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#civilrights

128 posts75 participants1 post today

A lot of people don't really know what it means for a lawyer to take a case "pro bono". Pro bono, or free, legal representation happens in one of two circumstances: (1) the lawyer is employed by an organization like a nonprofit or a government agency, which has funds to pay the lawyer's salary even though their clients don't have to pay any legal costs, or (2) a private, for-profit attorney volunteers a small fraction of their time to take unpaid cases "on the side" of their paid ones - often these "on the side" cases are in a totally different area of law than the one they usually practice, and they need another attorney experienced in the appropriate area of law (often one employed by one of those public service orgs, through which the private attorney is volunteering) to mentor them and walk them through the case.

When government funding for pro bono legal aid is cut, both of those sources of legal representation for people who can't afford to pay steep legal fees go away. Lawyers can't work full time for no wages. Their salary has to come from somewhere, and if they do pro bono cases on the side as part-time volunteers, they generally need a funded, robust pro bono volunteering program through which to do that.

A ton of these kids who are going to get deported because they don't have lawyers qualify for legal US immigration programs. They meet the criteria to qualify to stay here. If they didn't, having a lawyer wouldn't do them any good anyway. But immigration cases are super complicated, and no one who isn't a lawyer has much chance of doing the process correctly.

"Earlier this month, the administration ended a contract that funded lawyers representing roughly 26,000 children — about 4,700 in California — as well as basic legal services. The contract provided funding for minors who crossed the border alone or with no legal custodian."

latimes.com/california/story/2

LOS ANGELES, CA JANUARY 31, 2019 --- Hundreds of immigrants lined-up outside US Immigration Court, Thursday morning after receiving Notices to Appear that have Jan. 31 written as an arbitrary filler date even though these folks haven’t actually been scheduled with the court. ICE has used arbitrary dates in the past. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times · 'Doomed': Many kids pulled into immigration court fend for themselvesBy Rachel Uranga

Today in Labor History March 31, 1966: There was a two-day boycott of Seattle schools protesting segregation. The protest was organized by the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organizers set up eight “Freedom Schools” to educate students who walked out of class. But they had to scramble to come up with dozens more because so many students honored the boycott. The “Freedom Schools” taught African American history and the history of the civil rights movement, among other things.

"The withdrawal is the latest tangible effect of recent court rulings that experts say make it difficult for coalitions to bring claims on behalf of groups of historically marginalized voters."

votebeat.org/texas/2025/03/27/

An aerial view of a wooden desk with a colorful map of Texas.
Votebeat · Voting-rights coalition quits challenge to Texas’ 2021 redistricting after court setbacksBy Natalia Contreras

One of the most surreal things about living through the opening phases of a fascist anti-trans pogrom, is getting people around me who aren't trans, and aren't paying close attention to what's going on, to understand that I'm speaking literally. Historically, when an authoritarian state legally denies that a dehumanized, targeted people even exist, it's because they intend to take steps to ensure that they don't. More to the point however, you don't have to be a history student to hear what GOP politicians and fascist propagandists are already saying out loud; they've openly talked about erasing trans people from public life, run Congressional campaigns on promises to make being transgender illegal, and we've even caught their think tank groups having strategy sessions with Republican lawmakers where they confess the end game is using attacks on trans youth to make gender affirming care illegal for everyone. I am not exaggerating or speaking metaphorically when I say the Trump regime ran on, and is enacting a trans eliminationist agenda; even if establishment liberals in the media and politics aren't talking about it because they don't care, don't believe the fascists are serious about doing a pogrom against trans people, or don't think standing up for the human rights of trans people is politically popular.

Given that the other option is dying in silence as the test case scenario for stripping the human rights of everyone else the regime doesn't like however, a lot of trans people are speaking out about what is going on here, and why even cis people who are currently unaffected by the fascist right's crusade to wipe out trans people need to take this seriously and fight back to protect trans lives. In that vein, I'd like to share this twenty-six minute discussion between The Bitchuation Room's Francesca Fiorentini and Imara Jones of TransLash Media that focuses on the GOP's current legislative assault on trans existence, how cis people are being played by the fascists to justify their own oppression further down the line, and why the attacks on trans rights and trans identities acts a skeleton key for a larger authoritarian agenda.

