At Liberty

Here at the ACLU, we’ve been working remotely from home since the pandemic closed our offices in March 2020, which means this podcast is produced, recorded, and edited, using high-speed internet; even our guests’ participation depends on it! Covid-19 has underscored just how crucial an internet connection is to participate in society. But many people like you and me may take for granted having efficient and affordable broadband access, a privilege that tens of millions of Americans are without. This is the digital divide, and it disproportionately impacts people of color and people living in rural communities. Joining us on this episode are Baltimore high school students and organizers of SOMOS, Kimberly Vasquez Yashira and Valenzuela-Morillo, and data science and equity expert, Dr. Brandeis Marshall.

Three million Americans currently suffer from Opioid Use Disorder, or an addiction to opioids. Today, adults between the ages of 25 and 44 are more than twice as likely to die from opioid overdose than from COVID-19, yet this epidemic isn’t making the same headlines. When we zoom in on the prison population, the numbers are even more jarring. 85% of people in prison or jail have some kind of substance use disorder, compared with 9% of the general population, yet these Americans are less likely to get access to the care they need to treat their addiction. Most prisons and jails don’t let people take prescription medications like methadone to treat their disorder while serving time. This kind of treatment has been shown to reduce deaths from opioid overdose up to 50% by preventing withdrawal symptoms during recovery. In this episode, we’ll take a look at the devastating impact of denying these treatments in our prisons and jails. We're joined by Christine Finnegan, Louis Lamoureux, and Beth Schwartzapfel.

1 in 4 Americans are unbanked or underbanked. That’s because banks across the country are closing branches or they’re penalizing those who don’t have large savings. This means that 64 million Americans -- disproportionately Black and Brown -- can’t easily access basic financial services and are forced to pay thousands a year in fees for alternatives. But one solution to this disparity is within our reach, it’s actually just down the street from you: the post office. The Postal Service has the infrastructure to provide basic financial services at all of its branches. With an office in every ZIP code nationwide and trust within the community, banking at the most accessible institution in America could create a public option needed to put millions of families in greater control of their finances. Joining us today to break down the specifics of Postal Banking is Rakim Brooks. Rakim is a Senior Campaign Strategist at the ACLU and is managing our new Systemic Equality campaign.

On April 28th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for a case that has big implications for student free speech. The case involves then 14-year-old Brandi Levy, a cheerleader at Mahanoy Area High School in Pennsylvania, and her post on the social media platform, Snapchat. One of her cheerleading coaches saw the post, which used an expletive, and suspended her from the team for a year – even though Brandi had posted on a weekend and off school property. Brandi and her family sued the school for violating her First Amendment rights. Brandi has prevailed in two lower federal court rulings but now, the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to uphold the win or rule for the school. Brandi and her father, Larry, join us on this episode, as well as Vera Eidelman, Staff Attorney at the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology project, who is working on Brandi's case.

Last year, the world watched Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd in plain sight after arresting him for an alleged counterfeit bill at a convenience store. The footage released from the encounter sparked an international movement as protesters took to the streets for months calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality. On Tuesday, after weeks of arguments, the jury released a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial: guilty on all three counts. In this episode, we hear from Minneapolis demonstrators Sierra, Osman, and Broderick who react to the verdict as it's happening and then we call the ACLU's Policing Policy Advisor, Paige Fernandez, to hear her reaction.

On Sunday, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota after being pulled over for traffic violations. The violations? He had expired tags on his license and air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror of his car. This story is heartbreakingly familiar. Just a year ago the country erupted in protest over the death of George Floyd after police arrested him for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. Police interactions with citizens shouldn’t end in death, and yet hundreds are dying at the hands of police every year. In order to protect and serve Black Americans, we need immediate solutions. Joining this episode are protesters Aja, Melina, and Emilaysia in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park, as well as the ACLU’s Policing Policy Advisor, Paige Fernandez, and Senior Staff Attorney of the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, Somil Trivedi.

This week, we are revisiting one of our favorite episodes featuring a conversation with the filmmakers of the documentary, “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution.” Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham use archival footage and interviews to tell the story of a summer camp that seeded a disability rights movement, a movement whose history few know well even though almost 50 percent of Americans live with at least one disability. The film was just nominated for an Oscar in the category of best documentary feature. Enjoy this gem from the At Liberty archive.

The Arkansas legislature just passed HB 1570, a bill that would ban gender-confirming health care for trans youth in the state. This comes just one day after Arkansas’ Governor Asa Hutchinson, vetoed the bill amidst pleas from doctors, social workers, and parents of transgender youth. Arkansas is the first state in the country to pass such a bill. We spoke with Chase Strangio, ACLU’s Deputy Director for Transgender Justice, to get his take on what happened.

