Dear Friend,

As many of you that are local probably heard, earlier this month there was a dispute over go-go music played outside of a Metro PCS store in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. As articulated in a recent City Lab article, “this debate over music became something much bigger: a cry for self-determination in from a community that is struggling to be heard.”
 
This is just one example of how rapidly D.C. is changing and why so many African Americans are asking “is there a DC for me?” New investments in previously under-invested areas are pouring in as quickly as new residents, while those that have long called DC home are being pushed out and aside.
 
Each and every day at the Committee we work to create equality and equal protection by fighting alongside our neighbors who struggle to make their voices heard. You can read more about some of our most recent work below.  
 
Thank you for your support. The work we do is important and urgent and we could not it without you.

Jonathan Smith
Executive Director, Washington Lawyers’ Committee

For years, the state of Louisiana has failed to provide effective communication services to state probationers and parolees who are deaf or hard of hearing during critical meetings with state agents.  The class of parolees was represented by the Advocacy Center of New Orleans, Proskauer Rose and the Committee. The Parolees filed a complaint against the State of Louisiana in 2016, alleging that the State’s actions violated the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. Read about the outcome. 

Challenges to systems that create and sustain inequality require the use of multiple tools, of which litigation is an important one. Real change, however, requires community mobilization and must be based on the lived experience of persons who are affected by the injustice.  To ensure that our work is grounded in community needs and community solutions, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee partners with organizations that engage in community organizing. We coordinate our work to ensure that litigation promotes, rather than defeats, community power and organizers are often institutional clients in litigation. The Committee led a panel at the 2019 Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference to share our experience working with organizers. Read more. 

Franklin Savage, Kelvin Sewell, and Lynell Green are African American former members of the Pocomoke City Police Department who bravely stood up against extreme racial discrimination on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They served their community as officers, and they are now serving their community in their fight against discrimination. Read more.