News & Commentary

I like competition and contact sports. I do not shy away from confrontation and I enjoy a rousing debate where voices are raised and tensions are high. Taking off my shoes does not allow me to think better. In other words, I would have failed miserably if I had been forced into a single-sex classroom that employed “differential learning techniques” based on supposed gender differences.The examples above probably seem odd, antiquated and non-sensiscal. And yet, they are taken directly from Dr. Leonard Sax, who is one of the major proponents behind single-sex education. In fact, some of his recommendations are even more bizarre – according to Dr. Sax, teachers should smile at girls but not boys, and spank boys but not girls.Amongst the many things that trouble me about these “scientific” findings, what stands out is the negative impact that they would have had on my education. In trying to explain to people why single-gender education does not work, I often cite the numerous studies that point out there are more differences in learning styles amongst members of a group of girls or a group of boys than between the two sexes as whole. But I did not need a researcher to tell me this. I know this from my own personal experiences in school.Growing up, I was what a 1950’s sitcom would call a “tomboy.” In the classroom, I would speak up early and often. During lunch, I knew the most about all the Boston –based sports teams. On the playground, I would outplay any student in football or basketballAt my elementary school, these interests and learning styles did not pose a problem. My teachers used a variety of learning techniques to reach a broad range of students, and my surroundings allowed me to find a stimulating peer group. This would not have been the case at schools like Millside Elementary, where the fourth graders have been divided into segregated classrooms and taught differently according to supposed gender-differences.Had I gone to school in such an environment, I would have been both lonely (as the segregation would have ripped me apart from my best friends, who happened to be boys) and educationally frustrated (as the “girls” teaching style would have been completely ineffective for me).I am certain that those who advocate on behalf of single-gender education do so because they believe it will best serve their students. But it won’t. The truth is, all students learn differently, and these differences do not break down simply along gender lines. The better solution is to give teachers the training and resources to reach students with a variety of learning styles, regardless of their gender. This is the only way to ensure that all students, including those girls who are just one of the boys, and visa versa, can reach their full potential.

The pro-choice movement in Michigan has been on the defense in our state legislature for the past ten years. There has not been a single significant pro-choice bill signed into law during this period, and the pro-choice advocates have spent too much time and energy debating the intransigent issue that is abortion. A couple of years ago, we worked with Planned Parenthood and the wider pro-choice coalition in Lansing to move the debate away from abortion and toward common sense solutions to reduce the need for abortions – solutions we believe everyone could agree upon. We reached out to Michigan Right to Life, the Catholic Conference and our anti-choice legislators and asked them to put politics aside and work with us to make sure that Michigan citizens have the resources they need to make educated choices. We made inroads, and as a result Michigan’s legislative pro-choice caucus worked hard to coordinate a package of bills that include policies to address issues such as:

You may have heard that Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero has formally asked for an attorney general investigation into the release of the HIV status of man arrested in a sex-sting operation. You may have also heard that the Michigan Department of Community Health sounded the trumpet for an investigation as well. Why all the fuss? Well, Michigan law clearly protects the confidentiality of a person’s HIV status. Although there are a number of exceptions to this law, releasing the information as part of a police report does not appear to be one of them. In fact, even if it was relevant to the police investigation, the information should never have been revealed publically. But this is not the only disturbing issue associated with the incident. Lansing’s decision to deploy undercover police officers pretending to be gay in an effort to encourage men to engage in illegal behavior in the park should raise some eyebrows as well. The fact is that indecent exposure and sex in public are illegal. However, there are more effective ways for police to deal with this problem if, in fact, it does exist. Police departments can deploy uniformed officers to patrol the parks and post signs indicating that parks are being patrolled to deter individuals from engaging in these activities. After all, a statement by the Lansing police chief says it all – when asked why deploy undercover officers in the park; he stated that when uniformed officers patrolled the park, they observed no illegal activity. Isn’t that point?

