By: Erin Howard, Hispanic Outreach and Services Coordinator for Bluegrass
Community and Technical College.
I was making paper flowers at the Fiesta Latina when a young lady approached
me.
"How do you do that?" she asked curiously. I explained, and then I
initiated another conversation with her, but this time in Spanish. She
looked up at me with big brown eyes like my own and said, "Can we just speak
in English? I don't like to speak in Spanish. I can't."
We continued our conversation in our native tongue. She asked me what I do
for a living, and I told her.
"I work with the Latino students; I help get them in college."
"I cannot go to college," she said in defeat. Standing before me, a bright
dream-filled Middle School student. Undocumented.
"I cannot go to college. That's what they tell me. I know I am different.
They say that I am undocumented. But I don't know what that means. Do you?"
We talked on. I learned that this young lady was brought to our country when
she was nine months old. I learned that she likes school and wants to be a
teacher.
Like this young lady, many immigrant children who fall into the nasty
category of being "illegal aliens" are products of circumstance. They were
led, carried or smuggled into this country by their parents. These children
find themselves in the middle of a national debate about their nationality,
and in most cases, if you asked the child if she is an American, she'd say
yes.
The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report summarizing the civil liberties and civil rights record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who was nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The report was prepared in accordance with ACLU policy, and will be made available to the public and members of the Senate. The ACLU does not endorse or oppose candidates for elective or appointive office. The full text of the report is online at: ACLU Report on SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor
Statewide work on LGBT rights continues to expand with the Fairness Coalition of allied organizations. The Coalition is a result of a summit convened in the Fall of 2008, to bring together organizations committed to working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Kentucky. The primary goal is comprehensive civil rights protections prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The summit assembled 50 delegates from 11 organizations throughout the state with broad representation across lines of gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and geography. Participants worked with an outside consultant to analyze the political landscape of the state, set goals for the coalition, and develop a shared mission and plan.
We realize that to accomplish our long-term goals and to increase the capacity of the individual organizations we must improve communication, share resources, and work together to strengthen and expand the base of support for LGBT equality.
This Letter to the Editor Appeared in the June 4th addition of The Courier Journal
We honor Dr. George Tiller's legacy of compassion and care throughout his life. Dr. Tiller devoted his life to ensuring that all women have access to comprehensive reproductive health including safe and legal abortion. As a highly qualified health care provider, his life's work was dedicated to helping women facing problem pregnancies and difficult decisions. Those of us who support quality health care for all women admire his dedication and courage. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to his family, friends, staff, and colleagues.
Sunday's murder of Dr. George Tiller serves as a shocking and tragic reminder of the risks health care professionals face providing legal reproductive services to women in our country today. Regardless of how one feels about the subject of abortion, we can all agree that women have a right to health care free from harassment and intimidation and that health care professionals have a right to provide services free from violence.
Dr. Tiller believed women deserved kindness, courtesy, justice, love and respect. He believed in the emotional and spiritual heart of each woman. Because of these beliefs he faced years of harassment and violence. He continued to serve women even after he was shot in 1993. He refused to cave into the relentless harassment and threats that he faced at his home, his clinic, and finally even his place of worship.
Dr. Tiller wore a button bearing his motto..."Attitude is everything." It is time for every person, no matter their political or ideological beliefs, to seek the common ground of kindness, courtesy, justice, love and respect.
Derek Selznick
Reproductive Freedom Project Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky
Judi Jennings
Executive Director, Kentucky Foundation for Women
Shirley Jones
President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Kentucky
The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (KCADP) is putting the death
penalty on trial in Kentucky and is inviting all Kentuckians to testify on video. As a active partner in the coalition, the ACLU of Kentucky is extending that invitation to our members. Become a witness by allowing KCADP to record your reasons for opposing the death penalty.
You can view several completed videos at www.YouTube.com/kcadp including the elegant prose of Wendell Berry who states “I don’t believe that mere humans have the mental or moral capacity to decide rightfully, let alone infallibly, that another human should be killed.”
Video participants include Sister Chris Beckett who served as the chaplain on
Eddyville's death row for many years. There is testimony from family members of murder victims and from the director of a social service agency who was present when her godchild asked the Governor to spare his father’s life.
Ultimately, the majority of Kentuckians that have an opinion on the death penalty are not individuals who have had direct experiences with capital punishment; it is everyday people like you and me. It is imperative that we get a critical mass of videos in order for them to be effective tools for lobbying and educational efforts.
Please consider allowing KCADP to "put you on the stand" by posting a short video detailing your personal reasons for opposing this ill-informed public policy. You can make your own video (under 3 minutes, please) and send it to KCADP for editing, or you can write to set up an appointment and we’ll shoot the video for you. Contact us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
to book your time slot today.
As of this month, 133 death row inmates have been exonerated in the last 30 years. Many of us understand the reasons why innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit, however some researchers theorize that a defendant in a capital case may be more likely to be wrongly convicted for several reasons.
Often the death penalty is a politicized subject that is frequently used in campaigns for elected officials like local judges. By sentencing more people to death they can be seen as, “tough on crime”.
Also there can also be increased pressure on law enforcement officials to solve homicides quickly because of the high emotions that surround these cases. This increased pressure can lead to misconduct or erroneous mistakes by the investigators. Additionally, an undue reliance upon evidence whose reliability is inherently suspect - such as suggestive eyewitness identifications, testimony of jailhouse informants and coerced confessions – also contribute to the wrongful convictions of innocent people while the actual criminals remain free.
Though 133 people have been exonerated and released from death row, it is impossible to know how many people have been executed who were also innocent because courts generally do not entertain claims of innocence after the defendant is dead. There are stories like Joseph O’Dell’s where new DNA evidence has thrown considerable doubt onto his murder and rape conviction. In fact, when reviewing his conviction, three Supreme Court justices said they had doubts about O’Dell’s guilt; without the blood evidence there was little linking him to the crime. O’Dell asked the state to conduct new DNA tests and they refused, he was executed in 1997.
Hear the story of a potentially innocent man currently on death row in the video below
