http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/civil+rights/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Fri, 08 Sep 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2812/corporal_punishment_hidden_costs/ An errant bullet hit the eye of a 12-year-old Chicago girl on August 27 but she survived. Earlier this year, stray bullets killed two girls in separate incidents in the city's Englewood neighborhood and triggered a flurry of activity designed to address the chronic violence hammering Chicago's inner-city neighborhoods. In black communities across the United States, concerned people are gathering with increasing urgency, seeking solutions to rising rates of violence. Let me add one suggestion that is not likely to be raised at any of these gatherings: Stop spanking your children. If the civil rights community began a movement to discourage corporal punishment among African-Americans, I believe it would do more to stem the tide of interpersonal violence than any… civil rights medical and health race David Sirota Thu, 07 Dec 2006 06:36:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2952/rebiya_kadeer_the_uighur_dalai_lama/ Rebiya Kadeer has been likened to the Dalai Lama, and the comparison grew more apt when the Uighur (pronounced wee-gur) human rights activist became a close contender for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, an award conferred on the Dalai Lama in 1989. Yet in the United States, Kadeer and her cause remain relatively unknown. Like the Dalai Lama, Kadeer is challenging the Chinese government's moral and legal right to rule her people--the Uighurs, an ethnically Turkic-Persian people in western China, whose homeland, Xinjiang, was annexed by China in 1949. The backlash against this annexation exploded in the mid-'90s, when Uighur separatists carried our widespread protests. Some Uighur extremists, who were supported by Islamic extremists in Pakistan, even bombed Chinese targets.… china activism civil rights David Sirota Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2966/diary_of_a_guantamo_attorney/ I fell into the world of Guantánamo in October 2005. The Chicago Council of Lawyers had organized a luncheon discussion on the legal issues surrounding the infamous detention facility at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba. I received an e-mail thanking me for my attendance (I should have gone but didn't) and asking for volunteers to represent the nearly 200 known unrepresented prisoners at the base. I had assumed that I was well-informed about our criminal president and his assault on the rule of law; it never occurred to me that four years after being captured (and more than one year after the Supreme Court affirmed their right to hearing and counsel) individuals were still being held without legal… guantanamo civil rights David Sirota Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2981/kiko_martinez_watch_listed_for_life/ Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Francisco "Kiko" Martinez, a Colorado civil rights attorney and long-time Chicano activist, was flying home from visiting family in Washington state. At the Salt Lake City airport, federal officials barred him from making his connecting flight back to Colorado. After they questioned and prohibited him from boarding his flight, he ended up taking a bus home. Turns out he was on the "no fly" list, a shadowy roster of thousands of people the government has identified as potentially having links to terrorism. People can end up on the list because of legal political activity or membership in legal groups; or just because they have the same name as someone the government is keeping an eye… civil rights national security David Sirota Tue, 13 Feb 2007 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3023/inside_americas_gulag/ According to the U.S. government, Guantánamo Bay is leased to Uncle Sam by the Cuban government. However, Cuba does not recognize U.S. claims to the Bay and has not accepted lease payments for decades. Therefore, while Guantánamo is officially Cuban territory, it is effectively a fiefdom of the United States military. Guantánamo's bizarre political status makes it a perfect haven for the parallel legal universe the Bush administration has created for "enemy combatants." This parallel legal universe is populated by the likes of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. On January 17, Gonzales shocked the Senate Judiciary Committee with his statement that "the Constitution doesn't say, every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right… civil rights guantanamo prison David Sirota Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:17:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3050/in_defense_of_a_free_press/ Sarah Olson, a journalist based in the San Francisco Bay area, has became a hero for Americans concerned about the erosion of press freedoms in the Bush era. On May 30, 2006, Olson interviewed Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, for the Web site truthout.org and Pacifica Radio. For that refusal, on Feb. 5, the Army hauled him before a military court in Fort Lewis, Washington, for a court-martial. The Army charged him with one count of "missing movement," for refusing to deploy to Iraq, and four counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman--two of which stem from statements he made to individual journalists regarding his opposition to the… media civil rights David Sirota Wed, 09 May 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3132/defining_hate_in_the_united_states/ On Feb. 13, 72-year-old Andrew Anthos was attacked in front of his apartment building in Detroit after returning home from the public library. His assailant was a fellow passenger on the bus who had confronted Anthos because he did not like his singing. The youth asked Anthos if he was gay, followed him off the bus, and struck him in the head with a metal pipe. Anthos died after 10 days in critical condition. Despite witnesses on the bus and at the scene of attack, law enforcement has not successfully identified the suspect. Unfortunately, all too often, it is only the most violent hate crimes, like Anthos' murder, that are reported as such. Studies show that victims of hate crimes… civil rights lgbt David Sirota Thu, 24 May 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3197/locking_attorneys_out_of_guantnamo/ In recent weeks, disastrous court decisions have set back the cause of the hundreds of men and boys languishing in Guantánamo. