The "ACLU on the Frontlines" kickoff event at Occidental College was a big success. 40 or 50 students, faculty, and community members heard ACLU-SoCal Executive Director Hector Villagra discuss Constitution Day (that day) and the important role the ACLU has played down the decades defending our Constitutional rights and freedoms.
Then Professor Thalia Gonzalez interviewed ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham about what it's like to be an ACLU attorney, what kind of causes he and his colleagues get to tackle, and especially about issues of immigrant detention that he has been working on.
Going forward, the plan is to create some kind of ACLU presence on Oxy's campus that would involve the surrounding communities in Northeast Los Angeles -- Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Mt. Washington, and beyond.
The students and faculty driving this effort need community activists to join them. Contact me at dick_and_sha...@laprogressive.com if you're interested in hearing more.
-- Dick Price
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