News & Commentary

By Rene’ C. Swafford, Esq., counsel for the Black family

By Dana Vickers Shelley, Executive Director, ACLU of Maryland; and Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA

Women’s History Month

Often for Cultural Heritage Months, we try to highlight people whose experiences and identities shaped them into the activists they are today. Kristen is one of those phenomenal activists who does amazing work on the ground to push to reimagine policing and dismantle white supremacist structures.

Sara Medrano, a Latina grandmother and Frederick County resident, was driving her daughter and two grandchildren to pick up laundry detergent on her way to work when a Frederick County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over, purportedly for a “broken” taillight — that was working just fine — and detained her. In Medrano’s words: “I was so scared thinking that this stop would be the last moment I would have with my grandchildren and my daughter.”

Typically, a child can let you know what kind of pizza to order for dinner and what flavor of soda to go with it. But if that child is put in a cold dark room with three law enforcement officers to be questioned about a robbery or murder that they have no knowledge of, there must be an adult in the room to protect the child’s best interest before they answer questions in a way that could change their life forever.

The holiday season is in full swing! But as you know, advocating for civil rights is a year-long job. Not only do we want to celebrate the many cultural and religious holidays that occur worldwide during these winter months, but we also want to celebrate some civil liberties moments that occurred during past holiday seasons. We like to think of these civil liberties victories as gifts and these civil rights fights as moments in time that inspire celebration and reflection.

How his family and a coalition are suing those involved with the wrongful police killing of Anton Black

We remember Emanuel Oates, Anton Black, Leonard Shand, Korryn Gaines, Manuel Espina, William Green, Tyrone West, Christopher Brown, Gary Hopkins Jr., Robert White, Finan Berhe, Freddie Gray, and too many more. These are the names of just a few of the Black Marylanders killed by police.