W hen the Evanston Human Relations Commission convenes a special hearing in a few weeks to consider whether to write a resolution condemning the USA Patriot Act and other attacks on civil liberties since Sept. 11, you have two options:
Roll your eyes.
Or open your mouth.
The commission opted for the public hearing at its Jan. 22 meeting after about 20 residents showed up and spoke in favor of a resolution. If the commission members support such a statement, Evanston City Council would weigh in next before passing the official city resolution.
This is part two of Evanston vs. United States. Last month the City Council joined dozens of communities nationwide and condemned President Bush’s march toward an Iraqi conflict. Evanston voted “no” on war.
The Human Relations Commission’s main target is the Patriot Act, adopted by Congress shortly after Sept. 11. The law has cast a shadow over Americans’ freedoms with expanded spying, wiretapping and searching powers. The FBI no longer must obtain a court’s permission to spy on citizens if it’s for “intelligence purposes.” Non-citizens get almost no protection. They can be arrested and held for extended periods of time without being charged with a crime.
Those are just a few features. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, many senators and representatives didn’t even read the 342-page bill before voting for it. I hope that’s true, since President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft hardly masked their intent — to make America more of a police state.
“In fact, in asking for these broad new powers, the government made no showing that the previous powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to spy on U.S. citizens were insufficient to allow them to investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism,” says a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online freedom advocacy group.
And now our city will voice its dissent.
My first thought: How very Berkeley of Evanston. We have a $3.5 million deficit on next year’s budget, but we would rather discuss an issue over which we have no control. Forget about affordable housing, out-of-control property taxes and spitting contests with Northwestern. Instead we’ll pretend to have influence over federal policies.
The outlandishness shrank when I thought of it another way. President Bush has moved us closer to war with Iraq without our permission. And post-9/11, Congress has rubber-stamped his freedom-crushing initiatives. If our leaders in Washington, D.C. don’t discuss these issues, maybe we should do it ourselves.
That is where city governments come in. Evanston’s nine aldermen — including Ald. Edmund Moran (6th), who voted against the anti-war resolution — engaged in a serious conversation. They debated, as citizens, whether their country ought to agitate a war. And like 65 other cities and counties, Evanston decided against it.
When the Human Relations Commission hosts its public hearing on civil liberties — with no firm date set, but targeted for later this month or early March — it will carry on a national conversation in a local context.
At last month’s meeting, Public Library Director Neal Ney spoke about the access to customer records granted by the Patriot Act: “Right now (there have been) no searches of Evanston Public Library. But if there had been, I couldn’t tell you about it.”
In an America that still values liberty, Ney’s comments worry me. If Evanston residents and NU students discuss these issues — even at a city meeting — they will contribute to a growing national dialogue that upholds freedom over security.
City editor Jon Murray is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
