Michigan

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05/24/2013
Affirmative Action

"Without continuing affirmative action in higher education, I worry that Kabir will not have the same enriching college experience that I enjoyed."

By Brian Stull, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 10:20am

At age four, my family moved for "better" schools from Detroit to a suburb just north of 18 Mile Road. Remember the movie 8 Mile, the story of Eminem's emergence from Detroit's suburban borderline? 18 mile road is 10 miles north, but 100 times whiter. With very few nonwhites, school was not a model of diversity or mutual respect. Here was Jeanette, the only Black girl, who squirmed in her seat during the lesson on slavery, not due to the topic but (I believe) because she felt like a spectacle. There was Frank, from a Vietnamese background, whom cruel (and ignorant) children occasionally called "Chink." I remember Rupert, valedictorian, a terrific athlete, and a wit, but known often as the "Indian kid" (if not by a Middle Eastern epithet). We white children lived blind to our own privilege.

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12/10/2012
Abortion Legislation

Why Are Michigan Politicians Adopting Ireland’s Deadly Abortion Policy?

By Jennifer Dalven, Reproductive Freedom Project at 12:29pm

By now, most of us have read (and wept over) the tragic story of Savita Halappanavar -- the woman an Irish hospital let die rather than provide the abortion that she needed to save her life. News of her death has generated outrage across the globe and a call from Secretary Clinton to the Irish government to ensure that women are protected.

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12/06/2012
War on Women

Michigan Capitol LOCKDOWN! In the Last Days of Legislative Session, Michigan Politicians Take Extreme Measures to Attack Women’s Heath

By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 3:20pm

Some politicians in Michigan are at it again – they are pushing a revised version of the sweeping anti-abortion bill that could threaten to close women’s health care centers. We beat back this bill before and now it is urgent these state lawmakers hear from us once more.

It’s unbelievable that extremists would keep trying to pass HB 5711. People in Michigan, tired of politicians interfering with a woman’s ability to make personal health decisions have been sending their message to Michigan legislators loud and clear.  But it seems some politicians in Michigan have been working overtime to ignore their voices.

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07/25/2012
Competent Counsel

One Giant Step for Michigan: Indigent Defense Reform is Around the Corner

By Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 3:22pm

During the many years I practiced as a criminal defense attorney, I filed more pleadings requesting additional resources to investigate facts, more funding to support research into mitigating factors in my clients’ cases, and more time to properly prepare my case than I ever thought I would, or should have to. Unfortunately, the criminal justice systems in which I practiced did not provide sufficient resources for an attorney to be effective in her work representing the poor. Sadly, many systems across the nation face this same challenge.

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07/16/2012
Abortion Legislation

Some Michigan Politicians “Wanna Be My Doc.” Use Our New Twitter Generator to Challenge Them

By Rana Elmir, ACLU of Michigan at 4:51pm

It looks like some Michigan politicians want to “play doctor” and take away a woman’s ability to make personal, private medical decisions for herself. In June, Michigan vaulted to the top of the list of states with outrageous, regressive legislation on women's health, placing a monster omnibus package - House Bills 5711, 5712 and 5713- on the fast-track to becoming law. HB 5711, or the War on Women Mega Bill, passed in the House and if it survives in the Senate, it would effectively make safe abortion services inaccessible in the state.

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06/14/2012
War on Women

Whose house? Our house! Whose vagina? Not yours, Mr. Speaker.

By Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 4:56pm

Apparently, things are getting a little heated out there in Lansing. Yesterday, despite massive public opposition, the Michigan House of Representatives passed an omnibus abortion bill (which we told you about here ) that could, among other things, shut down clinics that provide safe, legal abortions and end medication abortions throughout the state. Decorum was shattered. Gavels were struck. But not because lawmakers passed an extreme and dangerous law; a law that so clearly threatens the health and lives of all Michigan women. No, because Rep. Lisa Brown – that saucy minx – talked about her hoo-hah. Testifying against the bill, she told the Speaker "I’m flattered you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no."  Today, she and Rep. Barb Byrum (who reportedly shouted the word “vasectomy” out of turn) have been banned from speaking on the floor of the House.

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06/12/2012
Abortion Legislation

Move Over Mississippi: Michigan is the Latest State Vying to Shut Down All Abortion Clinics

By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 4:36pm

As you may have heard, Mississippi passed a law earlier this year, which was explicitly designed to shut down the only health care center in the entire state where a woman can get a safe, legal abortion.  In passing the law, some politicians made quite clear that they knew the closure would jeopardize the health and lives of Mississippi women—and that they didn’t care.

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06/07/2012
War on Women

Michigan’s War on Women Hits Dangerous New Low

By Kary L. Moss, Executive Director, ACLU of Michigan at 1:24pm

It seems that Michigan politicians are hell-bent on making the cliché “when the country catches a cold, Michigan gets pneumonia” a reality.

For proof, look no further than the more than 50 pages that make up a three-bill package: HB 5711, HB 5712, HB 5713. This legislative behemoth is on a fast track in our State House of Representatives, and will make safe abortion services virtually inaccessible to Michigan women.

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04/18/2012
Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana Patient Fired by Wal-Mart Deserves His Day in Court

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 5:07pm

Some readers may recall the story of Joseph Casias, the model employee who was fired from his job at Wal-Mart for using medical marijuana in accordance with state law. The ACLU was in court today to argue that an appeals court should reinstate a lawsuit we filed on Casias' behalf, charging Wal-Mart and the manager of its Battle Creek, Mich., store with wrongfully firing him.

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04/18/2012
I Am Not a Stereotype

Equality For All: America Must Live Up to its Promise

Although I still believe in the promise of equality, I know that I have to speak out to make sure it's a reality for me, my family and my community.

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