Spring Newsletter 2018

A message from NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman:

“We’ll never get used to this and we’ll never accept it.”

That’s the gist of the promise we made as an organization when Trump embarked on his divisive mission to make America even more exclusionary. We all identify as targets of Trump in some way due to the color of our skin, where we were born, whom we love, or just because we believe in democracy or weren’t born into the 1%. Yes, this fight is personal for us.

The Trump regime has already harmed too many people, in too many ways. With the help of his allies who control Congress, our democracy has suffered from an endless barrage of attacks on values and institutions we thought were sacrosanct: the right to protest and a free press; the right to a free, secular public education; women’s equality; due process. We’ve even seen an erosion of ethics and values that reject government corruption. The NYCLU stands ready to protect our communities and our values in the courts, in the legislatures and in the streets. We continue to work side-by-side with impacted communities and amplify our voices to make sure that our elected officials are held accountable to the principles that are the cornerstone of our democracy.

In this edition of the NYCLU newsletter, you’ll read about how we’re fulfilling our commitment to preserve and expand New Yorkers’ fundamental rights. You’ll see how we’re relentlessly fighting against Trump’s ruthless deportation machine that shows no mercy to children or families, how we are pushing forward to bring much needed reform to our discriminatory justice system, and why we’re working to keep children in public schools and police officers out. And if you go to our website you’ll see even more of what we’re doing.

Many people are counting on the midterm elections—and counting the days until the one in 2020—to put a halt to these attacks and restore our democracy. The ACLU is non-partisan, but we will work hard to make one-person-one-vote a reality, to end political gerrymandering and resist the dirty tricks that undermine free and fair elections so that Americans truly can vote their values.

In the meantime, we know we must stand strong and push back strategically to protect our democracy. We are heartened by our many victories and emboldened by the outpouring of support.

Thank you for standing with the ACLU and the NYCLU in this fight.