The 2016 General Assembly is in full swing and lawmakers are considering hundreds of important pieces of legislation that could have serious impacts on our rights. The ACLU of Rhode Island is at the State House nearly every day to weigh in on these bills, and having civil libertarians like you behind us truly makes a difference. That’s why we want to teach you how to be a better advocate!
This Saturday, February 20, advocates and two former lawmakers will lead an ACLU Advocate Training Session at the Warwick Public Library at 2:30 PM to share their experiences and advice on how to make your voice heard in Rhode Island. After the afternoon session, you’ll be ready to follow important civil liberties legislation; reach your legislators; connect with fellow advocates; and testify before committees. If you can’t make it this Saturday, the ACLU will host another training at the Rochambeau Library on Saturday, February 27 at 1 PM.
You don’t need any prior experience to learn how you can make Rhode Island a better place for your family, friends, and neighbors!
Join ACLU advocates and volunteers on:
2:30 to 4 PM
600 Sandy Lane Warwick, RI 02889
OR
1 to 2:30 PM
708 Hope Street Providence, RI 02906
No experience necessary. All are welcome.
]]>The ACLU of RI is honoring the Coalition and Ms. Smith for their unyielding advocacy for the civil rights and liberties of individuals experience homelessness, and for the invaluable support and resources they provide. The RI Coalition for the Homeless works to promote and preserve the dignity and quality of life for men, women, and children by pursuing comprehensive and cooperative solutions to the problems of housing and homelessness. Ms. Smith is an outreach worker and case manager with PATH, a program of the House of Hope CDC that works primarily with individuals experiencing street homelessness. Both are also tireless advocates for policies and reforms that affirm the rights of the homeless and protect individuals experiencing homelessness from discrimination.
ACLU supporters will mix, mingle, and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails while they celebrate the civil liberties successes of the past year and recognize the hard work of these two honorees dedicated to protecting the rights of the homeless.
ACLU of RI volunteer attorneys Sonja Deyoe, Carly Iafrate, and Neal McNamara will also provide updates on their ongoing and important court cases.
Celebrate your rights and freedoms, honor the RI Coalition for the Homeless and Ms. Smith, and support the ACLU of Rhode Island by purchasing your ticket today!
Tickets for the evening are $65 and are available for purchase online or by calling the ACLU office (401-831-7171). RSVP by October 14.
ACLU of Rhode Island’s Annual Meeting Celebration
Thursday, October 22 at 6 P.M.
(Registration begins at 5:30 P.M.)
Providence Biltmore
11 Dorrance St., Providence, RI 02903
Complimentary valet parking provided to all guests.
]]>As part of our ongoing work to fight against censorship in all its forms, the ACLU of Rhode Island is celebrating the freedom to read at our annual Banned Books Week Celebration on October 5.
Join us, the East Providence Public Library, and Living Literature for dramatic readings of Young Adult books that have been banned or challenged over the years.
Living Literature, a collective of Rhode Island-based artists and educators who teach literature through a unique and imaginative process, has created a 25-minute readers theater program exploring the question: “Why are Young Adult books challenged more frequently than any other type of book?”
Hear them perform selections from Harper Lee, Roald Dahl, Sherman Alexie, Lois Lowry, and Shel Silverstein and see if your favorite childhood book was ever banned or censored.
Banned Books Celebration: Young Adult Authors
October 5, 2015 at 6:30 PM
East Providence Public Library
41 Grove Ave., East Providence, RI 02914
This event is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served.
]]>The family-friendly scavenger hunt will highlight Providence’s civil liberties history, and we hope the event educates the public, and especially children and teenagers, about the Bill of Rights and importance of knowing one’s rights.
So, think you know your Rhode Island history? Want to learn how the Constitution applies to everyday life? Put on your walking shoes and head to downtown Providence on your own or with your friends and family on Saturday, September 19, to start the hunt!
We’ll start sharing clues on our Facebook and Twitter at 1 p.m. (Rain or shine). Use them to start a self-guided hunt for landmarks around the city. Once you arrive at a stop, snap a photo (selfies are encouraged!) and share it on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #ConstitutionHunt. Make it to the final location to earn bragging rights and a small souvenir.
Constitution Day Scavenger Hunt
(RSVP On Our Facebook Page Here)
Saturday, September 19
1 to 3 P.M.
Downtown Providence
For more information and official rules, click here.
]]>The ACLU report, “Suspended Education: The Over-Suspension of Students With Disabilities in Rhode Island,” found that students with disabilities comprised 32.90% of all suspensions between 2005 and 2014. This is more than twice what is expected, given that they made up just 16.11% of the student body population on average during that time. The report further noted that students with disabilities are over-suspended at the highest rates when they are in elementary school—a particularly vulnerable time when they should be receiving much-needed individualized support, not punishment.
Among our other findings:
From the report: “The figures suggest that, while students with disabilities are supposed to be given myriad services, they are being removed from school not because of their behavior, but because of the failure of schools to meet their needs. Worse, they are being disproportionately suspended for relatively minor, and often subjective, infractions.”
In the report, we offer a series of recommendations to keep students in the classroom, including passage of legislation currently before the General Assembly that would limit the use of out-of-school suspensions for only the most serious offenses. We further recommended that the Rhode Island Department of Education and local school districts examine their data to identify disparities in the suspension rates of students with disabilities, develop plans to reduce those disparities, and investigate alternative evidence-based disciplinary methods.
Suspensions have for too long been a first response to children’s behavior instead of a last resort. That Rhode Island’s children with disabilities are suspended even when federal law requires they be given particular behavioral supports only underscores the overreliance on suspensions to address the behavior that comes with being a child. Children with disabilities deserve better than a ‘troublemaker’ label and a trip down the school-to-prison pipeline, and Rhode Island must work to do better by them.
]]>In his book, “Rhode Island in Rhetoric and Reflection,” Mr. Conley notes that the 1973 Constitutional Convention was to be limited to “the consideration of certain definite topics.” Feeling he knew better than the people who made the rules, Mr. Conley determined the convention should, in fact, force the electorate to decide every ten years whether or not a convention should be held. Because this was not on the list of approved topics, Mr. Conley stretched the rules of the convention in defining his amendment – claiming it was a revision of election law – placed a misleading title on his document, and bypassed the agreed-upon rules of the Convention. Yet, Mr. Conley promises us that this cannot happen again, with much more dire results for civil rights and civil liberties.
In addition, we question Mr. Conley’s assertion that he “did not see any inordinate influence from” legislators and special interests during his participation in the 1986 convention. Again, in his own book, Mr. Conley writes of being chosen as general counsel for the 1986 convention by convention president Keven McKenna, but that “an irate Speaker [of the House] Smith called President McKenna with an ultimatum: either general counsel Conley goes or your convention funding goes. Thus ended, at least for now, my paid career as a constitutional reformer.” Mr. Conley promises a convention similar to that in 1986. As do we; the difference is that we have provided Rhode Islanders with the truth about the 1986 convention, and what a 2016 constitutional convention would be.
Mr. Conley’s tales of the “sleight of hand” and politics run amok of the Constitutional Convention are just one more reason voters should reject Question 3.
Hillary Davis – Policy Associate at American Civil Liberties Union, Rhode Island Affiliate
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