From a Capitol insurrection to multiple mass shootings, recent violence is prompting an old debate: Does the U.S. need a domestic terrorism law? And if not, how do we quell this violence? Our guest today, Hina Shamsi, the Director of the National Security Project at the ACLU, says we don’t need to look far to see how existing laws that claim to target domestic terrorism, in reality, grant the government unprecedented power to surveil and criminalize communities of color. These laws have been weaponized to harm some of the same communities that are suffering disproportionately from violence in America. She joins us today to break down the debate.

This week, we’re rounding out our Women’s History Month series with writer and artist, Chanel Miller. Chanel jumped into the spotlight back in 2015, first through a pseudonym, Emily Doe, known in the context of the crime committed against her, a sexual assault that took place on Stanford University’s campus perpetrated by then student, Brock Turner. The victim statement she wrote and delivered at the trial went viral, receiving over 11 million views on Buzzfeed. Chanel’s words helped set off the #MeToo Movement, but her name was nowhere to be found. In 2019, Chanel stepped out from under anonymity and into authoring her own story. She published the New York Times Bestselling memoir, Know My Name. She is now known as a leading voice for survivors of sexual violence and as an emerging artist, currently debuting work in San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. Behind every social issue are survivors, often of discrimination, of atrocity, and of violence. Everyone has had an experience that has made them feel nameless and faceless. But Chanel knows that in owning our own power, we can be powerful for both ourselves and those around us. She joins us today to share more about her own journey.

Last summer, protesters and organizers called for a racial reckoning and a change to how our country's policies. In the wake of those protests, a sheriff’s race in Charleston County, South Carolina took shape with a reform-minded candidate Kristin Graziano taking on an establishment incumbent. During her more than 20 years in law enforcement, Graziano observed how the sheriff’s office contributed to racial profiling and harmful collaborations with immigration enforcement. In response, she promised to make the sheriff’s office more accountable and responsive to the demands of its community. The citizens of Charleston rewarded her vision with a decisive victory over the incumbent of 32 years. Sheriff Graziano joins us to talk about why the department needed a change and what it means to serve a diverse community during a time of racial reckoning.

The 2020 election was a historic year for lawmakers who identify as transgender; voters across the country elected six trans lawmakers to state office. Sarah McBride, was one of those lawmakers. Elected as a State Senator for Delaware’s first district, Sarah is now the highest-ranking trans lawmaker in America. Her candidacy and her voice in trans advocacy have shown how trans people can become powerful leaders in public life. Sarah joins us to discuss her journey into politics and trans advocacy and to let us know what we can all do to build a more inclusive public life.

Welcome to March! This month, in honor of women’s history month, we are featuring conversations with women and non-binary leaders who are working to address issues in their communities. This week, we’re speaking with Amanda Nguyen. Amanda is the CEO and founder of RISE, a millennial-driven social change incubator for citizen lawmaking. Because of her work passing legislation for sexual assault survivors, she was nominated for a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, Amanda has been working to mobilize a nationwide response to the surging attacks on Asian Americans. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Asian Americans across the country have reported being targeted in 3,000 hate incidents. According to NYPD data, anti-Asian American hate crimes are up 1900% in the last year. And just weeks ago,, an 84-year-old Thai American man was murdered in San Francisco, a 91-year-old man was shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown, a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman was assaulted in San Jose and a Filipino American man was slashed in the face on a subway in New York City. These assaults are happening during a pandemic where Asian Americans have disproportionately lost their jobs or had their businesses boycotted. In response to the recent attacks and to the relative silence of mainstream media, Amanda posted a now-viral video on Instagram naming the attacks and calling for media attention and public action. Amanda joins us to talk about this wave of violence and what she’s doing about it.

This country watched as the people of Georgia helped deliver both the presidency and the Senate to the Democrats this past election cycle, defying the perception that the state was a Republican stronghold. After Stacey Abrams’ contentious loss in the 2018 race for governor, the effort to thwart voter suppression in the state and mobilize Black voters ramped up. As a result, Black Georgians showed up to the polls in droves and turned the state Blue. One of the activists responsible for this turn is LaTosha Brown, a political strategist who has been working at the intersection of social justice and political empowerment for decades. LaTosha is the co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund and BVM Capacity Building Institute, a movement to expand voter access and build political power for Black Americans, particularly in the South. She joins us to discuss the impact of expanding the right to vote and building a more diverse and inclusive future for the South.

Imagine you’ve forgotten once again the difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee, so you do a quick Google image search of “gorilla.” But instead of finding images of adorable banana-obsessed animals, photos of a Black couple pop up. Is this just a glitch in the algorithm? Or, is Google an ad company, not an information company, that’s replicating the discrimination of the world it operates in? How can this discrimination be addressed and who is accountable for it? Our guest today, UCLA professor and best-selling author of “Algorithms of Oppression,” Dr. Safiya Noble answers these questions.