Claim OwnershipTalking Liberties with the ACLU of Illinois
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On Talking Liberties with the ACLU of Illinois, we are here to chat about the big issues of the day, both home in the Land of Lincoln and across our country. We are here to help educate and tell you how you can get involved so we work together towards a more perfect union. Each episode features interviews, news updates, events, and actions that you can take right now to protect your rights. Remember: dissent is patriotic!
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On April 4 Illinois will hold elections for local elected offices – like school board, city council, mayor and more. In this episode we were joined by Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs at the ACLU of Illinois to discuss how these local offices are important to protecting rights and civil liberties for your community, and how each vote counts.
In 2023 Illinois will end the use of a money bond system - a system that prioritizes wealth when making decisions about who awaits trial in county jail. The new system relies on individualized assessments about public safety to make this critical decision. On this episode of Talking Liberties we were joined by Lake County States Attorney Eric Rinehart, Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, and ACLU of Illinois Director of Criminal Justice Policy Ben Ruddell to discuss how this new law will reform the pretrial system in Illinois.
As the 2022 Midterm Election approaches on November 8 many voters are still deciding on whom to vote for – or whether to vote at all. The reality is that our civil liberties are on the ballot at every level and in every race. In this episode we were joined by Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs at the ACLU of Illinois to discuss how a range of offices up for election in 2022 have a real impact on your civil rights and liberties.
Efforts to ban books in public and school libraries across the country has more than doubled in the past year. In this episode we were joined by Deborah Stone-Caldwell, director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association, and Rebecca Glenberg, Senior Supervising Attorney at the ACLU of Illinois to discuss the threats to challenged books across country and in Illinois, and what each of us can do to fight back against these threats in our own communities.
In 2018, ICE conducted a series of controversial raids across the Chicago area using traffic stops and other techniques to detain hundreds of individuals for immigration violations. In this episode, we are joined by Antonio Gutierrez, an organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD)and Mark Fleming, a lawyer from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) to discuss those raids, the lawsuit filed in response to the arrests, and how the settlement will change ICE practices in Illinois and across the country.
Illinois currently has one of the most restrictive laws name change laws in the country – a law that bans people from being able to change their names for at least ten years. On this episode we discussed the harms that this law imposes and efforts in Springfield to remove this unjust restriction. We were joined by advocates Eisha Love, a transgender activist, and Avi Rudnick a lawyer and the Director of Scattered Site Housing at Chicago House and a Board member of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois Name Change Mobilization which helps transgender people change their names.
Even as Roe hangs by a thread, there are countless barriers to make abortions difficult, even impossible for people to access. On this episode we were joined by Representative Jan Schakowsky, Megan Jeyifo and Aalap Bommaraju from the Chicago Abortion Fund, and Ameri Klafeta from the ACLU of Illinois to talk about how the stigmatization of abortion has allowed for policies like the Hyde Amendment and PNA to continue to restrict access to abortion – and the consequences of that here in Illinois and across the country.
Illinois has a new law updating and adding to the standards for how personal health and sexual health education is taught in this state. We sat down with Scout Bratt, Outreach & Education Director at Chicago Women's Health Center and Chelsea Diaz, our Advocacy Associate to find out more about what the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act includes, and what more we can do to ensure comprehensive and inclusive sex education is taught in Illinois.
In 2019, Jaylan Butler – an innocent college student returning from a swim meet on his team’s bus – was taken to the ground and had a gun held to his head by police officers in Illinois. Jaylan bravely filed a lawsuit against those officers to hold them accountable for their actions, and that case was recently resolved. We speak with Jaylan about his story, and with ACLU of Illinois Police Practices Staff Attorney Rachel Murphy on how traumatic police interactions continue to harm communities of color throughout Illinois and our country.
