Lessons from Internment: Racial and Religious Profiling Are Never Warranted

My mother was seven years old when she and her family were evacuated from the West Coast and forced to live in an Army barrack behind barbed wire in an internment camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Born in Los Angeles, she had been taught in school to be a proud and loyal American citizen, so the wholesale exclusion and relocation of her community was both terrifying and confusing. On the journey to Wyoming, the prisoners were ordered to keep their shades down when the train passed through towns; my mother thought this must be because people hated her and her community so much that they didn’t want to see their faces. She was incarcerated at Heart Mountain for three years before she and her family were permitted to return to their home in Los Angeles.

The family of Julia Harumi Mass at Heart Mountain internment camp in 1944

The ACLU Responds to the Potential Nominations of Sen. Sessions for Attorney General and Rep. Pompeo for CIA Director

As a matter of organizational policy, the ACLU doesn't take a position supporting or opposing presidential or judicial nominations. We do, however, educate the American people and the Congress about nominees’ records and past positions.

Sen. Sessions and Rep. Pompeo

Being a Breastfeeding Parent Shouldn’t Mean Choosing Between a Career and Your Health

Over the summer, new mom Jessica Campbell registered for her daylong veterinary licensing exam at a Prometric testing facility. She found out that during the seven-and-a-half-hour test, she would only be given 45 minutes of break time. Normally, this time can be distributed throughout the day for lunch, restroom breaks, and studying. But as a breastfeeding mom, Jessica would have to set aside a large chunk of it to pump breast milk. Even with medical grade equipment, the process can take 30 minutes, leaving breastfeeding test takers with only 15 minutes for all of the other necessary break activities.

Black woman being handed a piece of paper in a classroom

The ACLU Is Receiving an Outpouring of Support. Here’s Our Plan.

Since Election Day, the ACLU has seen a renewed sense of urgency from hundreds of thousands of Americans to protect civil liberties.

we won't stop now

Post-Election Protesting? Know Your Rights to Demonstrate - #ACLUTimeMachine

Rallying in response to the news of Donald Trump’s election? Read, print, and share our new demonstrators’ rights wallet cards.

Know Your Rights to Demonstrate

Catholic Hospitals Denied These Women Critical Care. Now They’re Speaking Out.

I'm heartbroken and in awe. Woman after woman has come forward to tell us her story of being denied critical reproductive health care at a Catholic hospital.

women

Since When Did Police Officers Replace the Principal’s Office?

Back in the day, a student who broke school rules or otherwise misbehaved would be reprimanded by a teacher or sent to the principal’s office. But today, school administrators are increasingly relying on law enforcement to keep students in line, and the results can be dire.

kid in handcuffs in a classroom

#ACLUTimeMachine - Where Breast Cancer Activism Meets Civil Liberties

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re flashing back to 2013, a year that marked both a big win and a big loss for the ACLU and the breast cancer movement.

ACLUTimeMachine Barbara Brenner breast cancer awareness BCAction

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Provided Data Access for a Surveillance Product Marketed to Target Activists of Color

The ACLU of California has obtained records showing that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram provided user data access to Geofeedia, a developer of a social media monitoring product that we have seen marketed to law enforcement as a tool to monitor activists and protesters.

An icon representing Social Media Monitoring Software