Home : Racial Justice

Report: Turning a Blind Eye to Racial Discrimination in America
The government report failed to level with the international community about the U.S.'s human rights record when it comes to racial injustice. The ACLU's report details police brutality and racial profiling, voter disfranchisement and skyrocketing rates of incarceration, and wide, corrosive effects of racial discrimination.
> Report: Race & Ethnicity in America
> 12/10/2007: New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America
> 6/13/2007: ACLU Calls State Department Report a "Complete Whitewash"

Audio: Human Rights Program Staff Attorney Chandra Bhatnagar talks about the CERD report with Tavis Smiley

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ACLU Fights to End Racial Inequity and Harshness in Cocaine Sentencing (10/26/2006) The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 established mandatory minimum sentencing policies that subject people who are low-level cocaine users to the same or harsher sentences as major dealers. The Act also established a 1-to-100 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, making the minimum sentence for 500 grams of powder cocaine - a more expensive drug primarily used by affluent whites - the same as that for just 5 grams of crack - a drug whose primary users are low-income people, many of whom are African American. This discrepancy remains although there is no medical basis for the difference, and despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to Congress to reconsider the penalties. The ACLU is working to educate the public about these discrepancies and to change these racist and draconian drug policies. Read more at the website of the Drug Law Reform Project >>  A Blueprint for Meeting the Needs of Texas Girls in Custody Drawing on intensive on-site research, this report describes the conditions of confinement experienced by girls in the custody of the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). In TYC's massive juvenile prisons, a harsh regime of control and punishment not only fails to rehabilitate girls, but exacerbates past trauma and inflicts additional damage on confined children. Learn More >> Report: A Bond Forged in Struggle A Bond Forged in Struggle: The ACLU's Historic Alliance with African-Americans in the Quest for Racial Justice The report recounts the ACLU's ongoing efforts seeking racial equality in America. The ACLU’s decades-long racial justice docket has included victories in many important areas, from discrimination in housing, education and access to public services, to racial profiling and prisoners’ rights. Significant progress has been made, to be sure. But after Katrina’srains subsided, no one could deny that there was still much left to be done. > Report: A Bond Forged in Struggle: The ACLU's Historic Alliance with African-Americans in the Quest for Racial Justice

Missouri Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative: Secretary of State's Appeals Court Brief (04/08/2008)
The petition considered in this case is one of a series of anti-affirmative action initiatives being forwarded in 5 states for the fall of 2008, but was deceptively billed by its sponsors as a ban on "discrimination" and "preferences." In this brief, Missouri's Secretary of State explains her reasons for amending the initiative's title to highlight its potential impact on affirmative action programs designed to improve opportunities for and eliminate discrimination against women and minorities. The brief urges the appeals court to reject the trial court's revision of the SOS's title.

Sheff v. O'Neill - Stipulation and Proposed Order (04/04/2008)

Oklahoma Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative: Proponents' Motion to Withdraw (04/04/2008)
In this motion, the proponents of the deceptively named Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative ask to withdraw their own measure, stating that they "do not want to waste... taxpayer money on [the initiative] when Movants are reasonably certain that it will fail to garner the requisite number of signatures." Signatures submitted in support of the initiative were called into doubt by the Secretary of State and were under scrutiny by the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, representing a coalition of Oklahoma citizens that expressed concern over the OCRI's deceptive practices.

Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Maryland State Police Department - Settlement (04/02/2008)

Cantrell v. Granholm Decision (03/18/2008)
The ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense fund and others filed suit against Michigan's Proposal 2, a ban on affirmative action, in December of 2006. A federal judge dismissed the suit.

Schroeder v. Palm Beach County School Board - Class Action Complaint (03/18/2008)

Complaint in Harris et al v Atlanta Independent School System (03/11/2008)

Oklahoma Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative: Signature Challenge Complaint (03/07/2008)
Complaint challenging the sufficiency of signatures submitted in favor of an anti-affirmative action initiative in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative: Secretary of State's Report on Signatures (02/07/2008)
Proponents of the so-called Oklahoma "Civil Rights" Initiative submitted signatures in support of their petition in December of 2007. In this report to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the Secretary of State notes an "unprecedented" number of irregularities, including signature-gatherers signing their own petitions multiple times.

Cantrell v. Granholm: Plaintiffs' Reply Memo in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment (01/22/2008)