News & Commentary

Get to know ACLU of WV Community Outreach Coordinator, Mollie Kennedy. We recently sat down with Mollie to learn more about her background and why she decided to join team #ACLUWV. Below is our Q and A.

Early in the morning of May 6, 2016, Weirton Police Officer Stephen Mader responded to a domestic dispute call. When he arrived on the scene, he encountered R.J. Williams, a young African American man. When Officer Mader asked Mr. Williams to show his hands, Mr. Williams revealed that he was holding a gun. As Mr. Williams began waiving his gun around, Officer Mader ordered him to drop his weapon. Mr. Williams ignored Officer Mader’s demand and repeatedly responded, “Just shoot me.”

The First Amendment guarantees a free press. The United States’ second president, John Adams, said, “the liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.” Even Thomas Jefferson, who had a quarrelsome relationship with the press said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press.”

Hunting is deeply ingrained in the culture of West Virginia. It’s a tradition passed down from generation to generation across Appalachia. Indeed, the WV Constitution has a provision that guarantees people’s right to keep and bear arms for “lawful hunting and recreational use.”

In a historic vote, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 386, which provides for the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

Last Monday, at a public hearing with the House Judiciary Committee, people gathered to share their stories and voice their opposition to House Bill 2002, which infringed upon young women’s right to terminate a pregnancy without parental involvement. Private citizens joined ACLU-WV and other civil liberties organizations like WV FREE and WV Citizen Action Group in addressing members of the committee.

If you talk to the backers of House Bill 2002, the latest in the never-ending stream of attacks on reproductive rights, you’ll likely hear a lot about all the ways in which the bill protects vulnerable young women. In fact, that is the opposite of the bill’s intention.

Something smells fishy under the WV Capitol dome. There has recently been some unusual activity surrounding a Voter ID Law that was enacted last year. Any time the legislature or Secretary of State even mentions changing voting rules, we will be extremely skeptical and watch them like a hawk.

The West Virginia legislature starts its 2017 session today. ACLU-WV will be your watchdog at the Capitol working every day to protect and expand civil liberties for all West Virginians. As the last few years have shown, we will need to stand together and make our voices heard if we are going to stop the coming assault on our rights. The election of Donald Trump has only emboldened those who seek to strip our hard-fought civil rights. We will need you more than ever this year.