The Bush administration never intended for their torture memos to be seen -- or heard -- by the public. But it’s clear – the abuses committed as a result of the torture program are serious, and the publicly available evidence of senior involvement is considerable and still mounting. Yet the fulls tory hasn't been told. What we do know is that torture is a crime, and that the crimes committed during the interrogations of detainees can no longer be doubted or debated. Despite the voluminous evidence that senior Bush administration officials authorized torture, the only people who have been held accountable for this maltreatment of prisoners are low-ranking soldiers. President Obama has said that no one is above the law, and Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the Department of Justice will follow the facts wherever they lead. It's time to hold them to their word. Send this video to Attorney General Holder and demand that he appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate those who committed and authorized torture -- wherever the evidence leads.  

I am always surprised when I look up while waiting for a traffic light and see cameras mounted at each corner, obviously tracking the traffic activity. I always wonder what they do with the information. Is there someone watching live? Will they use it to determine the cause of an accident? Are they reading license plates looking for a lawless driver? What I do know is that surveillance cameras have become common place and most people are probably like me – we wonder about them and move on. Still, they bug me. The proliferation of surveillance cameras is unnerving. The most egregious use, though, has been in our public school systems. School administrators contend that cameras make people feel “safe” and give parents the impression that the school is actively protecting their children. They also believe that they need the cameras to cut down on theft – you know, to catch students who steal IPods or cell phones. However, there is not one ounce of evidence that cameras are effective at reducing theft or crime and in Michigan schools, cameras are rightfully not allowed in locker rooms and bathrooms where most theft occurs in schools. Yet in school after school, surveillance camera systems are being installed. Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School is fit with a surveillance system (at an $80,000 cost to taxpayers) despite a strong protest from students and concerned community members. Novi High School has an intricate surveillance system that is paid for through a voted bond. Interestingly, in Novi, teachers negotiated to ensure that the cameras could not be used on staff, either for monitoring or incidentally. Despite this momentum, students in Birmingham, Mich., won an important victory recently and successfully deterred their schools from installing surveillance cameras throughout the buildings. As a former Birmingham Public Schools Board of Education member for ten years, I was proud of the students resolve and thoughtfulness when tackling this issue. The students became concerned about the potential surveillance system months ago and quickly embarked on a fact finding mission. They built support with school flyers and meetings, a presence on Facebook, and with an on-line petition. They reached out to the media and communicated with school board members about their activities and findings. Eventually, the students were allowed on the committee investigating the use of a surveillance system. And as part of the committee, the students visited schools using cameras and asked critical questions to discern the effectiveness of the cameras. The students spoke of their findings publicly at school board meetings, and ultimately the school board agreed that there was no compelling public safety issue at the schools that warranted a video surveillance system. Their story was highlighted in a recent article, Privacy vs. Security: Are you prepared for the thorny issues surrounding student surveillance? by David Rapp for Scholastic Administrator Magazine. For more information on rising use of public surveillance cameras systems in towns and cities across the United States, visit  www.youarebeingwatched.us.

Mohammed Jawad was around 12 years old when U.S. forces arrested him in Afghanistan as part of the post-9/11 search for Al-Qaeda. He has spent the last seven years illegally imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay where, as the Obama administration recently admitted, he was tortured. Records show that Jawad tried to commit suicide in his cell by slamming his head repeatedly against the wall. Earlier this week, the ACLU filed suit to return Jawad to Afghanistan in response to the Obama administration’s efforts to keep Jawad at Guantanamo while it decides whether to pursue a criminal case against him. Yesterday afternoon a federal court judge ruled that Jawad’s imprisonment was unconstitutional and that he should be repatriated to Afghanistan no later than August 21. Despite court rulings declaring military commissions unconstitutional, despite the evidence of torture against detainees at Guantanamo and Baghram - the “other Guantanamo” - despite public opinion in favor of the rule of law and despite a new administration that had pledged to clean up the mess left for them, we continue to require the courts to intervene on behalf of human rights. Detaining individuals indefinitely without charge or trial is un-American and violates our commitment to due process and the rule of law. Torture is an affront to human rights and a violation of the Geneva Conventions. No matter who our president is, we must uphold the rule of law. The Obama administration must end the policies of the previous administration and put an immediate end to indefinite detention and torture. You can help by sending to Attorney General Holder one of the thousands of documents from the Department of Defense that prove that detention without charge and torture have been standard operating procedure by U.S. forces.

