This is a report published by the ACLU-DC and ACLU Analytics, Racial Disparities in Stops by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

The ACLU-DC analyzed five months of data collected pursuant to the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act on stops conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) from July 22, 2019 to December 31, 2019. During the five-month period, almost three quarters of the people stopped in D.C. were Black. This disparity held throughout the District and grew when we examined the stops most likely to be unlawful. These results are consistent with a host of other studies demonstrating that American law enforcement officials police Black people far more aggressively than they police other groups.

The conclusions in this report support previous assertions that MPD’s stop practices unfairly overpolice the Black community, and that these practices require serious scrutiny and structural change. The District must act now to address the causes of these disparities.

Date

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 12:30pm

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Criminal Justice Reform Racial Justice Police Practices and Police Misconduct

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On April 20, 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed one of the most important civil rights laws in U.S. history: the Ku Klux Klan Act. Section 1 of that law – known today as 42 U.S.C. § 1983 – empowers individuals to sue state and local government officials who violate their federal constitutional rights. The law was aimed at protecting Black Americans from white supremacist violence and murder in the postbellum South.

Section 1983 was invoked by the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education (you can see the Act cited by its date) when they challenged school segregation 70 years ago. ACLU offices nationwide continue to use Section 1983 today to defend and advance the rights of all people.

Brown v. Board
 
Brown v. Board

In D.C., we’ve used it to challenge unconstitutional arrests and excessive force against demonstrators, failure to protect mental-health hospital patients from exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, and unreasonable searches of people and property by the police. And we continue to fight to ensure that the law isn’t watered down with made-up immunities that give a free pass to government officials to violate the Constitution.

So today we wish a happy sesquicentennial to Section 1983, recognizing that its monumental task of securing constitutional rights for everyone remains a work in progress.

Date

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 4:15pm

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Scott Michelman

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Stories bring life to the causes we all fight for. Join the ACLU-DC for an afternoon of creation with the Storytelling For Advocacy Workshop on May 15, 12 - 1:30pm. When you finish this training, you will have the tools to create a version of your story that you can use to raise awareness for an issue important to you and your community, you will inspire others to also share their experiences and impact, and, above all, you can influence elected and community leaders to support the policies that keep your communities safe. Zoom link will be provided after registration.

During this workshop we will cover:

  • Why is your advocacy needed?
  • Storytelling Tips
  • Hear a sample story
  • 7 Steps To Storytelling for Advocacy

 

Event Date

Saturday, May 15, 2021 - 12:30pm

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12:00pm
Learn to storytell for advocacy spaces.

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Zoom

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