Attempts to limit free speech through censorship have been on the rise in Illinois, requiring that each of us be alert for these attempts in our own community.

The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that each of us has the right to free expression and beliefs without the infringement of government – any government, whether federal, state, or local. Throughout this past year, we have seen numerous attempts in communities across Illinois to use local government to infringe on this basic right. These efforts include handfuls of people attempting to use the power of local government to impose their views about race, sexuality and/or gender identity on an entire community. Even in this state, which offers far-reaching protections against discrimination, we all must be vigilant in our local communities to fight back against these attempts.

When we think about local government censorship most of us probably think about book bans. During 2023, the American Library Association reported a marked increase in challenges to books in public libraries and schools. In Illinois, there were 22 reported attempts to restrict access to books, including 98 different titles that were challenged. Because members of the local communities pushed back and spoke out for inclusion, none of those attempts were successful. We traveled around the state and talked to members of the local communities on the importance of showing up to make sure these attempts were not successful in their communities.

It's not just libraries that can ban a book. We’ve seen across the country attempts to limit access to ideas in the school curriculum, but it’s also happening in Illinois. Recently, in the Chicago suburbs, the Yorkville School District Board of Education withdrew the memoir of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy, from use in an English class. The vote angered a group of local residents – especially former students who had taken the class with the Stevenson book as part of the curriculum. Led by the group of students, many of these local residents have been showing up to monthly Yorkville Board of Education meetings to express their objections. 

When looking out for ways your local town government might be infringing on First Amendment rights in your community, it’s also important to consider ordinances that regulate and determine the rules for protests and public events. In Aurora, for example, we went to court, to assure that Aurora Pride – a group formed to create a safe, welcoming voice in the community for members of the LGBTQ+ community – was able to host their annual Pride Parade after   the event was nearly cancelled by the local government the previous year. A local city council ordinance gave individual police officers an essential “veto” over who was able to host parades and events by allowing the officers to decide for themselves if they would work to provide security for an event. This gave them a say in which speech was allowed in their community.   Faced with this form of censorship, we helped them fight back to allow the Pride Parade to go forward. This year, Aurora Pride was able to hold their largest Parade to date, with an outpouring of support from their community.

If you see attempts in your local community to limit free speech, it’s important to take action. It can be difficult for local elected officials to uphold these fundamental rights when the groups calling to limit speech are the only ones who speak out and show up at public meetings, often claiming to speak for an entire community. We’ve put together materials to help you speak out in your community. When free speech rights are threatened in our community, each of us needs to show up.

The ACLU of Illinois lost its own “Lady Liberty” in November. Harriet Hausman, our long-time and still active Board member, died just a few months shy of her 100^th birthday. We lost a courageous and unstinting voice for liberty and for humanity. Harriet’s support for the ACLU has been clear for decades, having first joined the organization as a high school student. As we head into an election year that holds grave importance for the future of our country, I—and I hope you—will continue to find inspiration in Harriet’s courageous lifetime of advocacy.

Harriet, and her late husband Marty, are legendary in the ACLU for their defense of the First Amendment. Nearly 50 years ago, when the ACLU represented the Nazis in their effort to march in suburban Skokie, Harriet and Marty travelled across the area to synagogues and other groups arguing for the need to protect free expression in our country.

Harriet’s advocacy was not limited to the First Amendment. In her nearly 40 years on the Board of the ACLU of Illinois, Harriet was a vigorous advocate for racial justice, voting rights, reproductive rights, religious liberty, immigrant rights, and those involved in the criminal legal system.  If the Constitution did not protect all of us, Harriet knew that it really protected none of us.

Harriet thought that democratic societies had a special responsibility to young people. She strongly supported the ACLU’s long-term efforts to reform Illinois’ family regulation system. Her last column for the Weekly Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, published posthumously, called for the revitalization of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Harriet’s commitment to young people reflected her underlying wisdom about the need to invest in future generations – not only as a human rights matter but also Was an investment in the future of our democracy. One of her many unheralded acts of generosity was her decision to fund the ACLU of Illinois’ high school education work. Harriet understood that real civic virtue depended on educating the next generation of voters about democracy, civil liberties, and human rights.

Therein lies inspiration for all of us who care about preserving our democracy, which is essential to preserving our liberty. Harriet understood that democracy is NOT a spectator sport. For our democracy to remain vital in its protection of individual rights and liberties – the foundation of the ACLU’s advocacy – each of us must participate; each of us must advocate for individual rights and liberties for all.

The 2024 elections will have a momentous impact on this country. It is up to “we the people,” to once again save our democracy from those who would corrupt its Constitution, replacing liberty with suppression, and substituting political persecution with even-handed justice.  The ACLU and its members have a critically important role in the months ahead:  we must speak vigorously about the ways in which autocratic candidates threaten our constitutional democracy; we must insist that the constitution protects all of us – people of color, women, immigrants, people of different faiths or none at all; and we must vote.  Our future depends on it.

Give a gift in memory of Harriet Hausman