Wall of Separation: ACLU on Religion Issues

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of the organizations that comes to mind immediately when one is talking about First Amendment issues.

Here's a link to their Washington state chapter webpage on Religious Issues:
http://www.aclu-wa.org/issues/religion

Take a minute to browse it and share your thoughts in the comments here. Do you think the work of the organization serves a useful purpose? Why/why not?

Class Three: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Organizations That Promote Racial Equality

When I began to write this post, I was talking with my beloved husband. He reminded me of a public service announcement from the seventies. It memorably conveyed the notion of wasted opportunities to cure disease and make peace because of racial prejudice. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I hereby present the 1972 ad from the United Negro College Fund.



Even if you'd never seen that particular ad before, you probably remember the slogan "A Mind is a Terrible Thing To Waste." It summarizes the concept beautifully, I think. UNCF did other commercials on that same theme. You can watch a few of them here, here, and here. Some of their recent ads are on their site here. The Ad Council talks about the campaign here.

Do you think one is more effective or moving than others? Why?

Slight diversion:
There's a great article in Columbia Journalism Review about how Dan Quayle mangled the slogan. For some weird reason, I can't get a direct URL or find it on their site, but I was able to call up the cached version here. It's worth your time. Written in 1991 by William Boot, (the pen name of Christopher Hanson, Washington correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) the article explains:

When he addressed the United Negro College Fund, whose slogan is "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," Quayle said: ". . . you take the United Negro college fund model that what a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is." The New York Times (June 25, 1989) and at least forty other publications picked up that remark.

Quayle's mangled speech has haunted him for decades. There's even a book entitled What a Waste It Is to Lose One's Mind: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Dan Quayle.

But I digress. The topic of politicians who verbally stumble could be an entire course.

UNCF is one organization that's sought to overcome the harmful effects of racial prejudice. Another is NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The ACLU has its own Racial Justice Program. A google search for the term racial justice groups yields 3,190,000 results.

What racial justice groups have you encountered? Are they effective? Are their efforts still needed today?

Class One - February 23: History Repeats Itself - Civil Liberty Violations

Slate Magazine had an interesting article a couple of years ago, The Bill of Wrongs, The 10 Most Outrageous Civil Liberties Violations of 2006. I doubt it will surprise you to know that Guantanamo Bay makes the list.

At the BBC News site, there's a video clip of an interview with a former guard about conditions at Guantanamo. The young man, Chris Arendt, has some pretty shocking things to say about the treatment of detainees. The Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas provides the text of his testimony at the Winter Soldier Hearings in 2008.

When we discussed the internments during WWII, I asked if anyone thought the actions of the government were justifiable. No one responded initially, but as we talked more, one of you made the excellent point that whilst not "justifiable," it was understandable. That fear makes us do and accept things which normally we would find abhorrent to our system of beliefs.

Someone else opined that such things could not happen in present times, that we have moved forward and respect and protect civil liberties. What do YOU think?

The American Civil Liberties Union is an interesting site to visit if you're wondering what's going on these days. Their banner reads "Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself."