This is partly a plug for the annual ACLU of Massachusetts Bill of Rights Dinner next Thursday, May 28th — but our speakers, and the issues they have worked on, are in the news.
With the debate over Guantanamo going on in Washington, we’re giving our annual Roger Baldwin Award to Capt. James Yee, the Muslim former U.S. Army Chaplain at Gitmo. While he was ministering to prisoners, the government arrested and imprisoned Yee in a Naval brig for 76 days, falsely accusing him of spying, espionage, and aiding prisoners. They held him in solitary confinement and subjected Yee to the same sensory deprivation techniques that were being used against the prisoners in Cuba to whom he had been ministering — but after months of investigation, the government dropped all charges and reinstated him.
Also, today’s Boston Banner carries an interview by Talia Whyte with “vigilante pundit” and Onion editor Baratunde Thurston, who will also speak at the dinner.
Dinner details here. The Roger Baldwin Award is named for the Massachusetts-native founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.
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