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. has ruled that the Military Commissions Act (which strips Guantánamo inmates of habeas corpus rights) is a viable law, and the Supreme Court has told us Guantánamo attorneys that we must work within the framework of the Act before the Court will determine whether it is constitutional. The question before us: Can we salvage any of the miniscule progress we have made in the Guantánamo litigation given these disastrous decisions? The government is using the appellate court decision and the Supreme Court's inaction to try to keep us habeas attorneys away… civil rights guantanamo torture David Sirota Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3226/torture_by_another_name/ On May 15, America was treated to a televised celebration of war, torture and indefinite detention--the South Carolina Republican primary debate. Blending politics with Hollywood, moderator Brit Hume spun a hypothetical question involving the proverbial "ticking time-bomb" scenario. The candidates all tried to out-do each other over who could be trusted to best disregard fundamental constitutional principles. It was close, but the award went to Mitt Romney who declared: "I'm glad they're at Guantánamo. I don't want them on our soil. I want them on Guantánamo, where they don't get the access to lawyers [Mitt: it is our soil and we lawyers are still there.] ... My view is we ought to double Guantánamo ... And enhanced interrogation techniques have… civil rights guantanamo torture David Sirota Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3263/despite_raids_ids_for_all/ On June 4, New Haven, Conn., became the first city in the country to authorize a municipal identity card for use by both citizens and undocumented immigrants. Thirty-six hours after the city council approved the card, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) staged a citywide raid that led to the arrest of 31 people. In some cases, ICE agents, entering apartments without warrants, took parents away in front of their children. City officials and community activists charge that ICE is retaliating for the city's immigrant-friendly policies, although the feds deny that. New Haven has vowed to roll out the new IDs sometime in late July. The Board of Aldermen approved the measure by a vote of 25 to 1,… civil rights immigration David Sirota Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3262/the_drug_wars_collateral_damage/ When a person is sent to prison for the first time on a drug-related felony charge, there is little chance that he or she will be told about the "collateral consequences" of their sentence. The severity of these residual punishments depends on the state. "Life Sentences: The Collateral Sanctions Associated with Marijuana Offenses," a report released in July by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE), ranks Florida, Delaware, Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia, Utah, Arizona and South Carolina as the 10 states with the worst records for continuing the punishments of people who have already served their time. "Life Sentences" author Richard Boire writes that the long-term sanctions for drug crimes, even for relatively benign drugs like… civil rights drugs David Sirota Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3291/gitmos_last_honest_man/ In late June, a brave whistleblower submitted a devastating affidavit to the Supreme Court, which prompted the court to reverse itself and hear the latest Guantánamo cases challenging the Military Commissions Act. Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham's affidavit exposed Guantánamo's kangaroo tribunals for the sham that they are. Luckily, the only tribunal on which Abraham sat considered the case of my client, Abdul Al-Ghizzawi. Abraham, a California lawyer in the Army Reserves, was assigned to the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC) in 2004. He served as an inter-agency go-between, compiling information on Guantánamo's prisoners from various government offices. The information was gathered into a dossier and presented as evidence to the combatant status review… civil rights guantanamo David Sirota Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3335/funding_indonesias_abusive_military/ Counterterrorism" has become Indonesia's latest slogan for avoiding military reform while simultaneously strengthening its apparatus of repression. In return for its loyalty in the war on terror, the Bush administration has side-stepped congressional concerns of military abuses in Indonesia. Amnesty International observed in its 2007 country report: "The majority of human rights violations by the security forces were not investigated, and impunity for past violations persisted." These included two cases in which the National Human Rights Commission submitted evidence in 2004 that security forces had committed crimes against humanity. A May report from the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) concluded that the Indonesia military (TNI) is one of the largest recipients of post-9/11 military assistance.