News & Commentary

Read the latest in our Spring 2021 newsletter! Read here as a PDF. 

Law enforcement should be held accountable when their officers abuse their authority to sexually assault the very people they are sworn to protect.

The second Monday of October is dedicated to celebrating the thriving culture and value of Indigenous people in the past, present, and future.  We honor the Bitterroot Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Kootenai, Blackfeet, Chippewa Cree, Little Shell Chippewa, Assiniboine, A’aninin, Fort Peck Dakota/Nakota/Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and other Tribal nations who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.   

Equal access to learning Native American heritage and culture in our education institutions is a racial justice issue — and we’re suing to make sure Montana follows through.

Helena, MT - Beginning in the summer of 2020, hundreds of Helena’s citizens protested the horrific killing of George Floyd and sought meaningful police reform measures in Helena. There was intense community debate regarding school resource officers (SROs) during July’s City Council meeting. Public comment yielded approximately 50% support for the current SRO model and 50% opposition to the current SRO model. Consequently, further discussion at the City Council level was deferred, and a working group was formed to evaluate the SRO issue and consider various perspectives.  

The ACLU of Montana is profoundly disturbed by the recent reports in Canada of unmarked mass gravesites at currently 6 of the 139 Indian boarding schools. Over 1,300 children and innumerable future generations were taken by the racist, genocidal settler-colonial project of Canada. Moreover, the Indigenous staff members of the ACLU of Montana remain resolute and express love and solidarity to the First Nations community members after the most recent revelation of 751 children buried at the site of the Marieval Indian Residential School in Cowessess Indian Reserve No. 73, Saskatchewan, Canada, and 182 children at the site of the St. Eugene’s Mission Residential School in Cranbrook, Canada.  

The ACLU of Montana is concerned about reports that Montana will not only renew its private prison contract with CoreCivic but will increase the number of people incarcerated at the Shelby facility by crowding more people into existing cells. 

Yesterday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen released an Attorney General’s Opinion (AGO) asserting that teaching critical race theory or principles of anti-racism in Montana public schools violates federal and state law. This inflammatory AGO does not and cannot change the fact that teaching Montana students about the essential role that racism has played in creating and perpetuating systemic inequality in our country is not only vitally important but legally permissible.  

The Montana Racial Equity Project (MTREP) and the ACLU of Montana have sent a letter to Rachel Harlow-Schalk, Helena City Manager, regarding serious concerns with the City of Helena’s School Resource Officer (SRO) MOU Working Group. This Working Group was formed after an intense community discussion regarding SROs during July’s City Council meeting. The original stated purpose of this group was to have a robust discussion surrounding the purpose and utility of having SROs in Helena school districts. However, no such discussion has taken place at these meetings.