We all want young people to be able to talk to their parents about important life decisions. However, the idea that the government can force healthy family interactions ignores reality for many youth and the lasting injuries that result from enforcing these laws. That is why the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (PNA) is dangerous in Illinois and must be repealed. We are joined by Emily Werth, ACLU of IL Women's and Reproductive Rights Project Staff Attorney, as well as two experts who have seen the harms of PNA up close: Dr. Rebecca Commito, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Chicago, and Retired Judge Susan Fox Gillis. You can also learn more about SB 2190 and take action by going to: https://www.aclu-il.org/en/legislation/sb-2190-repeal-pna
From 2016 to 2018, 20,000 people in Illinois were convicted of felonies for possessing small amounts of drugs, and 7,500 were imprisoned. On this episode of Talking Liberties, we are joined by a panel of experts and survivors to discuss why it is time to unwind the War on Drugs and install a public health approach to reducing the harms associated with drug use. We are joined by Lake County Sheriff John Idleberg, Elizabeth Cruz with the Women's Justice Institute, Alex Mathiesen with Live4Lali, and Dr. Juleigh Konchak with the Cook County Public Health Department. You can also learn more about HB 3447 and take action at aclu-il.org/en/legislation/reducing-barriers-to-recovery.
We are joined by ACLU of Illinois Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Khadine Bennett to talk through the initiatives we are advancing in Springfield in 2021, including ending qualified immunity, reforming drug sentencing and protecting personal privacy, among other issues.
Passionate about a public issue that affects you, your family, or friends? Looking to make your voice heard with the most impact? We have got you covered! This episode, we are joined by ACLU of Illinois Advocacy Associate Chelsea Diaz to talk through the 'how-to's' on the best ways to reach your state legislators, effective organizing in Springfield, how a bill becomes a law in Illinois, and more.
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU of Illinois recently collaborated on a report - "The Only People It Really Affects Are the People It Hurts: The Human Rights Impacts of Parental Notice of Abortion in Illinois” -which concluded that PNA is dangerous for youth in the state, violates their human rights, and threatens their health and safety. We speak with Margaret Wurth from Human Rights Watch and Davina DiPaolo from ACLU of Illinois to discuss the report and why Illinois state legislators need to act swiftly to repeal this harmful law.
For a century, the American Civil Liberties Union has fought to keep Americans in touch with the founding values of the Constitution. In this episode of Talking Liberties, we speak with Ellis Cose, the author who literally wrote the book on the subject - Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America, who takes us through the series of monumental events and decisions that forged the ACLU into the organization it is today.
As #TransgenderAwarenessWeek comes to a close, we sat down with ACLU of Illinois LGBTQ and HIV Project Director John Knight to look at the big picture regarding the fight for transgender rights here at home and across the country. We also discuss John's work representing Aimee Stephens, who was part of a landmark Supreme Court decision this year that clearly determined it discrimination under federal civil rights statutes to fire someone because they are transgender.
Got questions about voting in Illinois ahead of November 3rd? We've got answers! In this episode, we speak with Matt Dietrich, Public Information Officer at the Illinois State Board of Elections, and Michelle Hernandez, ACLU of Illinois Advocacy Associate, to discuss changes to election laws in 2020, early voting, voting by mail, voting in jails or with a record, and much more.
Transgender people are too often exposed to horrific abuse in prison, facing physical and sexual assault at much higher rates than other prisoners. And experts recognize that denying someone the health care they need for gender dysphoria causes transgender people serious and lasting harm. For this episode, we speak with Taylor Brown, staff attorney with ACLU National, about a new lawsuit filed on behalf of Cristina Nichole Iglesias, who has been denied critical medical care and routinely abused during her time housed in federal corrections facilities for men, as well as Ghirlandi Guidetti, staff attorney with the ACLU of Illinois, about our ongoing litigation to protect transgender people in prisons in Illinois.
The U.S. Postal Service is a pillar of our democracy - and it's currently under siege. Protecting our right to vote-by-mail will be essential this November, as millions of Americans from all 50 states use this option as the safest way to vote during the COVID-19 crisis. We are joined by U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who talks to us about questioning Postmaster General Louis DeJoy this week as a member of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and what we can do to protect the U.S. Post Office.
Americans are reimagining our fundamental notions about policing, especially in response to the continued killings of Black and Brown people by police officers. For too long, we have prioritized policing over other community resources. We speak with ACLU of Illinois Police Practices Staff Attorney Elizabeth Jordan about the steps we can take to reimagine how policing works and how we can continue to hold officers accountable for their actions.
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