Home » About » Newsletters » November 1997
A Message from the Executive Director
By Howard Simon, November 1997
As you probably have heard by now, I became Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida on October 1st, after serving in the same position the ACLU of Michigan for the past 23 years. I am lucky enough to follow in the path set by Robyn Blumner, who did a superb job helping to build the Florida ACLU to one of the largest and most important within the ACLU family of state affiliates.
I am also lucky to have inherited the dedicated excellent staff Robyn assembled. Working sidebyside, defending the values of the Bill of Rights that we cherish and that brought me to the ACLU almost 30 years ago freedom, diversity, fairness, equality, and privacy is important work. But with the Florida ACLU staff it can also be fun, even when we are under attack from anticivil liberties forces from the Keys to the Panhandle.
My time in Florida so far has been marked by an orientation to the new and confrontation with the familiar. The first is my introduction to the vibrant multiracial panAmerican culture of South Florida, recently on display to the world during the celebration of the Marlins' stunning World Series victory.
The downside to all of this, as those of you with more experience no doubt will be quick to add, is the widespread intolerance of freedom of speech and expression and the official policy of retaliation for any dissent from prevailing political orthodoxy. This is "the Miami exception to the First Amendment," as some of our volunteer attorneys have dubbed the problem.
Inevitably, this led to our involvement in the "Cuban music crises," and our lawsuit on behalf of fired Advisory Board member Peggi McKinley. Peggi's dismissal by a petulant Commissioner and ratified by a pandering County Commission (save for the lone courageous dissent of Katy Sorenson) resulted in the lawsuit and a healthy mass discussion not only about the ban on trade with Cuba, but freedom of speech and the right to dissent.
That was weeks one and two! Weeks three and four have been absorbed with the more familiar problem of the grip of the Christian Coalition and their disciples on local school boards, particularly in Lee and Orange Counties. School boards in Ft. Myers and Orlando have endorsed the teaching of the Bible in the public schools, in one case specifically as a history text.
You can pretty much expect that, wherever the Christian Coalition is able to take over a school board, discussions about class size, teacher training, student performance and other issues related to improving children's education turn instead to prayers, creationism, the Bible and other stealth tactics for imposing religion.
There is a place for the Bible in the public schools, but not in a history class to indoctrinate students with biblical literalism. Bible stories are not factual history. Moses parting the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, and the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus are articles of faith, not history. The Bible is a sacred text, not a history text!
What we do in Lee and Orange Counties may have an impact on public education throughout the Country!
I am filled with many memories of the civil liberties battles in which I have been involved over the years, but I am now reminded of one each day. Now that I live in Miami, I drive to work each day past a large sign announcing the Boys and Girls Clubs. The sign makes me think that this was not always the case that the world used to be different. It used to be just the Boys Club!
It took a contentious ACLU case on behalf of a budding Detroit female athlete to nudge the world along. That's a good part of the purpose of the legal work of the ACLU to nudge the world along. It is a role we are able to play only because you and I do our share, with our efforts and our contributions, so that the ACLU can ensure that the promise of the Bill of Rights is fulfilled for everyone.
I truly thank everyone for their warm welcome to sunny Florida. There is so much to do, and I look forward to doing it together.
