On May 15, 1923, angered by the LAPD's brutal treatment and imprisonment of striking longshoremen, renowned journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair appeared at a rally in San Pedro. Sinclair began reading the First Amendment to the Constitution. Barely able to finish three lines, Sinclair was arrested by the police, who had warned him to "cut out that Constitution stuff." Ninety years later, the ACLU of Southern California has remained true to Sinclair's spirit.
Today, we are at the forefront of efforts to ensure basic equity to all public school students in California, reform our local jails and criminal justice system, provide basic fairness for immigrants, and oppose discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
Nationally, the ACLU is a leader in securing the right to vote, protecting privacy, defending reproductive freedom, and advancing the freedom to marry.
Our issues, and the individuals or groups in need of legal protection and advocacy, may change, but our mission remains constant. We believe the Constitution and the Bill of Rights establish the framework for maintaining individual freedom, and the constitutional principles of liberty, fairness and equality are our touchstone. Acco
Date
Thursday, November 1, 2012 - 3:00pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Style
Standard with sidebar
The national ACLU turned ninety-four this year — five hundred thousand Americans united in one cause. Since 1920, the political currents have repeatedly threatened to take — and sometimes have taken — America off course. But the ACLU’s compass has always been true, the vision always clear: to make our union — these United States — more perfect by upholding constitutional rights for everyone.
There’s much to celebrate. This report highlights key successes from this year, while recalling some of the historic milestones that helped bring us here.
The ACLU struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year and look at how the freedom to marry has spread — for the first time, most Americans live in states where same-sex marriage is legal!
But even as we celebrate this advance, we must recognize the rising tide against basic rights. Some states have taken the election and reelection of a black president as a call to arms and want to prevent millions of Americans from voting. And the NSA developed a scheme of asking a secret judge, sitting on a secret court, for a warrant to spy on all American cellphone users — without any proof of criminal conduct by any of us.
There’s always too much to include in a single report because the work — standing for justice, standing against the currents of the day, and taking a stand for what’s right, fair, and just — never ends.
Date
Friday, November 1, 2013 - 3:00pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Style
Standard with sidebar
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
These have been called the most powerful and consequential words in American history. They are, but not just because they were thought, or said, or written. The words that hold us together as a people matter because individuals took them seriously - more seriously than the men profound enough to write but not live by them. Whether called abolitionists, suffragists, civil rights workers, or activists, they had one thing in common: they believed and showed their belief – not just with words and speech – but with truth and action.
This is the spirit that drives us at the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) - everyone from donors and supporters to board and staff members.
This is why the ACLU SoCal stands for justice - for everyone. This is why this year has been so challenging. Even as we celebrate landmark successes – such as the long march to establish marriage equality, which has been marked from beginning to end by the work of the ACLU – we know the truth. We know there is more work ahead to affirm the dignity and rights of the LGBTQ community and especially transgender people. And the deaths of unarmed people of color at the hands of the police show just how painfully far our nation is from treating everyone equally.
This is why the work must continue and we must look for new and better ways to protect people and their rights. This is why we spearheaded the launch of MobileJusticeCA - an innovative and free smartphone app to preserve video of police encounters and teach people about their rights.
With your support, we can speak up and tell the truth, challenge unjust laws, and reform political institutions. We can make America live up to the words enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
Date
Friday, January 1, 2016 - 2:15pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Style
Standard with sidebar
Pages
