North Carolina ACLU rings in 50 years of local activism

When weighing the ethics of requiring their police to wear body cameras this past spring, the town of Carrboro got help from attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

That’s just the most recent chapter in the long relationship Carrboro and Chapel Hill have with the ACLU of North Carolina.

The partnership began in 1965 with a Chapel Hill board meeting. Community members gathered to protest the state’s ban on radical speakers on state-supported campuses, including UNC.

“The roots of the organization run really deep here,” said Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, who has served as president of the organization’s board of directors.

This year, the ACLU of North Carolina is celebrating its 50th year of legal and educational work with a series of exhibits around the state. Exhibits have already taken place in Greensboro, Charlotte and Wilmington.

This weekend, the celebration is coming to Chapel Hill with a series of 10 programs at the Chapel Hill Public Library that will continue through the end of November.

Two of the programs, including the opening reception Sunday night, focus on the organization’s overall history and mission. The other eight will focus on each of the eight specific civil liberties issues that the ACLU addresses, which include free speech, racial justice and religious liberty.

“Chapel Hill has often been a center of support,” said Mike Meno, spokesman for the ACLU of North Carolina.

Meno said the programs are intended to inform people about the ACLU’s work in the state throughout history, as well as how these issues are still relevant today.

“No fight for civil liberties ever stays won,” Meno said, quoting the national ACLU founder Roger Baldwin. “That’s why ACLU continues to work at the front lines of these issues 50 years later.”

Kleinschmidt said he looks forward to participating in Monday night’s event on LGBT equality, where he and Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle will interview each other about their experiences.

Lavelle said she hopes the event will help people dig deeper into the issue.

“I hope that they recognize that we still have a lot of work to do,” she said.

Even if they don’t attend the programs, anyone who walks through the library’s doors can learn more about the ACLU of North Carolina through the museum-style exhibit. Panels with information about the ACLU’s history and the issues they deal with will be on display through the fall.

Chapel Hill Public Library Director Susan Brown said she is excited to host the event. 

“We really see ourselves as an educational institution, so we hope that people learn something,” Brown said.

Kleinschmidt said he hopes there will be a conversation about Chapel Hill’s progress through the years.

“Our community hasn’t always been what people think it is,” he said. “I hope that they will appreciate the work the ACLU has done.”

@rachel_herzog

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