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It's About FamilyNew Yorkers know that it puts all families at risk when the government gets in the business of saying that some families matter and deserve protection and some families don’t. Marriage is a basic civil rights issue. Family is a basic civil rights issue. The right to take care of our children is a basic civil rights issue. That’s why the New York State Assembly – Democrats and Republicans alike – voted to overwhelmingly pass the marriage bill. And that’s why the governor has pledged to sign that bill. Now, with just a few weeks left in the legislative session, we need New York’s senators to take a stand and say yes to marriage for all New Yorkers. Please visit www.MarriageNY.com today and take a stand for all of New York’s families. Do it for kids like Vincent, a former foster child who was adopted Richard and Matt of Astoria, Queens: “I think my dads should get married because they make my life happy. As long as they are happy, I’m happy.”
(Originally posted on Get Busy.)
Battleground New YorkThey lost in Vermont. They lost in Maine. They even lost in Iowa. And now the anti-marriage zealots are coming into New York’s backyard. Last week the National Organization for Marriage made it clear that the Empire State is the new battleground in their war against equality. But we will meet them with love. We will meet them with families. We will meet them with commitment. We will meet them with a belief in fairness, equality, justice and the values that this national was founded on. Watch this video and meet the real people and loving relationships behind the fight for marriage fairness in New York State:
Visit MarriageNY.com to stand up for fairness, to stand up for justice and to stand up for love. Tell your representatives that New Yorkers value all families. Tags: video
Bill O'Reilly: The New Face of Stop-and-Frisk in New YorkThe stop-and-frisk section starts at 1:58. Bill O'Reilly thinks it is "hating America" to be concerned about a racially-biased police tactic that has stripped more than 2 million New Yorkers of their dignity over the past five years. Bill O'Reilly thinks it is "hating America" to question the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a program in which nine-out-of-10 people who are stopped and interrogated by police are completely innocent and let go without any charges or even a citation. Bill O'Reilly thinks it is "hating America" to demand that the NYPD treat all New Yorkers with fairness and dignity in their quest to keep the streets of our city safe. That doesn't sound like hating America to us. That sounds like standing up for equality and justice – sounds pretty American to me. Tags: Civil Liberties News
New Yorkers: Apply PressureWe are so close. This week — with a little pressure — New York may finally rid itself of its draconian and hurtful Rockefeller drug laws. These “mandatory-minimum” drug sentencing laws require judges to lock up for years people caught with small amounts of drugs. Nearly 200,000 nonviolent New Yorkers have been locked away because of these laws. More than 90 percent of them are black and Latino, and they overwhelmingly come from a just handful of low-income NYC neighborhoods. Instead of getting treatment or job training or an education, they are sent to prisons, hours from their families and any support system. Many of them languish in prison for decades. The state Assembly took a bold first step and passed a reform bill last week. The state Senate must pass a similar proposal and Gov. David Paterson must sign it. But we need your help to make that happen. If you live in New York, click here to send a fax to the governor and your senator. If you don’t live in New York, please forward this to your friends who do.
Your Papers, Please…Having to carry an ID and show it to any government employee who demands it is a notion that was once restricted to the ravings of the tinfoil hat crowd. And if you ask most Americans today if they think such government intrusion is possible, they’d laugh you out of the room. But the fact is, the Bush administration is on the verge of instituting such a draconian, invasive national ID system. The Real ID Act would allow the government and businesses to capture information on Americans' purchases, sex lives, political affiliations, and daily activities. Thankfully, 21 states have stood up against the Bush administration’s shocking overreach. This video will tell you everything you need to know about the Real ID Act:
Visit the NYCLU website to pass this video on and find out what you can stop the U.S. from turning into a “your papers, please” society.
