“Everyone is aware of race. Dealing with racism is another matter,” said a keynote speaker at . I joined almost 1,600 people from across the United States and several countries in Dallas last weekend for the conference, which marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The sheer power of the gathering lay in the diversity of its participants, who ranged from veterans of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to DREAMers in high school and young people from Ferguson, as well as people of every race, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity working in some way to promote racial justice.
Facing Race 2014 addressed both successes – such as the emergence of a strong, multi-racial coalition to challenge biased policing in New York and the to ban the criminal history box on employment applications – as well as challenges – including the enduring myth that America has entered a “post-racial” era and ongoing obstacles to comprehensive immigration reform.
Advocates debated strategy on issues as wide-ranging as mass incarceration, immigration reform, racial profiling, voting rights, economic development, housing, and labor rights. A running theme throughout was how addressing the role of race within organizations and coalitions had led to effective collaboration between different racial communities and across issues, effectively countering efforts to divide progressive movements along the lines of race, citizenship, or sexual orientation. Advocates from Mississippi, Texas, and North Carolina explained how even in the face of daunting political challenges, they have secured advances for poor people, undocumented construction workers, and low-income LGBTQ communities of color.
Facing Race 2014 powerfully underscored that advocates working on seemingly distinct issues are in fact part of a broader movement to transform our country to be more just and equitable, one with roots in the struggle to uproot slavery and legalized racial segregation and a vision of equality that embraces the ever-increasing diversity of our society.
This point was brought home when Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Freedom Singers and founder and leader of Sweet Honey in the Rock, took the stage with her daughter, Toshi Reagon, a composer, producer and ensemble leader. Together, they led attendees in song:
We who believe in
freedom cannot rest.
We who believe in
freedom cannot rest until it comes.
Until the killing of Black men,
Black mothers’ sons,
Is an important as the killing of White men,
White mothers’ sons.
. . .
Struggling myself don’t mean a whole lot.
I come to realize,
That teaching others to stand up and fight
Is the only way my struggle survive.
, these lyrics continue to resonate. Sung by racial justice advocates today, as our country awaits a grand jury’s decision whether to indict the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, these lyrics are profound. They remind us that, in the past, communities of color and racial justice advocates of all stripes showed tremendous strength in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers to equality.
This is a lesson we must keep close to us today. So too are the lessons on resisting divide-and-conquer tactics, strengthening multi-racial coalitions, working across issues, and continuing to fight – and win – battles for racial justice, despite setbacks and no matter what the odds.
Van Jones, CNN host and president of Rebuild the Dream, said at the conference’s close: “There are many futures out there. You get the one you fight for.” Facing Race 2014 showed that so many people and communities are deeply engaged in the fight for a future where all people live with hope, dignity, and opportunity.
We are a force to be reckoned with. And that gives me hope.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Racial Justice
ACLU Statement on House AI Task Force ReportACLU Statement on House AI Task Force Report
WASHINGTON — Today, the House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) issued its final report, marking an important step in recognizing the serious risks of discrimination and bias posed by AI systems — particularly in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology. The report recognizes that discrimination and bias may arise in AI systems due to their design, training data, or failures by end users. The report also investigates the complex considerations around deepfakes, open AI systems, and free speech, and urges Congress to pass narrow legislation to address concrete harms. In response to the House AI Task Force final report, Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement: “The ACLU commends the Task Force for recognizing that AI systems are harming people right now through discriminatory outcomes and supercharged surveillance. Curbing those abuses of AI is not a partisan issue, and more concrete action is needed to protect civil rights, while maintaining states’ authority to build on those protections. The Task Force is appropriately cautious when wrestling with issues around deepfakes, open-source AI, digital identity, and other issues, recognizing that legislators should consider a wide array of tailored tools to address real, not speculative, harms while respecting civil rights and civil liberties.” The House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence report can be found here. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Racial Justice
Human Rights
Why the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights IssueWhy the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights Issue
On International Human Rights Day, the ACLU is advocating for a long-sought after reparatory justice to end the continued abuses against Black and brown communities. -
Press ReleaseOct 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
ACLU Warns that Biden-Harris Administration Rules on AI in National Security Lack Key ProtectionsACLU Warns that Biden-Harris Administration Rules on AI in National Security Lack Key Protections
WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration today released its National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence (AI), establishing guidelines for how the U.S. government uses AI in national security programs, such as counterterrorism, intelligence, homeland security, and defense. The use of AI to automate and expand national security activities poses some of the greatest dangers to people’s lives and civil liberties. Agencies are increasingly exploring the use of AI in decisions about who to surveil, who to stop and search at the airport, who to add to government watchlists, and even who is a military target. While the government’s policy includes some important steps forward — such as requiring national security agencies to better track and assess their AI systems for risks and prohibiting a subset of dangerous AI uses — it falls far short in other critical areas, leaving glaring gaps with respect to independent oversight, transparency, notice, and redress. The policy imposes few substantive safeguards on a wide range of AI-driven activities, by and large allowing agencies to decide for themselves how to mitigate the risks posed by national security systems that have immense consequences for people’s lives and rights. As we have repeatedly seen before, this is a recipe for dangerous technologies to proliferate in secret. “Despite acknowledging the considerable risks of AI, this policy does not go nearly far enough to protect us from dangerous and unaccountable AI systems. National security agencies must not be left to police themselves as they increasingly subject people in the United States to powerful new technologies,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “If developing national security AI systems is an urgent priority for the country, then adopting critical rights and privacy safeguards is just as urgent. Without transparency, independent oversight, and built-in mechanisms for individuals to obtain accountability when AI systems err or fail, the policy’s safeguards are inadequate and place our civil rights and civil liberties at risk.” For years, the American Civil Liberties Union has been urging far stronger safeguards and transparency about the AI tools that national security agencies are deploying, the rules constraining their use, and the dangers these systems pose to fairness, privacy, and due process. -
Press ReleaseOct 2024
Racial Justice
ACLU Comment on the Department of Labor’s AI Guidelines for Employers and VendorsACLU Comment on the Department of Labor’s AI Guidelines for Employers and Vendors
WASHINGTON — Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a roadmap for artificial intelligence (AI) best practices, designed to ensure that emerging technologies such as AI enhance job quality, benefit workers, and comply with existing employment laws when they are used in the workplace. The best practices, pursuant to President Biden’s executive order on the development and use of AI, include recommendations for AI system developers and employers that prioritize workers’ experiences and empowerment throughout the entire AI lifecycle – from design to use and oversight. These practices also call on employers and developers to create standards and processes to identify and mitigate risks from AI systems, such as threats to health and safety, civil rights, privacy, fair labor rights, and labor organizing prior to a developer marketing them or an employer deploying them, and recommend turning to different systems when sufficient mitigation is not possible. “We applaud DOL for issuing best practices for use of AI that center workers’ empowerment, civil rights, privacy, and safety protections and call on developers and employers to adopt critical guardrails in developing, procuring and using AI systems. Employers and developers should take note, as many have been burying their heads in the sand on their risk of legal liability with respect to AI tools,” said Olga Akselrod, senior staff attorney of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “Following these best practices for AI can help employers and developers ensure that they do not violate existing civil rights and other employment laws that protect workers.” The best practices also recommend transparency measures through conducting and publishing impact assessments, notice and recourse for impacted workers, and measures to minimize worker displacement. The DOL also stated that employers should minimize electronic monitoring and avoid unnecessary collection or retention of worker data.