Healing our divides
by Alison Beyea
There are two truths from Election Day that we all must reconcile. Voters turned out in unprecedented numbers to restore and protect our democracy, and to reject the anticivil rights and anti-civil liberties agenda of the current administration. But more than 70 million voters, including a majority of voters in Maine’s Second Congressional District, still marked Donald Trump’s name on their ballots.
The stark divide in our country and state shows that we must remain engaged and committed to the work ahead–to rebuild our democracy and to turn back four years of cruel and targeted assaults on our most vulnerable residents: immigrants, communities of color—especially Black communities, and the LGBTQ community.
We must push to re-establish the rule of law and to ensure that laws are just and compassionate. We have an obligation to do the hard work of bringing our country together and bridging the divides that President Trump and his allies have worked so hard to exploit.
In the winter, we’ll be starting a new legislative session. Alongside our partners and activists, we will keep up the summer’s momentum for racial justice through efforts to enact bail reform and drug decriminalization, alongside other bills. Your ACLU of Maine will keep nurturing the seeds of justice, no matter the political party in power, so that the Constitution’s promise to “we the people” bears fruit for all of us.
Date
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 - 10:00am
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Dear Friends,
Efforts to disenfranchise people have been a regular part of United States history. Voting has always been closely guarded precisely because it is so powerful. It is why people have been willing to die to vote. As the late Civil Rights legend John Lewis wrote in his fi nal essay, “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.” This presidential election will take place under unprecedented pandemic circumstances. People nationwide are facing ongoing attacks on the right to vote. In this election, like in every election, your ACLU of Maine team is working to ensure that every Mainer is educated about their voting rights, and that those rights are protected. Let’s use our power to vote!
Alison Beyea
Executive Director, ACLU of Maine
Date
Monday, September 7, 2020 - 4:00pm
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Dear friends,
The day after this newsletter went to print, George Floyd was killed by police officers in Minneapolis. Since then, protestors have taken to the streets across the country, once again calling for an end to police brutality against people of color and especially Black people. Meanwhile, the president has viciously called for a crackdown on people who are exercising their most fundamental rights.
All of us at the ACLU are feeling the pain and anger of this moment. We stand in solidarity with communities that are reeling. We join in the call for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all those who have been needlessly killed by police. We join the Movement for Black Lives in calling for a reinvestment of resources out of police departments and into communities. We know that true justice will not be served until we have dismantled the historic and pervasive racism present in all of our systems.
Maine is not immune to this systemic racism. In 2018, two white men in Biddeford attacked and beat a Black man before chasing him with their truck. The same year a Black man was served a no trespass order at a southern Maine grocery store for simply asking to speak with a manager. Black school children in Maine are disproportionately suspended, expelled and arrested at school for the same behaviors as their white peers. And as you will read in this newsletter, Black people in Maine are now feeling a far greater impact from COVID-19 than white people. These are just a few of the many examples of the harm done by systemic racism in our state.
At the ACLU of Maine, we are committed to eradicating this inequity through the courts, legislative advocacy, public education, and by listening to and lifting up the individuals and communities that bear this harm. Thank you for joining us in this work. Together, we can create a Maine where the blessings of freedom, justice and equality are a reality for every one of us.
In solidarity,
Alison Beyea
Executive Director, ACLU of Maine
Date
Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 4:00pm
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