Last week, Zach Heiden, ACLU of Maine Legal Director, and I went live on Facebook to help our members and the general public understand our rights while protesting. Check out our KYR video here, along with the many resources listed in the comments.

But first, I want to acknowledge a few facts that we left out of the video. Last week included the anniversaries of a few different important happenings. Thursday, July 13 was the four-year anniversary of both the Black Lives Matter and BYP100 movements. It was also the two-year anniversary of the death of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died while in police custody. Her death launched the beginning of #SayHerName, an effort to gain more visibility around the issue of police brutality and black women. And today, July 17, marks three years since Eric Garner was killed by police.

Further, July 15 marked the one-year anniversary of the #BLMPortland16 protest, which occurred on Commercial St. in Portland. The protest was in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Participants called for more transparency and accountability in local policing, and the action resulted in the biggest mass arrest in Maine’s history.

ACLU Nationwide and state affiliates support the movement for black lives and the crucial efforts of so many people working on the ground to dismantle systemic oppression.

The fight for freedom of speech has been a bedrock of the ACLU’s mission since the organization was founded in 1920, driven by the need to protect the constitutional rights of conscientious objectors and anti-war protesters. The organization’s work quickly spread to combating censorship, securing the right to assembly, and promoting free speech in schools. Almost a century later, these battles have taken on new forms, but they persist. We are working to represent protestors, calling for federal legislation to end the culture of warrior policing, organizing against racial profiling, and campaigning against mass incarceration

As Zach said in our FB live video, “Some people like the First Amendment in theory but not so much in practice. For others, it’s the other way around. But I am a champion for the First Amendment in both theory and in all it’s messy practice, because I believe the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment are how we protect all of our other freedoms. For most of our history, social change has come about through speech and organizing, and I think that is the best way to bring about social change…. Now that you know your rights, you have no excuse not to exercise them.”