News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today issued a report calling on state and municipal leaders to examine policies, practices and procedures that lead to discriminatory treatment of black Rhode Islanders, from elementary school through adulthood. The ACLU report, titled “The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White,” offers a brief but systematic examination of racial disparities in Rhode Island, and how those interconnected disparities can lead to a lifetime of unequal treatment. The report, presented in a series of twelve charts, comes as the nation celebrates Black History Month, and grapples with recent events that have pushed racial disparity issues back into the forefront.

In response to a lawsuit filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, the Division of Motor Vehicles agreed to the entry of a court order today that will require the agency to first adopt regulations through a public process before using a new database designed to identify and possibly take action against uninsured drivers.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today urged the Westerly School Committee to reject a proposal that would require committee members to support all committee decisions, limit members’ ability to discuss committee matters in public and establish consequences for violating these restrictions.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island filed a lawsuit today against the Division of Motor Vehicles for implementing a database designed to identify uninsured motorists without first establishing any regulations to prevent the improper disclosure of drivers’ personal information, avoid mistaken registration revocations, or to otherwise ensure that the program is properly administered by the private out-of-state company contracted to run the program.

The ACLU of Rhode Island issued the following statement in response to news reports today that RIPTA has refused to provide any information about its use of security cameras to monitor Kennedy Plaza.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island expressed alarm today that, without any regulations governing the practice, the Providence Police Department has been videotaping peaceful demonstrations the past two years. Even more disturbingly, the videotaping has often focused on other people, including journalists, who are recording the events, rather than trying to document illegal activity, suggesting that the real purpose of the recordings is to intimidate protesters engaging in First Amendment-protected activity.

The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island issued the following statement in response to the Senate introduction of a bill that would make it a felony to “loiter” on a highway, causing a “distraction” or “delay” of motorists.

A number of community and advocacy organizations are calling on the Council of Elementary and Secondary Education to promptly overturn guidance issued by Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist that advises school districts they can use the PARCC exam as a high-stakes test graduation requirement as early as 2017, three years before the 2020 starting date the Council had originally proposed.