Dear Friends,
The ACLU of Southern California is celebrating its centennial anniversary, marking 100 years of relentless, trailblazing advocacy in the courts, in legislative chambers, and in our communities.
Author Upton Sinclair and a small but brave cadre of activists founded our organization in 1923. The era was characterized by anti-immigrant sentiment, entrenched white supremacy and segregation, pervasive sexism, and violent police crackdowns on labor unions and dissidents. Most of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution had not been upheld by the courts and were frequently ignored by the authorities at the time, making them largely meaningless for many.
Since then, thanks to our partner organizations, community activists, and supporters like you, the ACLU has played a pivotal role in the expansion of civil rights and liberties in the United States—with Southern California often leading the way.
Read the 2023 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
In the last century, we fought back against the incarceration of people of Japanese descent during World War II, won the nation’s first successful school desegregation lawsuit on behalf of Mexican-American students in Lemon Grove, convinced the California Supreme Court to become the first court in the land to strike down an abortion ban, and became among the first to support the rights of people with HIV.
Year after year, the ACLU SoCal is powered by the courage of our clients, the talent and tenacity of our staff and volunteers, and the steadfast support of our members and donors.
The last few years have demanded much from all of us, and we know there are many battles left to fight.
- Challenging the Trump administration: we met the challenges posed by the Trump administration’s attacks on rights.
- Fighting against inhumane ICE detention centers: Through a global pandemic, we worked to protect the human and civil rights of vulnerable people and communities—from low-income students, to unhoused people, to immigrants and asylum-seekers in ICE detention centers.
- Defending our right to protest: As our country experienced a national reckoning over racism and police violence, we defended the right to protest.
- Protecting deported veterans: After years of advocacy, we have begun to see success in our efforts to secure citizenship for deported veterans, and are calling on Congress to pass the Veteran Service Recognition Act.
- Fighting against L.A.'s inhumane jail system: In Los Angeles, home to the largest jail system in the country, we secured a groundbreaking settlement that will create 1,925 community mental health beds as an alternative to jailing people with mental illness.
As we have done since our founding, we continue to break new ground in our ongoing fight to defend and expand civil rights and civil liberties. We will continue to show up whenever people’s rights are in jeopardy, holding the line for democracy while seizing every opportunity for proactive change.
As you read our 2023 Centennial Report, we hope you feel proud to play a role in an institution as central to our democracy as the ACLU SoCal.
The stories in this report, and many more which are unpublished, represent critical moments in the ACLU SoCal's history—and the history of Southern California itself. Not all our fights ended successfully. Other fights were lonely until we got involved. But all illustrate our unwavering commitment to the cause of justice.
Here’s to another 100 years of defending and advancing liberty and justice for all.
Read the 2023 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Thursday, October 20, 2022 - 2:00pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
Show list numbers
Dear Friends,
I am honored to share our 2021-2022 Year End Report, featuring illustrations from a California artist and Los Angeles-based illustrator, Ketu Ikediuba. Your steadfast support has allowed the ACLU rise to meet the biggest challenges of our time, fighting for civil rights and civil liberties in Southern California and nationwide. This year has often been painful.
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with devastating results—especially for Black women and girls. Voting rights, freedom of speech, and the rights of LGBTQ+ people are under siege. Our democracy feels fragile, its future uncertain. Yet, thanks to your partnership, the ACLU today is stronger and nimbler than ever before.
We are equipped to face the most powerful opponents and protect the most vulnerable people. Beyond our defensive efforts, we continue to achieve proactive wins, vindicating the rights of our clients and their communities while helping to reshape unjust systems.
As you read on, I hope you feel especially proud of all we have built together in Southern California, where our victories not only impact tens of millions of people but reverberate throughout the country as models for change.
Read the 2022 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
In addition to the highlights in this report, your partnership has fueled critical wins on:
FIGHTING FOR ABORTION RIGHTS
The ACLU helped defeat an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas, demonstrating the public’s support for abortion access—and the power of our movement. We also led a groundbreaking ballot-measure campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the Michigan State Constitution. We launched a midterms campaign spotlighting reproductive rights and encouraging Americans to vote their values. In California, we championed a ballot measure to make our state a haven for abortion access. Nationwide, the ACLU won 28 voting rights victories in 21 states, blocked more than 20 abortion bans and restrictions, fought to reunite separated families, secured the release of more than 48,000 vulnerable people from prisons and jails during the pandemic, and won landmark Supreme Court rulings protecting student free speech and establishing that employers can’t fire people for being gay or transgender. Now is the time to redouble our efforts. We must not only fight to defend fundamental rights whenever they are attacked, but also to advance our own ambitious agenda for necessary systemic change. With your support, we will seize the opportunities ahead to create a freer and more just nation.
PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
From Georgia, to Pennsylvania, to Texas, the ACLU went to court to curb voter suppression and gerrymandering, while shoring up election administration by recruiting poll workers, building alliances with pro-democracy election officials, and educating voters about key Secretary of State and State Supreme Court races. Our nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts helped voters understand what was at stake this midterm election. In Southern California, we challenged discriminatory maps at the local level—establishing Orange County’s first Latinx-majority supervisorial district and suing on behalf of Latinx voters in Riverside County.
DEFENDING AND EXPANDING LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
The ACLU is fighting back against attacks on the lives and dignity of LGBTQ+ people, suing to block laws such as Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming care, Florida’s gag rule censoring classroom discussions, and Texas’ cruel policy of investigating the families of transgender youth. In California, we continue to expand LGBTQ+ rights in health care, jails and prisons, and schools—for instance, by ensuring that schools provide inclusive sex education and respect the rights of transgender and nonbinary students.
DEMANDING TRUE PUBLIC SAFETY
Throughout the country, the ACLU continues to champion policies to stop police abuse, end mass incarceration, and create true public safety for all. In Los Angeles County, this November we secured a historic ballot measure victory which will increase accountability for the sheriff. We also recently won an emergency court order requiring the county to fix the horrific conditions at its Inmate Reception Center—the entry point for the nation’s largest jail system. Conditions at the center included lack of access to clean water and people with mental illnesses being chained to chairs for days.
As we continue to confront the forces of white supremacy, misogyny, and nativism, we must remain energized and fully committed. Your ongoing and increased investment ensures that the ACLU can hold the line for democracy, move the needle for civil rights and civil liberties, and realize our shared vision of a truly just society. Thank you for your continued partnership.
Onward,
Hector O. Villagra
Executive Director
Read the 2022 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 - 2:00pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
Show list numbers
Read the 2021 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Dear Friends,
Thank you! Your continued support of and investment in the ACLU has allowed us to rise to the various challenges of the past year, defending and advancing civil rights and civil liberties through one of the most tumultuous periods in recent memory.
2020 was marked by a global pandemic, a national election in which the president attempted to overturn the result of the vote, and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black people at the hands of police. 2021 dawned with a mob of President Trump’s supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, a stark warning about the fragility of our democracy and the threat posed by white supremacy.
Throughout this difficult year, your partnership enabled the ACLU to work fiercely and strategically to defend democracy, protect vulnerable communities, and seize opportunities to make lasting change. I hope this report makes you proud of all that you helped accomplish here in our region and statewide.
This report highlights just a few examples of the work your generosity made possible this year. You also helped us secure a number of other wins, including:
- Advocating successfully to make California the first state in the country to adopt universal mail-in voting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Securing a court order requiring Orange County to reduce its jail population by 50 percent—the most expansive legal victory in the country on jail conditions during COVID-19.
- Co-sponsoring two critical police accountability state bills that have made it to the Governor’s desk: one to decertify bad cops so they can’t be rehired by other jurisdictions, and another to fund a pilot program to create alternatives to police response for certain 911 calls.
- Winning an important Ninth Circuit ruling that ICE violated the First Amendment when it arrested an undocumented college student who read a protest poem about immigration at a Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting and held him on an exorbitant $50,000 bond in retaliation.
- Training and empowering hundreds of parents, students, and educators to ensure that their schools comply with the California Healthy Youth Act, which requires public schools to provide comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive sex education.
- Winning an administrative complaint against San Bernardino County education officials for misspending millions in state funding intended for high-needs students, including by routing millions of dollars to law enforcement instead of mental health and other support services.
- Preparing our Supreme Court oral arguments for Fazaga v. FBI in a long-running, landmark case defending religious freedoms and challenging the FBI for illegally spying on the Muslim community in Orange County.
Nationwide, the ACLU won 28 voting rights victories in 21 states, blocked more than 20 abortion bans and restrictions, fought to reunite separated families, secured the release of more than 48,000 vulnerable people from prisons and jails during the pandemic, and won landmark Supreme Court rulings protecting student free speech and establishing that employers can’t fire people for being gay or transgender.
Now is the time to redouble our efforts. We must not only fight to defend fundamental rights whenever they are attacked, but also to advance our own ambitious agenda for necessary systemic change. With your support, we will seize the opportunities ahead to create a freer and more just nation.
Thank you in advance for your continued partnership.
With gratitude,
Hector O. Villagra
Executive Director
Read the 2021 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 2:00pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
Show list numbers
Pages
