Indigenous Peoples’ Day to Decolonization Day: Solidarity with Indigenous Nations and Peoples 

From our offices on Lenape territory in lower Manhattan, we stand in solidarity with Indigenous Nations and Peoples around the world, who continue to fight to protect their rights, lands, and lifeways against colonialism and racism. Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island have survived and resisted more than 500 years of colonial violence and occupation of their land. 

Colonization of Indigenous lands continues with the destruction of Earth for corporate profits, enforced by police and military forces of the U.S. and other settler governments. 

Today, and every day, we continue to fight alongside Indigenous Peoples as they assert their sovereignty, and maintain their fights for self-determination, upholding treaties, land back, and a world where all live in right relationship with Earth. 

Defending Earth collectively, for future generations, is all of our responsibility. 

Read our full statement on our website here. 

Artwork by Gilda Posada entitled, Resisting Colonizer Laws, view the piece on the Just Seeds website. The artist's Instagram account is @gildaposada

Civil rights groups demand Atlanta officials cease and desist publication of unredacted signed Cop City referendum petitions 

Last week we joined with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Southern Center for Human Rights to send a letter to Atlanta Municipal and Law Department officials demanding that they cease and desist the publication of signed referendum petitions with unredacted names, signatures, and other personal information on the Atlanta City Council website. The petitions were submitted by the Cop City Vote coalition, which collected over 116,000 signatures from Atlanta voters calling for a citywide referendum on the highly unpopular proposed police training facility.

The City of Atlanta has subjected the signatories and those who collected signatures to potentially imminent, irreparable harm, as publication of this information raises concerns of possible retaliation for the exercise of their First Amendment rights to express support for a referendum on Cop City. The publication of the unredacted petitions conflicts with the directions of the Atlanta City Council.

Read the full letter on our website here. You can learn more about our work supporting the movement to stop Cop City on our resource page. 

October 16: Conversation with Executive Director Vince Warren at Drew University 

Our Executive Director, Vince Warren, will be presenting a major talk on Monday, October 16, at Drew University. Vince will discuss lawyering through social movements as a methodology for change. The talk will address important contemporary topics, such as race, policing, international advocacy, and immigration issues. 

Date: Monday, October 16, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Location: Learning Center 28
36 Madison Avenue 
Madison, New Jersey

Vince is a leading expert on racial injustice and discriminatory policing. He oversees our organization's groundbreaking litigation and advocacy work, using international and domestic law to challenge human rights abuses, including racial, gender and LGBTQIA+ injustice. Under Vince’s leadership, we successfully challenged the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy and profiling of Muslims, ended long-term solitary confinement in California’s Pelican Bay Prison, and established the persecution of LGBTQIA+ people as a crime against humanity. 

To register for the event and to view more details, click on Drew University’s event page here.

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights national conference “Seize the Moment,” Oct. 27 - 29 

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) national conference, Seize the Moment, will take place from Friday, October 27 - Sunday, October 29 in Houston, Texas. This powerful and timely conference will feature 45 workshops and gatherings. Keynote speakers include U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib and Professor Marc Lamont Hill. 

Our senior staff attorney Diala Shamas will be speaking on two plenary sessions. The Resisting Lawfare plenary will look at our success in defending USCPR against a meritless case from the Jewish National Fund. The lawsuit will be situated in the broader set of attacks meant to silence work for Palestinian human rights, and specifically the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

Diala will also speak on the Not on our Dime! plenary, discussing proposed legislation aimed toward shutting down the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from nonprofits in New York State to settler organizations that commit violent and illegal acts against Palestinian people. 

You can learn more and register at the conference website here.

UN “George Floyd mechanism” includes recommendation for U.S. to eliminate death-by-incarceration sentences 

Earlier this year, we joined with movement partners to submit briefing papers to the UN Expert Mechanism mandated to advance racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement (EMLER, also known as the “George Floyd mechanism”). The first submission was developed with Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and discussed racism in law enforcement as a legacy of slavery. The second submission was written with a coalition working to end death by incarceration, also known as life imprisonment. Recently, the EMLER released its report, which is grounded in an analysis of systemic racism as a legacy of slavery, a key framing put forward in our report with M4BL. You can find the report through the EMLER website here. We are glad to see a recommendation for the U.S. to eliminate death-by incarceration sentences. From the report: 

“The Mechanism would like to emphasize that disproportionate, excessive and discriminatory sentencing beyond life expectancy is a cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, in violation of international human rights standards protecting life, liberty and against torture. All prison sentences in the United States should include parole eligibility within a reasonable number of years, and always below life expectancy.”

Next week, we will travel to Geneva to participate in the review of the U.S.’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). We will continue to advocate for the end of death by incarceration, among other critical issues. Follow our social media next week and learn more about the ICCPR work on our resource page.

We’re hiring! Justice Fellows for September 2024 through September 2026 

Our Justice Fellowship is a two-year program for emerging lawyers (0-2 years out of law school) who are interested in gaining practical experience working on cutting-edge social justice litigation and a theoretical understanding of how legal advocacy can create social change. 

The 2024 Justice Fellows will have an opportunity to work on a broad range of cases, issues and projects challenging oppressive and intersecting systems of power. We are excited that one of the Justice Fellows will be based in the South, working with our Southern Justice Rising team, helping to strengthen, support, and build the power of southern regional movements. For additional information, including salary range and benefits, see the job posting on our website.

Qualified candidates should submit an online application. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, and strong consideration will be given to early applications. The deadline for submission is October 20, 2023.