Civil Rights
“The greatness of the United States of America has always been defined by its ability to overcome those societal practices that have deviated from our founding principles. So – like those most patriotic Americans did some six decades past – let us seize the moment before us. Let us make our nation even greater than it is today. Let us work, just as those we honor tonight once did, in common cause. Let us come together once again – with open hearts and outstretched hands – to keep faith in the ideals that have made our nation not only powerful but good. And let us renew our commitment to the ongoing struggle for opportunity and justice for all.” -- Attorney General Eric Holder at the Brown Foundation’s 57th Anniversary Commemoration of Brown v. Board of Education, May 17, 2011
U.S. Attorneys Take On Bullying in Comprehensive Civil Rights and Crime Strategies
by Steven M. Dettelbach U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and Chair of the Civil Rights Subcommittee of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee
U.S. Attorneys are uniquely situated to help solve this problem. Our jurisdiction crosses geographical boundaries, encompassing scores of school districts. We deal, on a daily basis, with crimes of violence, of civil rights violations, of people being targeted because of their race, religion or sexual orientation – often underlying factors in bullying incidents. We also have the power to convene federal partners, community leaders, law enforcement officials, educators, and other stakeholders to take a big-picture approach to the problem. Indeed, how can we not dive headlong into the effort to stop bullying, if, as Attorney General Holder admonished us last year: “Federal prosecutors should see themselves as community problem solvers, not case processors.” Violence begets violence, and violence at school is especially odious as it also prevents children from getting the education they need to live their dreams. “We have seen that harassment and bullying can lead to violence in schools,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said. “We hope that education and prevention will result in schools where all of our children feel safe to learn.”
Useful Links
Hate Crimes
Unique Approaches for a Unique Type of Crime: Prosecuting Hate Crimes
by Benjamin B. Wagner
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California
Crimes motivated by hatred, whether directed at the victim because of that person’s actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, can have a disproportionate impact on communities and pose unique challenges for investigators and prosecutors. Understanding those challenges is critical to effectively preventing and prosecuting hate crimes.
Achievements in Courtrooms Nationwide
Useful Links
- Attorney General Eric Holder’s Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee on “The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009”
- FBI - Hate Crimes
Disability Rights
The Hotels Initiative in the Southern District of New York
by Preet Bharara
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Times Square is often called the crossroads of the world. Millions of people pass through Times Square every year, yet people with disabilities are not always able to enjoy the theater, dining, and accommodations that Times Square offers. To ensure that people with disabilities are able to take advantage of the unique cultural experience of visiting New York City, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York developed its Hotels Initiative in 2005.
Achievements in Courtrooms Nationwide
Useful Links
Human Trafficking
Building Bridges to Combat Human Trafficking in the Northern District of Georgia
by Sally Quillian Yates
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
Human trafficking crimes painfully remind us that modern-day slavery is occurring in communities all across our country. Walking through shopping malls, community parks, or business centers, we see citizens and foreign residents enjoying the liberties and freedoms that our country has fought so arduously to preserve. Indeed, it is this background of continuous civil rights progress that makes the discovery of human trafficking networks so shocking and compelling. In our own neighborhoods, criminals traffic in human beings who are abducted or coerced to leave their homes abroad–or even their homes here in the United States–and quickly discover that their captors’ plans are to force them into servitude through brute force and intimidation.
Achievements in Courtrooms Nationwide
Useful Links
- DOJ Human Trafficking Initiative
- FBI - Human Trafficking
- Northern District of Georgia’s Human Trafficking Summit
Fair Housing
Combating Sexual Harassment in Housing
by Barbara L. McQuade
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
Choosing where to live is among the most important decisions we make. The location of our homes influences our access to schools, transportation, jobs, and public safety. That’s why enforcing the Fair Housing Act is so vitally important. The Fair Housing Act guarantees that we cannot be denied housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability. Landlords or property owners may not refuse to rent apartments or sell homes to individuals on these bases.
Achievements in Courtrooms Nationwide
Useful Links
- Private Fair Housing Organizations
- Fair Housing Assistance Program Agencies
- HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
Employment
Veterans Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act: Helping an Unlikely Vulnerable Class of Citizens Receive Justice
by Dwight C. Holton,
U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon
U.S. Attorneys can play a central role in bringing justice for veterans who have been deployed overseas in the armed services, only to return home to find their previous employers will not rehire them, or to find newly gained discrimination because of a physical or mental disability sustained as a result of their service. By participating in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) enforcement program, which is led by the Department’s Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorneys are making a difference for veterans and sending a strong message to employers that veterans will be protected in their communities.
