By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 1:24pm
The New York Civil Liberties Union’s sixth annual Broadway Stands Up for Freedom concert was a smashing, sold-out success. Dozens of Broadway's finest — including musical director Seth Rudetsky and leading actors from Jersey Boys, Wicked, the original cast of Rent, Spring Awakening, Spelling Bee, Les Miserables and the entire cast of Godspell — took to the stage to salute the work of the NYCLU through song, raising a small fortune for its youth programs.
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 12:09pm
As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains steam, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is standing beside the demonstrators and defending their right to speak their minds.
Teams of NYCLU staff and volunteers regularly visit the movement's headquarters at Zuccotti Park to distribute our Know Your Rights information and engage the demonstrators' on their experiences with the NYPD. The park's makeshift library is well-stocked with our Demonstrating in New York City and What to Do if You're Stopped by the Police guides. We're engaging the protestors on Facebook and Twitter as well.
"Of course you have the right to build a mosque, but it is insensitive to build it there."
This is the newest version of the call from critics of the proposed Islamic center in downtown New York City. The sentiment may at first blush seem sensitive: it recognizes the trauma of 9/11, the sacred nature of Ground Zero and the constitutional right to religious freedom. But the sentiment that the Islamic center can be built — just elsewhere — inevitably reflects a prejudice and intolerance that is in fact inconsistent with religious freedom.
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 4:02pm
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has issued a directive ordering officers to stop arresting people for misdemeanor marijuana possession when the pot only becomes "public" because an officer has searched a person or directed the person to empty his or her pockets.
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 3:03pm
On Saturday, December 10, more than 100 civil, labor, and human rights organizations will take a “Stand for Freedom” in New York City to protest the attack on voting rights.
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 5:20pm
Apparently, a lot of NYPD cops don’t like working the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, and they vented their disdain for the annual event in a deeply insulting and racist Facebook rant.
According to The New York Times, officers called parade-goers “animals,” “savages” and “filth” in a lengthy series of offensive posts. “Drop a bomb and wipe them all out,” one commenter suggested of the revelers, who largely hail from nearby neighborhoods of color.
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 11:47am
The blogosphere lit up early this week in reaction to the New York Times article about the NYPD's unlawful surveillance of peace groups during the Republican National Convention. The Timesneatly summarizes a few, and here a few more:
By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 10:25am
Sunday's New York Times article proves what we and other civil rights groups have suspected: the NYPD conducted widespread surveillance and infiltration of groups that planned peaceful, lawful demonstrations in the days leading up to and during the Republican National Convention. With this surveillance, the NYPD may have amassed dossiers
