and demanding necessary policy changes in Annapolis. Together with directly impacted communities and other partners across Maryland, we WILL defend our democracy and each other.
Moving forward is the only option. There is no other path to a better Maryland. It is difficult to overstate the challenges ahead. Our opponents are well organized and better funded. Yet our impact will be greater. Our spirit and vision are more powerful.
This year, in collaboration with community partners to challenge the exploitation and dehumanization of incarcerated workers, we urged the Fourth Circuit to conclude that the Fair Labor Standards Act (the nation’s leading minimum wage law) may sometimes apply when incarcerated workers work outside of jail walls. We will continue this racial justice advocacy so that the rights of incarcerated Marylanders are respected!
In an important Calvert County victory, we sued when the Calvert County sheriff attached a $12,000 price tag to access records we requested under the Maryland Public Information Act, following a series of disturbing complaints from residents about invasive police searches. Our lawsuit prevailed!
This year, we championed the free speech rights of Towson University students who held a small “die-in” demonstration in support of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza and supported their efforts to write their school a letter challenging their mistreatment. In Howard County, we protected the rights of Arab and Muslim students and their parents to speak out against violence in Gaza when their school censored their speech. We urged Howard County school administrators to take measures to protect AMEMSA students from Islamophobia. Response from the school system was swift and conciliatory. In early September, we accompanied the impacted students and families to a meeting with the County School Superintendent, who acknowledged the harms the school system had caused. The Superintendent apologized and committed to healing measures.
Finally, the Civil War-era law that denied control of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) to its citizens was torn down this election year. Baltimore residents will finally be in the driver’s seat for how BPD is managed. This hard-fought victory is a testament to over a decade of community power and organizing. We are proud of you, friends, allies, and supporters, for never giving up on the dream of a better Maryland. You protect the vision of a Maryland where every person can exercise their rights and have the law value their humanity.
Governmental efforts to shrink democracy are cynical, if not outright authoritarian. Your leadership is a testament to the power of people committed to justice and truth. Thank you for showing up for all of us. Please sign up online to become a member and join us at activities across the state!
With gratitude and in solidarity,
Dana Vickers Shelley
Executive Director
ACLU of Maryland
Corey Stottlemyer
President, Board of Directors
ACLU of Maryland
2024 ACLU of Maryland Annual Report (PDF)
Date
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 - 12:15pm
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Dear Friends –
Since the founding of our organization, we have been showing up for racial justice. It played a central role in the first case we were involved in, seeking some measure of justice for Orphan Jones, aka Euel Lee, in 1931, the case spurred the first gathering of what would become the ACLU of Maryland. A Black man from Virginia, Lee was racially mistreated, threatened with lynching by a white mob on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Lee was beaten before he was questioned, brutalized, charged with murder, and denied counsel.
More than ninety years later, the ACLU of Maryland continues to show up -- and evolve – on our journey for race equity that began at our founding. We ask ourselves, and each other, each day: What can we all do now to make things truly different? To achieve systemic change that overcomes white supremacy? To ensure we are not faced with the same racist inhumanity after another 90 years in Maryland?
We need change, which is why we developed a four-year strategic plan that has as its centerpiece a fundamentally different way of working. Coalitions are growing across the state – including with equal vigor in Western Maryland & the Eastern Shore – that center the leadership and experience of Marylanders directly impacted by state systems that perpetuate injustice. The ACLU of Maryland is committed to centering and investing in this work and together making a deep and lasting impact.
It's working.
"We Show Up" video transcript available here
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This year, led by residents on the Eastern Shore, we changed Federalsburg’s election system and paved the way for the election of the first Black officials in the town’s 200-year history. Along with partners, we passed the Child Interrogation Protection Act, which provides age-appropriate due process protections for children being interrogated by police, both to protect their rights and against false confessions. Together with community groups across the state, we are working to ensure that Baltimore City and Maryland’s 23 counties have a strong, community-led Police Accountability Board. And so much more.
Thank you for showing up as members of our community. We are proud to count on you among our friends, allies, and supporters as we pull out all the stops for 2024. It is hard to overstate the challenges ahead. We face well-organized, better-funded opponents whose efforts are cynical, effective, and grease the skids for democratic decline, if not outright authoritarianism.
But we aren’t just trying to stem a backward slide of our rights. We are showing up for a vision of something greater: A Maryland where we can exercise our rights so that the law values and uplifts our humanity. Please sign up online to become a member and join us at activities across the state!
With gratitude and in solidarity,
Dana Vickers Shelley
Executive Director
ACLU of Maryland
Corey Stottlemyer
President, Board of Directors
ACLU of Maryland
2023 ACLU of Maryland Annual Report (PDF)
Annual report content by Meredith Curtis Goode, Craig Lee, Jenny Trust, Shaqué Ingram, Amy Cruice, Gina Elleby, and Rosemary Ardman.
Annual report and web design by Nicole McCann.
Date
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 - 12:15pm
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Letter to Marylanders:
We're furious and we know you are, too. Let's do something about it.
Our commitment remains: Despite the terrible Dobbs decision, the ACLU of Maryland will continue to support our communities, local partners, and member-donors to preserve abortion rights and access for any and all people who can get pregnant. We are focused and prepared to reinforce all the rights that together we have worked so hard to protect against threats – from the safety of LGBTQ+ people from harm to the rights of immigrants targeted by the deportation machine, and so many more.
Back in 2013, with the egregious Shelby decision, the Supreme Court started chipping away at our voting rights, when the majority invalidated two provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. Section 5 of the VRA contained key protections for Black and Brown voters in southern states with long histories of voter suppression. That dangerous decision has serious consequences for redistricting and voter laws and access more generally. But now the Supreme Court justices are even more “originalist” (which should never be a goal if you care about civil and human rights), meaning we have much more to fear in future decisions that imperil our voting rights and our democracy itself.
Thankfully, the ACLU of Maryland’s strategic priorities encompass many of these pivotal issues. We’re also ready to meet the evolving, intersectional demands that these attacks on our rights from the Supreme Court represent, particularly to Black and Brown individuals and communities that have long been denied full access to these rights, even before these devastating rulings.
We must keep in mind that we have never seen true democracy or full access to rights for all. These ideas remain elusive, both in Maryland and across America. But we must imagine it, and then work to realize our vision. We won’t back down, we won’t give up, and we won't be silent. Together we are stronger.
If you want to make sure everyone in our state can exercise their rights so the law values and uplifts their humanity, you need to vote. That is why the ACLU of Maryland promotes voting rights information during every statewide election cycle.
All voters – including voters who have returned to their communities from incarceration and eligible voters who are currently in jail pre-trial or in prison for a misdemeanor – need to know their rights and have access to the ballot.
Decisions we make for representation at the state, county, district, and local levels determine if and how we can restore what has been lost, preserve what is essential, and advance rights for all in the future.
Yours in liberty and equity,
Dana Vickers Shelley
Executive Director
ACLU of Maryland
Homayra Ziad
President, Board of Directors
ACLU of Maryland
Annual report content by Meredith Curtis Goode, Craig Lee, and Jenny Trust.
Annual report design by Nicole McCann.
Date
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 12:15pm
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