Longtime NLG-MN chapter member and current member of the Steering Committee Peter Erlinder has been awarded the 2008 Malcolm X Freedom award by the American Muslim Alliance.  He is being recognized for his work on the Sami Al-Arian case.  For more details please see story at this link . http://www.wmitchell.edu/news/articles/default.asp?articleId=11738&story...

In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee (“RNCWC “) with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism. Monica Bicking (DOB: 6/23/85), Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins (DOB: 9/19/84), Erik Oseland (DOB: 4/11/1987), Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty.

Affidavits released by law enforcement which were filed in support of the search warrants used in raids over the weekend, and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provocateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence."

Minnesota Lawyer, a magazine for legal professionals, has published an article introducing the Coldsnap Legal Collective. Coldsnap Legal is a collective of activists/legal workers who will work with NLG-MN chapter during the RNC. They are currently doing Know Your Rights trainings and will staff a jail support hotline up to and during the RNC protests. NLG-MN chapter member Geneva Finn is quoted in the article as Coldsnap's attorney advisor. We congratulate Coldsnap on receiving positive press in a mainstream publication. To read the article click here. www.minnlawyer.com/article.cfm/2008/07/28/ Activists-aim-to-ensure-RNC-protesters-know-their-legal-rights. For further information about the Coldsnap Legal Collective click here. http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com

Pictured at Left: Peter Brown (NLG); Andrea Ritchie and Ajamu Baraka (USHRN); Shawn Stuckey (St. Paul NAACP).

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, more commonly known as ICERD, is an international treaty designed to protect individuals from discrimination based on race, whether that discrimination is intentional, or is the result of seemingly neutral policies.

On February 22, 2008, a two person delegation from Minnesota, consisting of Peter Brown of the National Lawyers Guild and Shawn Stuckey of the St. Paul NAACP, joined a 120 member delegation organized by the US Human Rights Network to counter the report prepared by the US State Department on US compliance with CERD. The Minnesota Delegation presented the Minnesota Shadow Report, a document produced by a wide range of community organizations consisting of a Minnesota-focused, community-based critique of compliance with ICERD.

NLG-MN Chapter 2010 Social Justice Dinner at William Mitchell College of Law auditorium

featuring keynote speaker Dr. Waziyatawin, honoring MIRAc and Mujeres en Liderazgo (Women in Leadership) with Social Justice award and Ted Dooley with Paul Marino Peoples' Lawyering award.