E-News Nassau

The NYCLU ENDORSES...

...your right to vote.

Okay, this is a trick headline. The Civil Liberties Union doesn't endorse candidates, but we do endorse getting out to the polls and making our voices heard. So remember to exercise this right and vote in the primaries, Tuesday, February 5th.

Banned Books Coming to the Hewlett-Woodmere Library

All those nasty books that have been banned from the shelves of public and/or school libraries - including such "appalling" literature as The Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and yes, even Harry Potter - are featured in a very lively censorship exhibit on display the Hewlett-Woodmere Library all February.

The traveling exhibit, "Censorship in Public Libraries and Schools," covers the history of attempts to ban books in libraries and schools, and highlights incidents of censorship that have occurred nationally during the last 150 years.

If you'd like the open some eyes in your neighborhood to many of the most ridiculous attempts to deter freedom of speech, The Nassau Chapter can offer this traveling exhibit to any public library in your area. Call us at 516-741-8520.

Keeping America Safe from 5-Year-Olds

Denis Rivera, age 5, who suffers from speech problems, asthma and attention deficit disorder, threw a temper tantrum in his kindergarten class at Public School 81 in Queens, according to reports in the Daily News. Rather than calling the boy?s parents, a school safety agent handcuffed the boy's hands behind his back as if he were a criminal. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, says the incident illustrates the severity of what can happen when discipline is pulled from the hands of educators and taken over by the NYPD.

"Once upon a time it would have been unthinkable to imagine a five-year-old in handcuffs, but since school discipline has been turned over to the NYPD behavior problems have turned into criminal matters, and youth of color and children with disabilities are paying the price."

Since taking control of school safety in 1998, the NYPD has assigned more than 5,000 school safety agents and at least 200 armed police officers to the city?s public schools, making the school safety division the fifth largest police force in the country.

Hempstead Forum to Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws

10 AM, Saturday March 8th
Union Baptist Church, 24 Clinton C. Boone Place off of South Franklin
For information, contact Caitlin Dunklee, Drop the Rock Coordinator, 212 254-5700 ext. 339 or cdunklee@correctionalassociatio n.org