What's being called a modern day Indian Removal, The Wild Turkey Clan of the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians in Maryland are being forced off their land by the Charles County government - the very land that belongs to the Piscataway Conoy People and that the Band has taken care of for decades. On this episode we speak with Tribal Chairwoman Natalie Standingontherock Proctor on the harmful impact of this removal and how people can get involved to end this eviction. To learn more and take action visit www.piscatawayindians.com/ and action.aclu.org/send-message/md-cedarville-band-piscataway ..read more

Finalmente, el uso legal de la marihuana en Maryland se está convirtiendo en una realidad, pero eso no significa que sea oficialmente legal todavía. Aquí hay una cronología que le dice todo lo que necesita saber sobre esta próxima fase de las leyes sobre la marihuana. Lea la cronología completa aquí: https://www.aclu-md.org/es/news/el-camino-hacia-la-legalizacion-de-marihuana-el-cronograma-hasta-ahora ..read more

Finally, legal use marijuana in Maryland is becoming a reality - but that doesn't mean that it's officially legal just yet. Here's a timeline breaking down everything you need to know around this next phase of marijuana laws. Read the full timeline here: https://www.aclu-md.org/en/news/road-marijuana-legalization-timeline-so-far ..read more

Know The Facts. Immigrants' rights are more important now than ever. And one pressing issue on the minds of many in Maryland is that the 287(g) program continues to plague us. The program deputizes local and state law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. A couple years back, the ACLU of Maryland shared data in Seven Truths Surrounding 287(g) Programs showing just how racist immigration enforcement is in Maryland. Now, we have the latest data showing the same depressing results. Be sure to check out the written version here: https://www.aclu-md.org/en/news/know-facts-about-racist-an ..read more

Many Maryland children are heading back to school. After a year and a half of virtual learning, most students will go back into their school buildings. But what experience will they step back into? On this episode we speak with key ACLU experts, Justin Nalley, public policy analyst, Frank Patinella, senior education advocate, and Tierney Peprah, staff attorney, about the work we will be doing to ensure an education system that values and uplifts students’ humanity ..read more

On April 20, 2021, the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial issued a guilty verdict on all three counts for the murder of George Floyd. However, one verdict is not justice – it’s simply accountability. Over 5,000 people were killed by police in the U.S. since 2015, including George Floyd and Anton Black, who were killed by police in eerily, terrifyingly similar ways. We talked to LaToya Holley, the sister of Anton Black, Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and Sonia Kumar, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Maryland about the Derrick Chauvin verdict, the w ..read more

Immigrants in Frederick County have been fighting for their rights for years. We’ve seen some great victories this year. Immigrants have won in the courts and in local policy that helps the community, despite the odds. In this episode, we talked to Sara Movahed, ACLU of Maryland board member and founding partner at Movahed & Fisher Law, LLC., - www.movahedfisher.com and Brain Whittaker of Nixon Peabody LLP - nixonpeabody.com who represented Sara Medrano and the RISE Coalition in their successful legal challenge to racial profiling by local police deputized to act as ICE agents. We also hea ..read more

Police officers on Maryland's Eastern Shore killed Anton Black, a 19-year-old Black teenager, on the afternoon of September 15, 2018. Over two years later, the family and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black are still fighting for justice for Anton Black. To talk more about this we will speak with Antone Black, the father of Anton Black, Richard Potter, an educator and President of the Talbot County Branch of the NAACP, and Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, about the impact they hope their legal challenge will have as part of the work to reimagine policing in Maryland ..read more

The right to vote and participate in our democracy is currently denied to over 18,000 citizens who are incarcerated in Maryland. Dating back to the racist Jim Crow era, state felony disfranchisement laws were created to prevent Americans entangled in the legal justice system from voting. After the Civil War, there was a concerted effort to incarcerate thousands of Black people who were newly freed, in order to weaken their political power. In Free the Vote, a new documentary by the ACLU of Maryland, we talked with people who were formerly incarcerated, politicians, historians, and advocates wh ..read more

After the 2020 election, a national awaking on systemic racism, COVID-19, and a politically divided nation, it is important to reflect on where we have been and where we could go. As 2021 draws near, Maryland and our country have much to do to empower people to exercise their rights so that the law values and uplifts their humanity. On Thinking Freely this month, we were joined by Dana Vickers Shelley, the Executive Director of the ACLU of Maryland, and Marion Gray Hopkins, President of the Coalition of Concerned Mothers, mother of Gary Hopkins, who was killed by police in Prince George’s Coun ..read more