#civil liberties

[queerism1969]

#blm #discrimination #defund the police #bipoc #black lives matter #civil rights #black lives fucking matter #lgbtqia #black lives movement #black lives have always mattered #black lives are important #black history #lgbtq #black liberation #african american history #civil rights movement #black community #civil war #civil liberties #black history month #black pride #black culture #black archives #black excellence

[benandstevesposts]

CALIFORNIA POLICE OFFICER IN SPOTLIGHT FOR BODY SLAMMING LADY OUTSIDE GROCERY STORE

A police officer’s violent actions in southern California are being investigated after video footage showed the white cop brutalizing an unarmed Black woman for the apparent offense of recording officers detaining her husband.

The video footage recorded by a witness began by showing the woman holding a cell phone and filming officers handcuffing her husband, who can be heard repeatedly asking “why” he was being detained outside the supermarket in Lancaster.

After two officers struggled to handcuff the husband, one walked directly to the wife. When the camera follows the officer, he’s shown grabbing the wife by the back of her neck before violently flinging her to the ground.

The person recording can be heard yelling for the cop to “get off of her” and not to hit her to no avail.

The cop is next shown kneeling on the wife’s neck, evoking horrific imagery from Derek Chavin’s police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

As with the woman’s husband, the officer struggled to place her in handcuffs even though she wasn’t resisting.

Her husband can be heard in the background pleading for the officer to stop. He also said she has cancer. Neither claim prevented the officer from accosting the woman standing at least 20 feet away from the officers when they were handcuffing her husband.

To view the video, you may visit the original report by visiting the site it appeared here.

UPDATED REPORT ADDED REGARDING AREA WHERE ALLEGED ASSAULT TOOK PLACE

#police brutality #police violence #police assault #police crime #black history month #black people #black man #black stories #blacklivesmatter #black love #black lives matter #black history #black women #aclu #los angeles #civil liberties #civil rights #civil rights movement #civil disobedience #american civil liberties union #good trouble #lgbtq #gay #hrc #human rights campaign #human rights #cnn #activism #social justice #discrimination

[californiastatelibrary]

.

Today, Jan. 30 California celebrates Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. Where does Fred Korematsu come in? Mr. Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who stood up to the U.S. government’s wrongful incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast during World War II. Even without support from his family or community, he disobeyed the government’s orders, and as a result, spent over two years in various prisons and wartime incarceration sites. His case went to the Supreme Court, and in 1944, the Court ruled against him, claiming the mass incarceration was a “military necessity.” Nearly 40 years later, the government finally issued apologies and reparations to the camp survivors who remained, and in 1998 President Bill Clinton awarded Mr. Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

In the same year (1998), California also launched the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. The program, managed by the California State Library, funds projects that educate the public about civil liberties injustices carried out based on an individual or group’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation (including, but not limited to, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II). Over 400 projects have been funded since the program’s birth, including video and audio broadcasts, books, graphic novels, photo collections and exhibits, museum displays, arts performances, material preservation, educational guides, websites, public art and monuments, and more. To learn more about the program, visit library.ca.gov/grants/civil-liberties.

#california #libraries #civil liberties #constitution #fred korematsu

[route22ny]

Bill Bramhall in today's New York Daily News

#SCOTUS #open carry #civil liberties #bill bramhall #NYDN

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

"Library Bill of Rights", American Library Association, June 30, 2006.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill (Accessed May 10, 2023)

#american library association #Library bill of rights #right to information #right to privacy #civil liberties

[18thcenturythirsttrap]

Ministers are considering expanding the definition of extremism and banning MPs from engaging with protest groups as part of a crackdown on people 'undermining' Britain’s institutions values.

According to reports, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has asked Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove to update the Government’s definition of extremism - set more than a decade ago - which currently defines it as 'vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values'.

That definition is vague enough - because what the hell are 'fundamental British values'? Essentially, whatever the Government of the day decides they are / are not. Clearly, though, Sunak wants even wider scope for his Government to define what is 'British' according to their own priorities. For example, I wouldn't mind betting that, while it's clear anti-genocide groups will be labelled un-British, anti-trans campaign groups will somehow pass under the radar.

