News & Commentary

U.S. voters are voting early and breaking absentee voting records nationwide — including here in Alabama. With early voting being the safest way to vote for the General Election, now is the time to make sure your family and friends are voting absentee too.

Birmingham’s new 1.3 million dollar surveillance technology doesn’t prevent or “solve crimes.” It responds to crimes that have already occurred by utilizing surveillance tools that have a documented record of racist targeting and increased criminalization of Black, brown and poor communities.

The General Election is one month away. Learn the three ways you can vote in Alabama this election cycle.

This election year is important. It’s probably one of the most important election years we will encounter in our lifetimes – and every citizen should be allowed to participate in choosing not only our national leaders but also determining Alabama’s future.

Since 1970, the LGBTQ community and our allies have marked June as LGBTQ Pride Month, in honor of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. 51 years after Stonewall, a protest that was begun by Black and Brown transgender women like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, the community returned to its roots for this Pride month. LGBTQ people across this nation have risked their own personal health to take to the streets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. We have joined with individuals of all backgrounds to demand an end to systemic racism, white supremacy, and police brutality.

Since George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin nearly three weeks ago, the topic of policing in America has surged, once again, to the forefront of our conversation, newsfeeds, and televisions.

The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy and enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, people across the country have taken to the streets to demand racial justice and an end to police brutality and systematic racism against Black people.Especially in the time of COVID-19, it’s important to know your rights and stay safe while protesting. In this video taken over the weekend at a protest in Brooklyn, New York, Emerson Sykes, staff attorney for the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, & Technology Project, shares important information on how to protect yourself and others while protesting – and what rights you have when interacting with police.

Udi Ofer, Former Director, Justice Division, ACLU National Political and Advocacy Department

Ashoka Mukpo, Staff Reporter, ACLU

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