Useful Links
- Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
- U.S. Office of Special Counsel on USERRA
- DOJ Information for Servicemembers
- National Archives: The Civil Rights Act of 1964
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Law Enforcement Violations
Danziger: What it Should Mean Going Forward
by Jim Letten
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana
The word “Danziger” has, over the past two years, insidiously begun to creep into our lexicon through routine national news accounts of the cruel and shameful post-Katrina event which exposed an American police department’s institutional failings and the moral bankruptcy and unrestrained rage of a small but frightening segment of its people. Hopefully, it now stands for far more than those abject failures. For now, following the August 5th conviction by a federal jury of five officers on all 25 criminal counts–including the killing of two, the serious wounding of four, and the false imprisonment of another two innocent, unarmed citizens in what can only be described as a police rampage–“Danziger” is both symbolic and evocative of this United States Department of Justice’s absolute and unswerving commitment to protect the health, safety, and sacred Constitutional rights of all–and especially our most vulnerable–citizens.
Useful Links
Northern District of Illinois — December 7, 2011 Convicted Felon Sentenced for Sex Trafficking of a Minor
Northern District of Georgia — December 5, 2011 Columbia, Tennessee Men Sentenced in Federal Court for Human Trafficking Conspiracy
Middle District of Tennessee — December 5, 2011 Former Denver Man Sentenced for Sex Trafficking of a Child and Aiding and Abetting
District of Colorado — December 2, 2011 Former Indianapolis City-County Councilman Sentenced for Soliciting a Bribe and Attempted Extortion
Southern District of Indiana — December 1, 2011 Member of Aryan Brotherhood Sentenced to 450 Months in Prison in Connection with a Hate Crime Involving Church Arson and Attempted Murder of Disabled African-American in Texas
Western District of Texas — November 30, 2011 Former TSA Employee Sentenced for Federal Hate Crime First Case in the Nation Prosecuted Under Shepard-Byrd Act
District of Minnesota — November 29, 2011
U.S. Attorneys bring civil rights cases in their districts in consultation and coordination with the Department’s Civil Rights Division. Together, they enforce a wide array of laws that protect the civil rights of all individuals.
U.S. Attorneys Speak Out: Op-Eds on Engagement
Countering Violent Extremism through Community-Based Approaches
by B. Todd Jones
U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
and Chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee
In the District of Minnesota, we are working hard to build bridges of understanding between our diverse Muslim community and the law enforcement community. After initially meeting with various members across the Somali-American community, our largest Muslim demographic, we decided to focus our outreach efforts on empowering young, emerging leaders in the community through the development of the Young Somali-American Advisory Council.
On May 27, 2011, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with members of the Somali-American community in Minnesota. Before this meeting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota arranged for AG Holder to be interviewed by Hindia Ali of Mogadishu Times, a media outlet based in Minnesota that specializes in Somali news and affairs. This video was filmed by Ilyaas Maow, Editor-in-Chief of Mogadishu Times.
Civil Rights Outreach in the District of Connecticut
In the District of Connecticut, I have convened a team of Community Outreach Coordinators, drawing from a diverse group of attorneys and support personnel in the office, to better inform the public about our priorities, from national security to securities fraud, from violent crime to public corruption. Perhaps no substantive area, though, has been the subject of more outreach by our office than Civil Rights, which I have made a top priority program.
The Northern District of Georgia Hosts Community Conference to Implement New Federal Hate Crimes Law
On May 18, 2010, our office joined with the FBI’s Atlanta Division to host the nation’s first community conference to discuss implementing and enforcing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We recognized that members of the community, and particularly those citizens who the new law is primarily designed to protect, may not be knowledgeable about the changes in the law. Moreover, we believed that state and local officers, who are the first responders to incidents that might qualify as hate crimes, needed training not only on the changes to the statute, but also on enhancing their community outreach efforts so that victims are empowered to report violations.
District of Arizona’s Civil Rights Efforts Key to Addressing Community Conflict
Since his appointment in 2009, one of U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke’s top priorities for the District of Arizona has been to create a U.S. Attorney’s Office that is open and accessible to the community and has a presence in the community.
Two key steps in realizing this effort were to create a Civil Rights Unit and a Community Outreach component within his office. This strategy has been critical in creating an interactive climate with community and faith-based organizations all across Arizona’s diverse landscape.
Outreach Efforts in the District of OregonAlmost exactly 50 years ago – in May 1951 – Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy went to the University of Georgia to deliver the Law Day speech. The Attorney General declared that when it comes to Civil Rights, “We will not stand by and be aloof – we will move.”
At the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon, we are fulfilling that commitment – and when it comes to civil rights, we are on the move.
Our First Civil Rights Symposium: The District of Kansas 
The goal of our district’s first ever Civil Rights Symposium was to bring together law enforcement agencies, civil rights advocates, as well as any interested party or citizen, from across Kansas to spend a day talking about how we can work together. I wanted to remind everyone of the historic role the Justice Department has played in protecting civil rights. I also wanted to spread the news I was hearing from Washington that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was being reinvigorated.
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For information on public events near you, find your local U.S. Attorney’s Office and ask for the Law Enforcement Coordinator.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
