News & Commentary

"How Long? Not Long!" was the question and answer given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he stood on the steps of the Capitol building in March 1965 after leading the march from Selma to Montgomery. It was also a declaration that the struggle must continue. Despite obstacles and adversity, people came together and demanded better. They showed that it was not acceptable to establish laws that disenfranchised. They marched together to exemplify that together we can address discriminatory housing practices, inadequate public school funding and policies that keep poverty in place. As a result of their trek protesting injustices, they advanced equality.  

By Nusrat Choudhury, Staff Attorney, ACLU Racial Justice Program

By Brian Hauss, Legal Fellow, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative OfficeDid you know that there are just 18 states that have explicit workplace non-discrimination protections for LGBT people, or that a mere 13 states have such protections in place for LGBT students?On Tuesday, the director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office delivered that message to the Senate Judiciary Committee during her testimony on the state of civil and human rights in the United States. "Despite remarkable progress in recent years in expanding the number of states with the freedom to marry for same-sex couples," said Laura W. Murphy, "there is a startling dearth of explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBT Americans."

By Kara Dansky, Senior Counsel, ACLU Center for JusticeThis August, Americans watched in horror as the police descended on peaceful protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, as though they were going into battle. In May, a toddler named Bou Bou Phonesavanh had his chest ripped open and his face torn off by a flashbang grenade that police officers in Georgia threw into his crib during a paramilitary raid. Though these incidents shocked many Americans, police militarization isn't new. The American siege on communities of color has been going on for a very long time.

A group in Mississippi is proposing a ballot initiative that could discriminate against Mississippians with different religious beliefs as well as racial and ethnic minorities.

By Andres Wallace, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Mississippi

By Jennifer Dalven, Reproductive Freedom Project

By Brandon Buskey, ACLU Criminal Law Reform ProjectOctavious Burks has been waiting for 10 months.