News & Commentary

ACLU at the Michigan Capitol – February 8, 2016

Michigan state government’s arrogant, callous indifference to both the plight of the people of Flint and the weight of outraged public opinion is explained quite simply by the fact that some officials regard black Michigan as their own little Africa. With the mentality of colonizers, they created and wielded the mighty weapon of Michigan’s emergency manager law, and they set out to dominate and exploit predominantly black cities with breathtaking indifference to the rights and the welfare of those who live there. Michigan’s emergency manager law gives the governor the power to place all authority of a mayor and city council in the hands of a single unelected individual, supposedly for the purpose of rescuing the municipality from financial distress.

The following is an excerpt from the "Great, Not Big" blog, which is authored by Carl Erickson, CEO and cofounder of Atomic Object, a software product development company with offices in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Atomic Object is a member of the Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition, co-founded by the ACLU of Michigan with the goal of updating Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Transgender Advocacy Project was conceived from a very simple premise: Transgender people’s voices are critical to moving the entire equality movement forward in a post-marriage equality America. And it’s working.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—ACLU of Michigan investigative reporter Curt Guyette has been named Michigan Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association for his groundbreaking coverage of toxic contamination of the Flint water supply, a public-health disaster that exposed the city of 100,000 people to lead poisoning for almost two years even as government officials insisted the water was safe.

FLINT – A coalition of local citizens and national groups filed suit today to ask a federal court to step in and secure access to safe drinking water for the people of Flint, Michigan.

Matthew Bentley was 14 years old in 1997 when he broke into a house he thought was unoccupied. While rummaging for valuables, he was confronted by the owner. That's when Matthew shot and killed her with a gun he found in the house.

We have about four months of scheduled legislative session, uninterrupted by hunting breaks or holiday breaks, until the Michigan legislature turns its full attention to the August 2016 primary election season and the political fate of Michigan’s House of Representatives. Generally, this is the period when our elected representatives position their favorite (read: most popular with base constituents) policy initiatives for maximum public visibility. For our law-reform work at the ACLU of Michigan, this often means that our most significant issues will be punted like the proverbial political football.

Today marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade—the landmark Supreme Court decision that guarantees all women a constitutional right to an abortion in the United States. Yet for many reproductive rights advocates, Roe day has become a day of concern, not celebration.