News & Commentary

Kanya Bennett, Former Senior Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union Poli

Since the protests decrying the murder of George Floyd began in May, the institution of American policing has taken center stage. Activists are calling for change, and the phrase “defund the police” can be heard in cities across the country. As the concept of slashing police budgets and reinvesting those resources into Black and Brown communities goes increasingly mainstream, a more radical call is also gaining attention: Abolish the Police.On At Liberty this week, attorney, author, researcher, and organizer Andrea Ritchie and senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice, Carl Takei, joined us to talk abolition, divestment, and what a world without police might look. “[Abolition is] about recognizing the instinct in all of us to punish people who hurt us, or to seek retribution instead of repair, and to acknowledge that actually in order to create a society that is free from violence, we have to move away from mobilizing the state and giving the state a monopoly on violence to respond to violence,” says Ritchie. “Instead, we need to dig to the root causes of violence and transform those conditions and causes, such that we can all have an opportunity to live in a world free of violence, not just people who are in positions of privilege in the current political, social, economic structure.”

The documentary shows the hard, exhausting work of fighting for civil and human rights.

Weeks of powerful protests highlight the outrage over the enduring and deep-rooted problem of racist policing and structural racism in the United States.

Manar Waheed, Senior Legislative and Advocacy Counsel, ACLU

Gillian Ganesan, Former National Campaign Strategist, American Civil Liberties Union In t

Esto es sólo un punto de partida. El cambio real para las comunidades latinas e inmigrantes de Wyoming y las personas de color comienza con una conversación honesta. Recuerda, no estás solo. Luchemos por el futuro que todos queremos y necesitamos.

The fight for civil liberties won’t be won in the courts alone.

Just how did a pregnant woman serving time for a drug offense get sent to a crowded federal women’s prison more than 1,000 miles away from her home?