News & Commentary

Over the last week, ACLU staff across the country have worked as legal observers; educated protesters about their rights; been arrested, tear-gassed and hit with rubber bullets; challenged curfews; organized town halls; talked to victims of police abuse; donated money to Black Lives Matter, local bail funds and other groups; and strategized about transformational change.The ACLU is busier than ever — let’s not forget this is happening amidst a pandemic and during the Trump administration — but we don’t hesitate to prioritize this work at this time because we have witnessed this reality of police violence all too often.The ACLU’s advocacy against police violence began in the 1920s, shortly after our founding, and has continued for the next 100 years. In 1931, we spearheaded the issuance of a government report, “ Lawlessness in Law Enforcement .” In 1965, in response to the Watts Rebellion , we opened our first storefront office to directly document police abuse. In 1991, following the police beatings of Rodney King, we launched a fight against racial profiling, resulting in litigation and a vibrant nationwide advocacy effort. In 2015, we published “Picking up the Pieces,” a report documenting biased policing in Minneapolis. ACLU reports from New York , Chicago , Newark , Philadelphia , Boston , Detroit , and Nebraska have all documented police departments that reserve their most aggressive enforcement for people of color generally — and Black people in particular.Despite the tireless work done by so many in the ACLU to address police violence in communities of color, there’s a fundamental truth that we must confront: It has not worked. Black people continue to be murdered and brutalized by police with near impunity. More of the same won’t fix this problem.As we look to the future, the ACLU unites behind the profound fight that groups like Movement for Black Lives have been leading: the fight for a completely reimagined vision of the role, presence, and responsibilities of police in America.The fight will be complex, but in practice what we want can be clearly stated: We need to fundamentally change the role of police in our society, and that role has to be smaller, more circumscribed, and less funded with taxpayer dollars. Money saved from reducing the size and scope of police departments must be reinvested into community-based services that are better suited to respond to actual community needs. Doing so will foster improved safety and health outcomes, and present opportunities in Black communities, where decades of underinvestment in everything except police has helped fuel a mass incarceration crisis.

This week I asked my wife not to go to Costco by herself for our weekly supply run. It had nothing to do with the fact that my spouse’s solo trips to Costco have a way of resulting in budget busting purchases of dubious necessity (“It was on sale!”), or the fact that Costco has turned into a post-apocalyptic thunderdome of toilet paper hoarders; I asked her to avoid going out shopping because in the current environment I am afraid someone will try to hurt her because of the way she looks. Because she is Asian.

It was a parent’s worst nightmare.

ACLU-NM client Jordan McDowell speaks out about racial discrimination at Allsup’s

As renowned Native American artist Mateo Romero drove along Old Santa Fe Trail on a hot July day, he couldn’t have imagined that he’d soon be lying face down on the ground with a rifle pointed at his head.

As teenage brothers Thomas and Lloyd descended a staircase with fellow prospective students of Colorado State University, the excitement of visiting their dream school quickly unraveled.

 LAS CRUCES, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights (RCBR), the ACLU Foundation of Texas (ACLU-TX), and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) filed a complaint on behalf of thirteen border residents, urging the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to investigate abusive treatment by Office of Field Operations officers at ports of entry in El Paso, Texas and southern New Mexico.