Tell Everyone: Dissent Is Patriotic
The First Amendment guarantees what some might consider the most fundamental freedoms that define our nation. The ongoing Occupy Wall Street protest is spreading from the streets of New York to cities and towns all across America, and the right t...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, OccupyWallSt, protestors' rights, right to protest Tags:
Tennessee Principal’s Reaction to GSA T-Shirt Raises the Question: Who’s Really Causing the Disruption Here?
Chris Sigler is a senior at Sequoyah High School in Madisonville, Tennessee. It's a tradition among Sequoyah students to get friends' signatures on a keepsake T-shirt, so in past years Chris has done that on a shirt labeled "California&quo...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, gsa Tags:
State Department Says that Kerim Yildiz to Get a Visa!
Great news! This morning, the State Department notified U.K. national Kerim Yildiz, the executive director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, that it would issue him a visa to travel to the U.S. We’re hoping that the visa will be issue...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, ideological exclusion, Kerim Yildiz Tags:
Why Deny Kerim Yildiz a Visa?
Today's New York Times story put a spotlight on that question. In "Advocate’s Visa Delay Stirs Questions," Kirk Semple writes of the case of Kerim Yildiz, who we blogged about earlier this month. Semple writes: Kerim Yildiz, a leadin...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, ideological exclusion, Kerim Yildiz Tags:
ACLU Lens: Wall Street Protest Enters Second Week
For the past 10 days, scores of demonstrators have occupied Zuccotti Park near Wall Street to protest what they believe are entrenched inequities in the nation’s financial system. In response to the peaceful demonstration, the NYPD has flooded...
Categories: First Amendment, know your rights, law enforcement, NYCLU, NYPD, photographers' rights, photography, police, videotaping Tags:
Police Abuse in Puerto Rico: The Urgent Need for Real Change
Today, The New York Times ran letters from Luis Fortuño, Governor of Puerto Rico, and Rosie Pérez, actress and activist who was a part of an ACLU fact-finding mission on police abuses in Puerto Rico. They were responding to this month'...
Categories: First Amendment, Luis Fortuno, police brutality, puerto rico, right to protest, Rosie Perez, student speech Tags:
ACLU Police Brutality Video Showcased By Witness.org
Today, Peter Garbriel’s video advocacy non-profit Witness.org used the ACLU’s montage of protest footage from Puerto Rico as an example of effective video advocacy on its blog. The post dissects how the video contributed to the ACLU&rsquo...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, human rights, police brutality, puerto rico, student speech Tags:
ACLU Police Brutality Video Showcased By Witness.org
Today, Peter Garbriel’s video advocacy non-profit Witness.org used the ACLU’s montage of protest footage from Puerto Rico as an example of effective video advocacy on its blog. The post dissects how the video contributed to the ACLU&rsquo...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, human rights, police brutality, puerto rico, student speech Tags:
Ideological Exclusion Again?
Today, the ACLU sent letters to the Departments of State and Homeland Security asking them to grant a visa to Kerim Yildiz, a British citizen living in London. Yildiz, the executive director of the U.K.-based Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), ha...
Categories: First Amendment, free speech, ideological exclusion, Kermin Yildiz Tags:
Is it Legal to Photograph or Videotape Police?
Since 9/11, a disturbing pattern of innocent individuals being harassed by the police for taking still and video photographs in public places has emerged across the country. The ACLU, photographers' groups, and others have been complaining about su...
Categories: First Amendment, know your rights, law enforcement, NYPD, photographers' rights, photography, police, videotaping Tags: