Blog of Rights
Tiffany
Donnelly
08/21/2009
Affirmative Action

America is Not Yet a Post-Racial Society

By Tiffany Donnelly, Racial Justice Program at 4:53pm

(Originally posted on The Hill's Congress Blog.)

The election of President Barack Obama is heralded by many as a triumphant leap into a new post-racial America, in which the scars of centuries-old racial wounds have healed and equal opportunity flourishes. But the truth is, we still have a long way to go.

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03/22/2010
STPP

Denying Education is Denying Opportunity

By Tiffany Donnelly, Racial Justice Program at 5:03pm

Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court heard the case of two young women in Beaufort County who were egregiously punished for their involvement in a weaponless schoolyard fight. These two African-American students were not only expelled from school, they were also denied access to an alternative school as well as home tutoring for an entire semester, effectively stopping their education for several months. The lawyers for the young women will argue that depriving these students of a semester of school is a violation of their state constitutional right to an education.

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11/10/2009

Florida Failing Its Schoolchildren, High Dropout Rates Violate State Constitution

By Tiffany Donnelly, Racial Justice Program at 1:30pm

Last week, the ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against Florida state officials for violating the state constitution, which guarantees a free "uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality" public education to its citizens. In Florida's Palm Beach County, between one-third and one-half of students do not graduate from high school, depending on the method of calculation used (the most generous, not surprisingly, is Florida's self-reported method).

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07/02/2009
Affirmative Action

Equal Opportunity Triumphs Again in Missouri

By Tiffany Donnelly, Racial Justice Program at 10:43am

Good news, civil rights advocates: Late Friday, a Missouri circuit court judge struck down a proposed ballot initiative aimed at amending the state constitution to outlaw equal opportunity programs in the state. This ACLU victory is something to celebrate amidst the Supreme Court's recent disappointing decision in Ricci v. DeStefano.

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