A time of great challenge — and opportunity
By Deborah Richardson
To our cherished supporters,
To say that these last several months have presented us with enormous challenges is a profound understatement. Every day we see yet another threat to our democracy, our rule of law, and the rights that so many fought so hard to win.
We have witnessed violent immigration enforcement actions, where masked agents go door to door asking who is a citizen and who is not. Agents threw flash bangs into peoples’ homes and separated families. DOGE is tearing through federal agencies and threatening critical programs and services. Local bad actors echo the anti-trans policies of the Trump administration and advance discriminatory policies. We have relearned the meaning of a word we thought was reserved for authoritarian states and dystopian fiction: disappeared.
However, it is also a time of profound hope and triumph. The ACLU of Colorado had an extraordinary legislative session, where we successfully passed critical protections for Colorado voters, immigrants, students in K-12 schools, and pushed back against an expansion of the state’s juvenile justice system.
Most recently:
- We have thrown wrenches in the Trump administration’s mass deportation machine by stopping the use of the Alien Enemies Act in Colorado and prevented the deportation of more people to a Salvadoran mega-prison
- Mobilized hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and supporters to urge their elected officials to protect the rights of their constituents, including protecting Medicaid and rejecting expansions of for-profit surveillance technologies like Flock.
As I approach my retirement, the Board of Directors has a succession plan and is collaborating with ACLU national in the search for the next Executive Director. Know that the passion and expertise of our staff remains steadfast. Most importantly, we thank you for your steadfast support as a donor, card-carrying member, and as a member of our beloved community.
I assure you that we will always stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable and hold the line, while we thread the needle of social justice. Those that do not believe change is possible, need only to look at the track record of the ACLU of Colorado. Our collective mission is clearer in the dark, as it is easier to see the light guiding us.
Onward,
Deborah Richardson