Make Every Vote CountWhen presidential elections can be determined by only a few votes, we need to make sure that every vote counts. But an untold number of Americans are convinced their stay in prison will keep them from the voting booth for the rest of their lives. That simply isn't the case. In New York and many other states, formally incarcerated citizens have the right to vote. But too many people with criminal records and far too many election workers don't know it. Today, the New York Civil Liberties Union launched a campaign to educate people with criminal records that they have a right to vote. Watch our video below and visit our new web site www.nyclu.org/vote — for great info, public service announcements, ads and more. But more importantly, spread the word and make sure people who have the right to vote do just that this November.
NYCLU to Denver Police: What Not to Do This Week
Just as thousands of political protesters descend upon Denver — and Denver police prep their makeshift prison warehouse — the NYCLU today released startling new footage from New York’s arrest-marred protests four years ago. The video offers Denver police a perfect lesson in what not to do in confronting political protesters during a convention. The filmmaker, Michael Schiller, is the lead plaintiff in one of the NYCLU’s Republican National Convention cases. Schiller was taping protestors near the World Trade Center on August 31, 2004, when the NYPD used netting to form a cordon and arrest en masse hundreds of lawful protestors, as well as some peaceful observers. That day, nearly 1,200 people were arrested across New York City. In an interview with the Associated Press last week, NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman spoke of the irony that political conventions— events that are supposed to be the epitome of the democratic process — are used by local and national law enforcement as an excuse to trample on the Bill of Rights. Time and time again, lawful activities are turned into grounds for arrest when the convention comes to town. "Changing the law to transform innocent behavior into a crime where it poses no threat to public safety is entirely uncalled for and inconsistent with principles of the First Amendment," she said. "It has a chilling effect on free speech and that has been found time and time again to be improper under First Amendment principles." Click here for more info on protest during the 2004 RNC convention. To read about the NYCLU’s latest victory in the Schiller case, click here.
Overhauling New York's Broken Public Defense System
Every day, in courtrooms throughout the state, New Yorkers are denied justice simply because they are poor. Ricky Lee Glover, a homeless Syracuse man, languished in jail for seven months without bail after he was accused of stealing copper pipes from an abandoned public housing complex. Though he knew nothing about the law, Glover finally filed a motion on his own.
"I think there's something seriously wrong with a system where people like me have to learn to become their own lawyers," Glover said. He's right. Currently, court-appointed lawyers across New York are overwhelmed by huge caseloads and lack sufficient staff and resources to do their jobs. Some lack the necessary experience and training to competently handle their cases. As a result of these deficiencies, poor people facing criminal charges are often compelled to appear in court without a lawyer at critical junctures, such as when bail decisions are made. This often results in excessive bail being set and keeps too many people in jail awaiting trial, increasing their likelihood of conviction. Many public defense lawyers also fail to: meet or consult with clients at critical stages in their cases; investigate the charges against their clients or hire necessary forensic experts; file necessary pre-trial motions; and provide meaningful consultation before clients accept plea bargains, even when this is a viable defense. In November, the New York Civil Liberties Union sued New York State for failing to uphold its constitutional duty to provide effective counsel to all New Yorkers - rich or poor. The situation is far too dire to wait for relief, however. So today the NYCLU filed a request for immediate emergency help to address New York's broken public defense system. The public defense crisis in New York is unfair both to defendants and to the lawyers who are charged with representing them. Defendants are unfairly given second-rate justice because they cannot afford to pay private lawyers, and public defense attorneys are not given the resources, tools and training they need to do right by their clients. The failure of New York's fractured public defense system is widely acknowledged. The inadequacy of the scheme has been well-documented for more than 40 years in dozens of reports by legal advocacy organizations, professional associations and government commissions. In June 2006, a commission appointed by Chief Judge Kaye concluded that the state's public defense system is "severely dysfunctional" and "structurally incapable" of providing people effective legal representation. Recently the Innocence Project found that New York outpaces almost every other state in the number of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. A broken public defense system impacts all New Yorkers, and all Americans. For more information on the case or to watch a video about it, visit the NYCLU web site. Tags: Civil Liberties News |
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