The right to protest is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the First Amendment.
If you are attending a protest and get stopped by police, ask if you're free to go. If they say yes, calmly walk away.
If you get arrested, DON'T say anything.
Ask for a lawyer immediately.
Don't sign anything.
Don't agree to anything without a lawyer present.
If you get arrested, demand your right to a local phone call.
If you call a lawyer, the police are not allowed to listen. If you call anyone else, they are likely to listen.
You never have to consent to a search of yourself or your belongings. Say that you don't consent to the search.
If you do explicitly consent, it can affect you later in court.
When you are lawfully present in any public space, you have the right to photograph anything in plain view, including federal buildings and the police.
Police may not confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant, nor may they delete data under any circumstances.
Visual records are fully protected, but some states have tried to regulate the audio portion of videos under wiretapping laws.
If a protest is shut down through a dispersal order, you must have received clear and detailed notice of the order — including how much time you have to disperse, consequences of failing to disperse, and a clear exit route — BEFORE you can be arrested or charged with any crime.
If you believe your rights have been violated, write down everything you remember.
Write down the officers' badge and patrol car numbers, and the agency they work for.
Get contact information for witnesses and take photographs of any injuries.
This is a much deserved victory for Muslims, Africans, African Muslims, and all other immigrants of color.
The Muslim Ban was a prime example of racism that tore families apart, targeted Black and Brown immigrants, and trampled on our most fundamental constitutional rights.
The NO BAN Act would prevent discriminatory bans like this from happening again.
This is a critical move toward immigration policies that are guided by fairness, constitutional rights, and human dignity.
We will never begin to achieve true justice for George Floyd until our country completely transforms public safety to save Black lives and reduce racist police violence.
The majority of people killed by police in America are killed in response to mental health crisis calls, traffic infractions, and other low-level offenses.
Black people are arrested and killed by police at far higher rates than white people.
Armed police are not needed in these situations, and in fact increase violence and danger.
Instead of using force, arrests, and preventable death, we can ensure that trained civilian professionals are our first responders.
BREAKING: Derek Chauvin has been convicted of the murder of George Floyd.
For the first time in Minnesota state history, a white police officer has been held accountable for killing a Black man.
While today’s verdict is a small win for police accountability and may help heal a grieving community, the systems that allowed George to be murdered — ripping him away from his family and the communities that loved him so much — remain fully intact.
George Floyd will never again play games with his daughter, Gianna.
He’ll never go on walks through the park with his fiancée, Courteney.
He will never play basketball with his brother, Philonise.
True justice would mean George Floyd was never killed in the first place.
Drug prohibition in the US has never been about safety — it has always been about associating certain drugs with Black and Brown communities.
The war on drugs is a story about the government targeting the marginalized.
Despite efforts to decriminalize cannabis, racial disparities in arrest rates are still rampant. These disparities persist in every state that has rolled back cannabis prohibition.
Today, we petitioned the Supreme Court to review whether the public has a right to access secret decisions issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The court reviews broad surveillance programs that affect millions of people — including programs that involve collection of emails, phone records, and internet browsing data.
Our privacy rights rise or fall with the court’s decisions, which increasingly apply outdated laws to the technologies we rely on every day.
This week anti-trans bills moved forward in:
▪️ Alabama
▪️ Arkansas
▪️ Arizona
▪️ Florida
▪️ North Dakota
▪️ Texas
This is an assault on our bodies and our lives.
Some of these bills aim to ban trans youth from sports teams — particularly transgender women and girls — in spite of coaches, NCAA athletes, women’s rights groups, and professional athletes all saying trans girls belong in sports. aclu.org/news/lgbt-righ…
Some of these bills ban medical care for trans youth or ban medically accurate info from schools — in spite of support from doctors and medical associations for trans youth. aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rig…