Restoring civil rights and protecting marginalized communities

1. Restoring civil rights and protecting marginalized communities June 22, 2012 Anna Bartlett, UUSC Civil Liberties Assoc. Shahid Buttar, BORDC Executive Director Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

2. “A small group of people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” - Margaret Mead Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

3. Civil Liberties at UUSC • Youth activists in the Middle East and North Africa • Support for torture survivors and US accountability for torture • Racial and religious profiling in the US Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

4. Racial and Religious Profiling Building Bridges for Civil Liberties: UUSC brings together Unitarian Universalists with local Muslim communities to learnabout the civil-liberties violations facing Muslims in the United States and develop strategies to address these injustices. Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

5. Racial and Religious Profiling Restoring rights at the local level - UUSC supports BORDC to mobilize diverse communities to restore and implement local legislative protections through the Local Civil Rights Restoration Platform Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

6. Bill of Rights Defense Committee • Worked with UUSC on 3 Building Bridges workshops • Official UUSC partner since November 2011 • Focused support on the Local Civil Rights Restoration (LCRR) campaign Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

7. BORDC’s Organizing Approach BORDC brings together groups that haven’t worked together: civil libertarians alongside civil rights groups: • Cohesive campaigns functionally addressing several formally distinct issues at once… • …uniting diverse communities around specific goals Benefits • List-building: allies include chapters of ACLU, NAACP, CAIR, ACCESS, NYU’s Brennan Center, and others • Public education - even within coalitions • Media tractions: local campaigns have forced media coverage of the underlying issues Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

8. Local Civil Rights Restoration Campaigns Legislative limits on law enforcement agencies: • Profiling according to race, religion, national origin, or political affiliation • Local immigration enforcement (Arizona’s SB-1070, S-Comm) • Government spying (Fusion centers + JTTFs +SAR) Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

9. Local Campaigns: Allies • Shared goals create a vehicle for broad coalitions that can: • Bring new voices to the debate • Create political space • Shift the landscape Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

10. Local Campaigns: Process • 1-3 months • BORDC identifies a local partner • BORDC recruits local allies to expand coalition • 4-6 months • Craft a jurisdiction-specific vehicle (e.g., letter, petition, event) to engage allies and local officials • Public education campaign (e.g., public events, education, mobilization, media outreach, op-eds) • 6-9 months • Legislative outreach Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

11. National Snapshot • Simmering boil on LCRR campaign • Local victories in Hartford, CT and San Francisco, CA • Recent votes in Amherst, MA and Berkeley, CA • Continuing activity in 20 other sites • New campaigns in Chicago, Charlotte, Cambridge Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands

12. Getting involved • What you can do: • Outreach to potential allies and report back - get the word out about the campaign • Sponsor/attend ally events and forums - support campaign allies • Organize educational forums at your congregation - take the initiative Advancing Human Rights is the Work of Many Joining Hands