Combined with Sunak's threat in front of Downing Street on Friday that non-British nationals who take part in protests could be deported, this signals a worrying new advance in the assault on civil rights and civil liberties, promoted by the Conservatives and unopposed by Labour.

#civil rights #civil liberties #right to protest #defend dissent #palestine #uk politics #Instagram

[newyorkthegoldenage]

September 25, 1941 marked the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Six thousand people turned up in front of the Sub-Treasury Building on Wall Street for the opening of the three-month celebration. (How many of them would endorse the rights contained in the constitutional amendments is another question.)

Photo: Carl Nesensohn for the AP

#vintage New Yor #1940s #Carl Nesensohn #Bill of Rights #U.S. Constitution #civil liberties #Wall St. #Sub-Treasury Bldg. #September 25 #25 September #25 Sept. #Sept. 25

[diablo1776]

#government failure #civil liberties

[odinsblog]

I keep thinking about this quote as Congress and conservative legislators around the country ban peaceful, non-violent protests in an effort to either attack #BLM protestors, pro-choice protestors, or protect the members of SCOTUS who are trying to overturn Roe

#politics #jfk #civil liberties #roe v wade #abortion #scotus #protests #john f kennedy #john fitzgerald kennedy

[the-firefly-jar-system]

hot take, but i think we should make things less about

“[insert minority here] are bad criminals and always steal because they’re bad!”

and more about

“maybe they have a reason to steal, so we should help that by decreasing discrimination, and not decreasing the minority”

(plain text under the cut)

hot take, but i think we should make things less about “[insert minority here] are bad criminals and always steal because they’re bad!” and more about “maybe they have a reason to steal, so we should help that by decreasing discrimination, and not decreasing the minority”

#human rights #discrimination #queer rights #blm #poc rights #hot take #trans rights #civil rights #gay rights #civil liberties #firefly flickers

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Liberty comes with some crucial caveats. Let’s remember that freedom is never free, and independence is an illusion. Interdependence is the name of the actual game of being UNITED, and it if it weren’t for us standing up for each other, we wouldn’t have the many privileges we enjoy today.

“We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of ALL citizens, whatever their background. We must remember any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”

-FDR

#FDR #franklin delano roosevelt #quotes #civil rights #civil liberties

[nando161mando]

#bodily autonomy #body autonomy #civil liberties #liberties #facts #science #humanrights #human rights #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #fuck neoliberals #neoliberal capitalism #anthony albanese #albanese government #antifa #antifascist #antifaschistische aktion #antinazi #antiauthoritarian #anti capitalism #anarchism #anarchist #anarchocommunism #anarchopunk #anarcho syndicalism #anarchofeminism

[benandstevesposts]

Police Stand Over Man - One Officer Plays Video Game On Cellphone - And Watch As Helpless Stabbing Victim Bleeds To Death

Instead of utilizing their medical training, body-camera footage shows one of the Salt Lake officers scrolling through social media and playing games on his cellphone moments after refusing to provide first aid to Outlaw, who was slowly dying in front of him.

At one point, officers tell him to crawl out of the elevator, but they never attempted to move this man to stop his bleeding.

The woman who reportedly stabbed the man in a domestic squabble was present and said to the officers, “You’re not doing anything about it.” A Policeman identified as Officer Anderson snapped back,

“What am I supposed to do? We have medical coming.”

The Salt Lake City Police Department did an internal investigation. Even with the video evidence of the officer's actions, the police department and city cleared them of wrongdoing, according to news reports.

Before the investigation had been completed, officials like Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Chief Mike Brown supported the officers, commending them for following proper departmental policy and procedure.

A few officers speaking off the record, under a promise of anonymity after hearing the remarks of the higher-ups, said they disagreed with the chief's assessment of the case. According to a local Salt Lake City news outlet, these officers say they would have rendered first aid to the man known as 'Outlaw.' However, they could not express that publicly, fearing someone in the department would retaliate against them. The Thin Blue Line can become a Great Blue Career Killer and sometimes a lifetaker if caught on the wrong side of the blue political divide.

