As part of Curtis Memorial Library’s One Book, One Community program, ACLU of Maine Executive Director Alison Beyea gave a talk on threat to civil liberties in Maine and across the country, and how her organization works to protect those rights.

This was the final event in the One Book, One Community program, a series of community presentations and discussions surrounding the topics presented in “Writings on the Wall,” a book by retired NBA player and author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The library has held community conversations on each chapter of the book, tackling issues ranging from race to gender relation, and held a number of talks at the library on subjects such as immigration.

“In ‘Writings on the Wall,’ he discusses how the America of today is a fractured society, divided sharply along the lines of race, gender, religion, political party and economic class,” said Adult Services Manager Sarah Brown. “So our programming for the One Book, One Community series has focused around these various issues.”

While the current threats to civil liberties may seem unprecedented, noted Beyea, the institutional history of the ACLU should be encouraging.

“I think it’s important to recognise that for many of us, our country is facing a constitutional crisis that we have never seen,” said Beyea. “The challenges are at every level of government.

“But the good news is that, actually, the ACLU has gone through these challenges before,” she added.

According to Beyea, the ACLU has sued every president’s administration since 1920, and has challenged such gross civil liberties violations as the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans. And in the previous administration, the ACLU was one of the largest groups challenging the ongoing deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Still, many Americans strongly feel that their civil liberties are more strongly threatened under the current administration than in the past–and are likewise more engaged. One example of that is the ACLU of Maine’s membership levels, which have skyrocketed in the months following the election.

“The ACLU of Maine, before November 7 had 1,800 members. We now have 9,000,” said Beyea.

Over half of the attendees indicated that they were ACLU members.

“Our strategy can be sort of summarized as trying to expand and protect state rights, using our state constitution, our state courts, our state legislature, to protect people as much as we can,” said Beyea. “And then simultaneously, to forge a nationwide, national strategy where we challenge this administration at every level.”

Beyea pointed to LD 366, a bill sponsored this session by Rep. Larry Lockman, R-Amherst, which would have attempted to force municipalities to comply with ICE agents. Defeating that bill fell in line with the ACLU’s national strategy of fighting back against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, she noted.

Beyea also touched on reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and privacy issues. Ultimately, Beyea stressed education over legal action alone.

“We can win the lawsuit, but if we don’t educate and explain and talk to people about our values and our principles and why we believe them, then ultimately we are just going to have a situation where we are constantly battling back and forth,” she said.