On Tuesday, November 26th, my group went to the offices of the NYCLU, the New York affiliate branch of the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union. We interviewed Donna Lieberman, the Executive Director, the Senior Organizer, Candis Tolliver, and an organizer, Deandra Khan. For those who don’t know, the ACLU will defend your rights if you feel that they have been or are being taken away. This means, however, that they will defend anyone, from an African-American man being Stopped & Frisked, to the KKK. We learned quite a bit about their anti-Stop & Frisk programs, their education and anti-suspension programs, the Know your Rights campaigns, and the Teen Activist Program that they run during the year. The goal of the Know Your Rights campaign is to educate people about the rights they have and to help them understand what they can do if they are stopped by police officers. Candis Tolliver told us that she would be happy to come to our school and give a presentation. We hope that we can make that happen, and we plan on keeping in touch with the NYCLU.
