Street roots., January 22, 2016, Page 4, Image 4

Street Roots • Jan. 22-28, 2016
News
Page 4
"Once the government has the power to vio late one person's rig h ts -
o r a gronp of people's rig h ts — it can nse that power against any ©I ns,"
Fear and prejudice
Rogers also sounds the alarm on
p en d in g ballot measures, digital
privacy a n d crim inal justice.
These are the greatest threats to our
civil liberties, says David Rogers,
director o f the A C L U o f Oregon.
BY EMILY GREEN
A
J*
M
STAFF W RITER
s a child, watching the “CBS
Evening News” was routine for David
Rogers.
Each night, his family gathered around
a television set in their Hartford,
Conn., home, engaged in lively
debates sparked by the words of
Walter Cronkite.
Rogers remembers that by age
5, he was already “politicized.”
Growing up in an interracial
home in the 1970s, he was well
aware of discrimination from a
young age, he said, but he also
watched as his family fought for
social justice. His parents met
through community activism,
and his grandfather diligently
pushed for the first African-
American studies program at
University of Hartford.
Now, at 45, Rogers is
_____
executive director of the
JjMd
American Civil Liberties Union
of Oregon. And, in line with
family tradition, he’s been
Wj§
fighting the “good fight” for
decades.
In 1998, he moved to Portland to work
with the Western States Center, and later
he headed Partnership for Safety and
Justice.
Now he’s six months into his position at
the helm of one of the most recognized
social justice organizations in the state -
and he’s energized.
“I want to be working for an organization
that has people’s backs,” he said.
From its work to educate and organize
communities around important issues to its
ability to strategically push legislation and
file lawsuits, he said the ACLU of Oregon
has a capacity few other state organizations
posses.
Whether you’re being discriminated
against because of your race or sexual
orientation or you’re concerned about
government oversight or invasion of privacy,
“ACLU,” he said, “has your back.”
■
E m ily Green: What is the single greatest
threat to Oregonians’ civil liberties today?
David Rogers: It’s difficult to choose a
single threat, but I would say it’s the
combination of intolerance, prejudice,
F
.^ijl_
(Note: The militants at the Malheur
Wildlife Refuge say they are protesting
the treatment of Dwight Hammond and
his son, Steven Hammond, who were
convicted on charges of arson in 2012 for
unlawfully setting multiple fires
on federal land. The
( • -.......... Hammonds each
received a five-year
■
•mandatory
minimum
sentence under
federal
domestic anti­
terrorism
laws.) .
' 7 Ultimately,
fear and 7
prejudice
advance
policies and a
climate that
hurts us all. It may
take a little longer to
. W' ’
come around for some
t 4
though.
w
xenophobia
and fear of
the other - of
people who have different backgrounds,
different races, religions and sexual
orientations.
These thoughts and feelings are being
tapped and exploited by politicians and
pundits to move regressive policies. Fear
and prejudice are driving a wedge between
communities in the U.S. and creating an
environment that is incredibly detrimental
to advancing and protecting a range of civil
liberties and rights.
We need to remember that once the
government has the power to violate one
person’s rights - or a group of people’s
rights - it can use that power against any of
us. For example, we saw the development
of terribly unjust mandatory minimum
sentencing schemes in the 1980s and ’90s
that were primarily a tool to target urban
communities of color. But now we have
white, rural ranchers who are making the
national news - whatever you may think of
them - over how they are being impacted
by mandatory minimum sentencing
enhancements.
E.G.: What are Oregonians’
privacy rights like today, compared
with 15 years ago, and what privacy
protection will you fight hardest for over the
next two years?
D.R.: We are living in a unique time.
Technology is changing so quickly, and our
laws and policies are very much behind the
pace of technological advancements. At the
ACLU, we believe that technology may
change but our rights shouldn’t.
Digital privacy is a serious concern of
ours. There is now an immense ability for
corporations and the government to
accumulate, aggregate and access
information about virtually all aspects of our
lives. In the age of social media, we may not
be living super-secret lives, but that doesn’t
mean innocent people should be monitored
or tracked by the government. Now, data
about our medical, social, political, financial,
legal and family lives can be pulled together
by government that wants to control us,
businesses that want to make money off us,
and others who want to exploit it.
The 9/11 attacks provided the federal
government the opportunity to expand the
surveillance and police powers and did away
with many of the checks and balances that
See ROGERS, page 5