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Racial Justice

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Racial Justice

Our society must not discriminate against individuals based on their ethnicity or the color of their skin. America has come a long way in reducing racial bias and inequality, yet much remains to be done. The ACLU works with communities of color to remedy the effects of past and continuing discrimination and to have America live up to its values.

Racist Comments by Jurors Undermined Right to Fair Trial

December 18, 2009
Jurors’ derogatory comments about the Japanese ethnicity of an attorney indicated racial bias that undermined a man’s right to a fair trial. The ACLU-WA is urging the Washington Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling that ordered a new trial.
 

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Ruling Aims to Ensure Jury Selection Is Free of Racial Discrimination

April 2, 2010
The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the government must provide a race-neutral explanation whenever the last minority member is struck from a jury panel. The ACLU-WA had urged the court to adopt such a bright line rule.
 

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Parents involved in community schools v. Seattle School District no. 1

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the ACLU argued that states and school districts should be permitted to carefully craft measures that flexibly use race as one of several factors to eliminate racially and ethnically segregated classrooms. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled against school assignment plans that consider a student’s race, while recognizing that school districts do have a compelling interest in racially diverse public schools.
 
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State v. Hicks and Babbs

The ACLU had filed a friend-of-the-court brief challenging the exclusion of the only remaining African-American candidate from a jury that convicted two African-American defendants. The Washington Supreme Court declined to reverse the convictions of the defendants, but did say that the exclusion of an African-American may be discriminatory on its face in some situations.
 
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Court Finds Pervasive Racism in State’s Criminal Justice System

In a ground-breaking ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2010 struck down our state constitution’s provision barring felons from voting. The court found that racial minorities with felony convictions in Washington are disproportionately prevented from voting and that this stems from racial discrimination in the state’s criminal justice system, thereby violating the landmark federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
 
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Amparo Project Defends Rights of Female Farmworkers

November 7, 2008
Sexual harassment and discrimination are serious problems faced by many Latina women working in the fields and packing plants, and often they do not realize such behavior is against the law. The ACLU-WA has joined with other social justice organizations to form the Amparo Project to combat sexual harassment and other forms of gender discrimination experienced by farmworkers and other low-wage workers in Washington.
 

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