News & Commentary

The ACLU of Virginia recently sent the following letters to school divisions regarding important rights issues affecting students. -- Equality for LGBT Students:On October 8, 2015, the ACLU of Virginia sent a letter to all Virginia public school superintendents to raise awareness and bring attention to reports of harassment against students in Virginia schools who are, or are perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).  In the letter, we remind superintendents of the district's legal responsibility to investigate every alleged case of bullying and to take appropriate actions to prevent bullying. -- Challenging Sex Discrimination in Schools:The ACLU of Virginia on October 13, 2015, sent a letter to the Chesterfield County School Board urging the school board to revise its dress code policy, which has ambiguous and vague language, and is administered in a way that disproportionately targets female students for violations. -- Free Expression in Schools:The ACLU of Virginia on October 13, 2015, sent a letter to Christiansburg High School regarding its prohibition on confederate flag emblems in the parking lot and on student clothing.  We asked administrators for the rationale for their policies and urged them to review those policies to ensure that they do not infringe on students' rights to free expression.

Virginia is nearing its first execution in three years. On Oct. 1, the Commonwealth is scheduled to execute Alfredo Prieto. If the execution of Mr. Prieto goes ahead as scheduled, the Commonwealth will show that the machinery of death trumps government transparency, accountability, and the U.S. Constitution.

Every liberty remains a fight, every freedom a struggle. For students, understanding and embracing this struggle is crucial to preserving the victories of the past while continuing to win new freedoms and protections moving forward.

This month is bookended by reminders of police abuse. Last Sunday marked one year since a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and August 29 will mark the two-year anniversary of a police shooting that occurred much closer to home – the shooting of John Geer by a Fairfax County police officer. In both cases, the men were unarmed. And, in both cases law enforcement and elected officials responded with an official wall of silence.In our society, we too often wait to consider and make needed reforms until after a horrible event triggers a public outcry. Ferguson and Fairfax County are sad examples of this reform model. As we wrote earlier this week, the police abuses in Ferguson triggered some positive reforms, including new restrictions placed on the transfer of military equipment from the federal government to state and local law enforcement. These were reforms for which we’d advocated previously, but which failed to gain traction until Ferguson made them impossible to ignore. Fairfax County is also a place where advocates have long sought police reforms.  But, it took the inaction by the Fairfax County Policy Department (FCPD) in the wake of Mr. Greer’s death and federal concerns about how the investigation was handled for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to establish a commission to review the FCPD’s policies and practices and recommend changes to ensure a culture of public trust between the FCPD and the community. The high bar set to trigger reform opportunities makes it even more important that we push the commission to recommend real reforms now!The establishment of the police review commission in Fairfax, referred to officially as the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission, is an important step in restoring civilian authority and oversight over policing in the County, a step that is also essential to restoring public trust in the FCPD. The commission is made up of a diverse group of stakeholders, including community advocates, law enforcement, and academics and will offer its recommendations to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this fall. The substance of these recommendations is still undecided. It’s up to us to ensure that they are rooted in the concepts and values of accountability, transparency, constitutional policing and respect for the sanctity of human life – otherwise we risk recommendations that merely rubber stamp the policies and practices that led us here in the first place.We can all make our voice heard in this process. You can check the Police Commission meeting schedule or the committee and subcommittee webpage to see when and where the commission and its subcommittees will meet and whether the agenda will include a public comment period where you can add your voice. The community’s input matters – your voice can make a difference.Not sure what to say? Here is what we’re asking the commission to recommend. Our recommendations are based on the belief that law enforcement officers are guardians of the Constitution.These recommendations include:

 

(originally published by the Richmond Times Dispatch)

 

It’s a wrap. After four months of advocacy before the General Assembly and Governor’s office, we can finally report how Virginians’ rights fared during the 2015 General Assembly Session. We had some major victories, but also some disappointing losses.

In 2014 America, I should not be afraid of being the mother of an African American man; I should feel free to be very proud.  But the sad, angry, upsetting, and disappointing truth is I and, I imagine, many other mothers, are afraid for our sons and grandsons because we are afraid of law enforcement and how they’ll be treated.