Friend –

As we near the end of a year that has been unlike any other, please join us (virtually) to reflect on both the challenges and the victories of 2020 at our Annual Bill of Rights Day event.

This event will begin with a short program followed by rotating breakout sessions that will give you a chance to learn from ACLU staff about what’s next for our organizing and advocacy work and how you can get involved in moving forward a justice and civil liberties agenda in 2021.

We will be honoring two leaders of our movements for their work to advance justice:

• Taina Vargas-Edmond, co-founder and executive director of Initiate Justice, will be honored with the Chief Justice Earl Warren Award in recognition of her work to activate the political power of people directly impacted by mass incarceration, and for her leadership of the winning campaign to pass Proposition 17, which restored voting rights to people who have completed their prison sentences.
• Melissa Hernandez, leader of the ACLU of Northern California’s San Francisco Chapter, will be honored with the Lola Hanzel Courageous Advocacy Award in recognition of her leadership in the No New SF Jails Coalition, her advocacy to close County Jail 4, and her commitment to bring new leaders into the ACLU.

Despite the impacts of a global pandemic that disproportionately impacts low-income communities, essential workers, communities of color, and those who are detained or incarcerated, our democracy persists.

In a year our democracy needed it most, California voters turned out in record-breaking numbers, sending a powerful message to a presidential administration that has failed us and actively harmed our communities. Californians stood up for justice by restoring voting rights to 50,000 people who have completed their prison sentences and returned home. And we came together to rebuke the powerful law enforcement lobby that tried to return us to the draconian incarceration policies of the past.

I’m grateful to each of you – ACLU’s volunteers, activists, and supporters – for the role you played in helping to make progress in a challenging year.

Please join us on Thursday, December 17, at 5:30 p.m. for our Annual Bill of Rights Day to reflect, regroup, and get motivated for the year ahead.

With gratitude,

Ashley Morris
Organizing Director, ACLU of Northern California