The Bitchuation Room: The Right Wants To Make Trans People Illegal

youtube.com/watch?v=LlRLBGGe1v

Trump & Musk’s actions speak louder than words.

❌ If you pardon violent insurrectionists, you support violence.

❌ If you don’t prosecute public corruption, you support corruption.

❌ If you oppose vaccines, you support the spread of disease.

❌ If you threaten lawyers & judges, you oppose the rule of law.

❌ If you threaten democratic allies, you support #authoritarianism.

❌ If you oppose #DEI, you oppose civil rights.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it would be nice if media minions on my TV would spend any time at all analyzing Trump's fascist ICE kidnapping spree as part of a larger plan, with an eye on what the regime is actually trying to accomplish here. Maybe American media outlets are spooked by living in a country where it's increasingly illegal to admit racism exists, but it's not like it's impossible to do the legwork; even for corporate media. Take for example this piece in the international edition of The Guardian, pointing out that it's almost certainly not an accident all of DHS's targets for fascist ideological policing and deportation are people of color, even though a majority of the folks participating in campus anti-genocide protests the regime is claiming represent a threat to our national security, were white folks born in America.

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

‘A warning for students of color’: Ice agents are targeting certain protesters, say experts

"Now, at least five students and academics of color at US universities have been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), as a part of the Trump administration’s ongoing push to punish noncitizens over their support of Palestine.

“What we’re seeing is the use of immigration law to go after visa holders, permanent lawful residents, [over] their speech,” said Samah Sisay, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). “He’s trying to suppress political speech that goes against what the administration wants.”

Despite white students, professors and academics also being heavily involved in pro-Palestine protests, people of color have disproportionately faced sudden arrests and threats of deportation or had their visas revoked.

“We’re just seeing the focus on very specific people,” said Sisay, referring to academics of color. “I think it really is to try to create a wedge in solidarity, the multiracial, multiethnic solidarity that’s been created in support of Palestinian human rights.” Ice’s actions, she said, have “set a warning for students of color at these universities who rely on scholarships and educational support to improve their lives or better the situations for their family.”

So look, maybe you don't need to be a genius to figure out why an openly white nationalist, Islamophobic, and deeply xenophobic Trump administration is starting its attempts to criminalize protest and dissent, with non-white academics, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslim. These guys are fucking nazis, and that's the kinda shit nazis do; although I'll be honest with you, the next time I see a corporate media outlet explain the actions of the Pork Reich by directly saying "well they're fascists, obviously" it'll probably be the first.

The truth however, is that Stephen Miller, who is definitely running Trump's immigration policies and his fascist war to crush dissent, is the kinda crudely cunning fascist who absolutely "uses the whole cow." Sure the regime is stacked to the brim with raving white nationalists, but they're also clearly working to break the solidarity of the anti-genocide protest movement, while simultaneously targeting people Americans have already been taught to hate in order to shift the Overton Window far enough towards fascism to allow them to start black bagging and imprisoning *anyone* of *any* immigration status, who opposes the regime. It is irresponsible to simply repeat regime propaganda to justify illegally disappearing protestors, without helping your audience put these events in a larger context that would explain why it's important for all of us to oppose Trump's fascist repression of people many Americans don't care about and have been taught to dislike, if they don't want the regime's next assault on civil rights to strike closer to home.

The Guardian · ‘A warning for students of color’: Ice agents are targeting certain protesters, say expertsBy Gloria Oladipo
#Fascism#ICE#DHS

All Africa – Max Roach

amf.didiermary.fr/rss-club/all

The last two tracks of Max Roach’s "Freedom Now Suite" have a different flavour.

“All Africa” is a percussion/voice song in which African and/or Afro-Cuban rhythms (played by Babatunde Olatunji on congas, and, for the second part of the track, by Raymond Mantillo and Tomas du Vall) respond to Abbey Lincoln’s singing. […]

African Music ForumAll Africa - Max Roach - African Music ForumAll Africa - Max Roach - a percussion/voice song in which African and/or Afro-Cuban rhythms respond to Abbey Lincoln's singing.