As always, the Mass Chapter of the NLG has had a busy year. With the support of our members, we have achieved several goals and are making progress on others. See details below.
Our active Committees have been continually busy. The Mass Defense Committee volunteer lawyers have provided legal advice to dozens of activist groups and free representation to arrested demonstrators at the arraignment stage and beyond, including for trials. We also trained more than 90 new Legal Observers™ who attend political demonstrations and protests to help protect progressive activists’ rights by documenting police and counter-protestors’ misconduct. As you know numerous protests are ongoing on college campuses and beyond as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues. Many Massachusetts colleges and universities have begun disciplining their students who have organized and/or attended ceasefire and related protests on campuses. Mass Defense Committee members are advising students on their rights as well as working with faculty members who want to support students, and parents who want to protect and support their children. Our assistance is even being sought in other New England states, and although this stretches our resources, we have so far been able to meet those needs. In addition, NLG-Mass Chapter MDC lawyers have continued to represent numerous climate change activists arrested in non-violent demonstrations as the climate crisis grows increasingly dire.
The Litigation Committee has also been very busy. Last year we reported that we settled a lawsuit against the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) for its surveillance of activists and for violations of public records laws. The Committee is now working on obtaining attorney fees for that work. In addition, the Committee is continuing to work on three continuing projects involving police. Two are public records requests stemming from protests involving right-wing extremists and citizens injured during those protests, plus a further inquiry into all excessive force and discriminatory stop complaints against the BPD and its officers. In addition, our Chapter joined an amicus brief in support of a plaintiff who filed a complaint against the BPD, which was not sustained by an internal investigation, after which the BPD refused to turn over public records relating to the investigation. Finally, the Litigation Committee is in the process of interviewing candidates for a part-time attorney position to work with the Committee.
Our Street Law Clinic project continues to provide free Know Your Rights–Stop & Search workshops to community organizations, schools, libraries, unions, and progressive groups across the state.
Finally, our Chapter’s staff, Executive Director Urszula Masny-Latos and Administrative Assistant Sara Malley, established the Abortion Justice Task Force here in Massachusetts and initiated and helped to create a national committee on abortion rights.
With all of this activity we continue to seek ways to bring new members into our Chapter as well as encouraging our current members to become more involved in the dynamic ongoing projects of the Guild. We know our members are busy with their lives and careers, but we can’t help but wonder if some of you have just been waiting for the right NLG activity to get involved. We know we have so many talented members, and we need your help in continuing the ongoing and new work of our Chapter. Do you have a great idea for progressive litigation? An issue you would like to see explored? A pet project you wish we could take up? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, we would love to hear from you. We welcome your ideas and your presence. Our monthly meetings are open to all current members (3rd Wednesday of each month, except July and August). But, even if you don’t have something to work on in mind, come anyway. Perhaps one of our ongoing projects will capture your interest or help spark some new projects or issues that the Guild should address. We’d love to hear from you, see you, and work with you, as new and innovative ideas help keep the Guild alive and relevant in these rapidly evolving political times.
If you are interested in joining our Board of Directors, which sets priorities and policies for our Chapter, we will be holding elections at our January 2024 meeting. All you have to do to run for a seat on the Board is to fill out the Board Nomination form in this issue and send it (with a brief note about why you would like to join the Board to our Executive Director) to Urszula Masny-Latos, at nlgmass-director@riseup.net.
We hope to see you soon and in the meantime, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and, hopefully, peace in 2024!
All our best,
Melinda Drew & Eden Williams,
Co-Chairs – NLG-Mass Chapter