… asia civil rights military David Sirota Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3325/an_unholy_alliance/ Every Wednesday and Friday morning, two or three volunteers wearing bright green shirts that read "Pro-Choice, Y'all" assemble in front of Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery, Ala., to escort patients from the parking lot to the front door, past a small sea of anti-abortion protesters. The protesters carry handmade signs and pictures of fetuses sucking their thumbs. They play violins and blow loudly into horns. They thrust graphic pamphlets at the patients, form prayer circles on the sidewalk, and teach their children to plead with women to not murder their babies. The protesters are mostly women. They look like Sunday school teachers, housewives and hip grandmas. And, during the past few months, they have grown more vocal and more organized,… abortion civil rights gender David Sirota Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3338/inside_the_secret_facility/ The "Protective Order," issued by the U.S. Federal Court for the D.C. District, establishes the ground rules for the "attorney client relationship" with our Gitmo clients. These are the rules that we (habeas counsel) must follow or else face being held in contempt of court. The attorney-client privilege is one of many legal niceties that disappeared under the protective order. We are also barred from telling a client "secret information" from his files. (The absurdity is underscored by the fact that we cannot even tell a client "secret evidence" that he originally provided.) Although the protective order is a legally binding, the military routinely disregards it and the courts routinely turn a blind eye. When I meet with my client,… censorship civil rights guantanamo David Sirota Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3363/a_mothers_march_for_justice/ For Tina Jones, life was plenty busy before her oldest son became one of the now famous Jena Six. Jones, a nursing assistant and mother of two boys, Bryant Purvis, 17, and Dyrek Jones, 7, has become a tireless activist since Dec. 5, 2006, when Bryant was expelled from Jena High School in Jena, La. Working closely with the other Jena Six parents, Jones has helped organize a local chapter of the NAACP, has reached out to the local and national media, and has worked to speed up her son's hearing and trial. Bryant Purvis, along with five other black students, originally faced charges of attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, after school officials alleged that the six… civil rights race social justice David Sirota Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3375/jena_and_the_post_civil_rights_fallacy/ Well, it appears that the post-civil rights era is old news. Put another way, the post is past. This truth was revealed most recently in the huge protest surrounding the case of the Jena Six, in which six black high school students were victims of double-standard justice. Tales of their disparate treatment attracted at least 25,000 people from across the country on Sept. 20 to the tiny town of Jena, La., and prompted many activists to announce the emergence of a new civil rights movement. The large, mutigenerational crowd was drawn by a convergence of factors, many of which were particular to the Jena Six case. Among them, the presence of three rope nooses (an incendiary symbol of racist violence),… civil rights race social justice David Sirota Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:05:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3386/justice_for_some/ When the U.S. Supreme Court refused on October 1 to hear Legal Services for New York City v. Legal Services Corporation, a case challenging restrictions on access to lawyers for the poor, it sent a clear message: Courts shouldn't be bothered with the problems of poor people. Funny, I thought "justice for all" meant justice for every person. It now appears an asterisk is missing from the last line of our nation's pledge. For clarity, perhaps it should read so like this: "...And justice for all.* * (The validity of this clause is subject to class and race restrictions and can be ruled null and void upon persons' failure to comply. The government reserves the right to alter the meaning… judiciary civil rights David Sirota Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3411/el_salvadors_patriot_act/ On July 2, Salvadoran police arrested 14 rural activists who were protesting water privatization in Suchitoto, a colonial town in the middle of the country. The government plans to try them on Feb. 8 under the country's new anti-terrorism laws, which could make them the first political prisoners in the nation's post-war era. In recent years, the Salvadoran government has faced increasing community resistance to the privatization of healthcare and water. Citizens have also protested against Pacific Rim, a multinational corporation that plans to develop the El Dorado mine in Cabañas province and pollute the local water supply. In response, in October 2006 the government adopted a "Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism," which gives police and judges leeway to… central america civil liberties civil rights David Sirota Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3427/third_times_the_charm/ Most courts, in what passes for the civilized world, will not admit evidence obtained under torture. That is why our government had to set up a new system to avoid these "technicalities." Under the Military Commissions Act (MCA), which Congress passed in September 2006, the Bush administration can avoid presenting real evidence in hearings for Guantánamo detainees. It seemed like an easy concept for these war criminals but like everything else that they have concocted on the fly there are a few problems. The MCA allows the government to rely on the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CRSTs), the initial non-public hearings that were hastily pulled together after the Supreme Court held in 2004 that the detainees had a right to… censorship civil rights guantanamo David Sirota