#aclu #black lives matter #black lgbt #black stories #black history #black community #police assault #police crime #police brutality #police brutally #police neglect #black people #black pride #black man #black history month #white supremist #police violence #civil rights #civil liberties #naacp #black in america #salt lake city #cnn #cbs news

[californiastatelibrary]

There's still time to register! Join us online on Feb. 16 at 9am for a Day of Remembrance, honoring and remembering the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, featuring Special Guest Speaker Hiroshi Shimizu. For registration information please email [email protected]

#california #libraries #japanese internment #civil liberties #day of remembrance

[peterrsthomas]

The Handmaid’s Tale in the Age of Trump’s Republic

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel set in a near-future patriarchal world, following Offred, the titular handmaid (i.e., a woman whose role in society is solely to get pregnant). The Republic of Gilead in which Offred lives is rigid and highly religious, oppressive and authoritarian. Women go through a process of reeducation in training for their new roles, and memories of the time before the revolution that brought the Republic about are hazy. The novel was arresting enough when it was published in 1985, but it has taken on a new salience with the resurgence of the fanatical evangelical Right in America—the faction most devoted to the ironically areligious and immoral Trump.

A key theme of the book is the use of religion as a vessel for power. The Republic of Gilead isn’t based on any meaningful interpretation of religious scripture; rather, religion is a tool for exercising control. Similarly, with Trump’s evangelical base, it does not matter that Trump is a liar and an adulterer—and embodiment of many other sins besides. They see him as a hammer, a tool with which to exercise their will over the population. For as long as he serves their interests (see: social conservatism, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ rights, and more), they will follow him, regardless of his character. Leaders of evangelical groups will willingly overlook these flaws and contradictions if it means greater power for themselves and their ideologies.

The book highlights the dangers of the intersection of religion and politics, in particular where the former coopts the latter. When the separation of church and state is eroded, this is devastating for women, religious, sexual, and ethnic minorities, and anyone who doesn’t fit neatly with the ‘in-group’ (in this case, White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant). Civil liberties are eroded—in the book, people are murdered and pinned against a wall in medieval fashion for all to see.

Most striking is the wrestle for control over women’s bodies. In The Handmaid's Tale this takes the form of reproductive rights. Certain women are given the right to have children, though they will not become the children’s mothers—that role goes to someone else—at the expense of all other rights to self-determination. The scary thing is that this is not so far-fetched; today, religious conservatives are eroding hard-won rights, in particular reproductive rights and access to reproductive medical facilities, abortion rights, and adoption rights for LGBTQ+ couples.

Frighteningly, the novel is resonant not just in America, where it is set, but elsewhere in the world. Germany, France, Sweden and elsewhere are seeing an insurgent Right; the incumbent party in the UK is being split between its centre-right and more fanatical fringes. In other countries, such as India, the dominant party is explicitly religious and is shored up by its majority religion base. All this to say that democracy is fragile, and when people fall victim to economic misfortune or experience cultural shifts, the mechanisms of democracy can be weaponised by bad actors against minorities and vulnerable groups. The media can, and often does, play a part in this, too, especially when a few large corporations own multiple outlets. The organisations spread lies and misinformation, and stoke paranoia.

Like with all good dystopian novels, The Handmaid’s Tale is incredibly prescient; the prospect of such a future coming into fruition is alarmingly real. But the novel is not just a story about a horrifying future; it is a story of resistance. And the future it describes is a future we must be prepared to face head on and challenge at every opportunity.

#reading #writers #authors #book recommendations #book review #bookish #booklover #booklr #books #Margaret Atwood #The Handmaid's Tale #dystopian novel #patriarchy #oppression #authoritarianism #religion #politics #Trump #evangelicalism #civil liberties #reproductive rights #women's rights #religious conservatism

[18thcenturythirsttrap]

This follows increasingly hyperbolic characterisations of anti-genocide and anti-climate destruction protests as 'mob rule'.

Be in no doubt, Sunak - with the full support of Starmer's Labour - is going to try and clamp down further on our civil and democratic rights.

#rishi sunak #uk politics #democracy #civil rights #civil liberties #Instagram