Henry Louis Gates committed a crime. He was arrested for disturbing the peace, but that wasn’t his offense. Gates committed the age-old crime of being uppity. “Uppity adj: putting on airs of superiority: ARROGANT, PRESUMPTUOUS.” In decades past, this offense could get a black man lynched. The uppity crime is key to understanding how and why race is at the heart of this incident. By all accounts the arresting officer is not a bigot. In fact, it is claimed that he has helped train officers to become more racially and culturally sensitive. So if he is not a racist, what makes the incident racial? The answer: It happened in America. Like it or not, America has a ton of racial baggage. Universally-held notions of the proper stations in life of the various groups and individuals who comprise the country’s population linger. These notions are not consciously and deliberately acquired. They seep into our consciousness by osmosis. So on that fateful day as Professor Gates ranted and raved about racist cops in his own house, he did not “disturb the peace” as defined by the Cambridge ordinance, but he very much disturbed the arresting officer’s peace of mind. We all have roles to play – pre-designated stations in life – and for this officer, Gates was not in character. For Gates to scream at an officer of the law and charge racism was just too much. Order needed to be restored. Not public order, but the officer’s subjective sense of social order. Older black men don’t yell at police officers. It just isn’t done. Gates had to be arrested. But wouldn’t the officer’s reaction have been the same if Gates had been a 58-year-old, 150 pound white man who walks with a cane? No. Most likely, the officer would have chuckled to himself about how much the hypothetical white Gates reminded him of his own cantankerous uncle. It is normal - even expected that older white men will speak their minds. None of this can be proved. In fact, much of it is not even believed by many in our society. This is frustrating for the many people who call the ACLU of Michigan with complaints of racial profiling that we can often do nothing about because of the proof challenges these cases present. The degree to which these challenges will diminish has much to do with whether we are all prepared to use the Gates incident as a “teachable moment” as President Obama has suggested.

As summer continues to roll on, the temperature continues to rise. That will certainly be the case this weekend with the annual Hotter Than July! picnic in Detroit. The picnic is part of a weeklong series of events celebrating black gay pride. What makes the event even more special is that Detroit’s black gay pride is the oldest in the Midwest. Metro Detroit has always had a diverse and creative African-American community. From Motown to Menjo’s, we’ve been on the frontlines of what’s innovative. The events surrounding black gay pride are an extension of that legacy. While a lot of progress still has to be made in regards to the LGBT community and civil rights, there is much to celebrate! Supporting the LGBT community is part a long tradiation at the ACLU dating back to 1937. That year, the the national office took a case opposing censorship of the play “The Children’s Hour,” which included a lesbian character. And once again, we’re proud to stand alongside an event with an equally impressive history. So come celebrate this history with us. The picnic is Saturday, July, 25 at Palmer Park in Detroit. If you’re planning on attending the picnic be sure to stop by the ACLU table and say hello. You’ll even get a chance to take a picture with a familiar face -- Lady Liberty. Showing your pride is a great way to beat the summer heat, especially when it's Hotter Than July.

Who doesn’t like having a lot of friends? As an organization, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our members and our ability to affect change in the wider community. In order for us to do this effectively, we must reach out to those who rely on us, in an equally diverse way. This year we have expanded our reach on the internet. There’s nothing new about social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In fact, you or someone you know is probably tweeting while you read this. But what might be new to you is that you can be our friend or follow us on both of these sites. Over the course of the last few months, we’ve seen our membership on Facebook reach nearly 1,000 with Twitterers not far behind. Each of these sites provides us with an innovative way to get out the word about events, case updates and legislative alerts. So if you haven’t already, be sure to look for us on www.facebook.com and join our group – ACLU of Michigan. And while you’re at it don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acluofmichigan. After all, how can we continue to defend your rights without a little help from our friends?