5/7: ACLU Public Forum on Civil Rights

From ACLU-NM:
This year’s legislative session was one of the most challenging in recent memory for progressive groups. Our opponents are energized, united, and determined to cripple basic guarantees of fairness and equality that we have long taken for granted. Their bold attacks on workers’ rights, civil liberties, and services for the poor mirror national trends and signal a new era for New Mexico politics.

Join us on May 7 for the 2011 ACLU-NM Annual Meeting, where we will host a panel discussion on the future of progressive causes in New Mexico. This event, which will take place from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at the New Mexico State Bar Association, 5121 Masthead Street NE in Albuquerque, is free and open to the public. Space is limited, so please RSVP today online or call (505) 266-5915 x1009. 

Panelists include:

• CARTER BUNDY, political and legislative director for AFSCME in New Mexico, who will speak about the right’s attack on public sector unions;

• JENNY BLACK, president of Planned Parenthood New Mexico, speaking on anti-choice extremists’ ramped up assault on women’s access to abortion;

• MELISSA HILL, Legislative Committee chair for the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association, addressing the crisis facing New Mexico’s public defender system;

• and PETER SIMONSON, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Mexico, who will speak about the targeting of immigrants, efforts to stymie rights of LGBT people, and the abuse of executive power in government.

The discussion will be moderated by GENE GRANT, Weekly Alibi columnist and host of KNME television program New Mexico inFocus.