Celebrating Freedom and Civil Libertarians:
2004 E.B. MacNaughton Awards Dinner

By Soudary Kittivong-Greenbaum

On May 26th, over 350 ACLU supporters turned out to celebrate freedom and welcome National ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero on his first visit to Oregon. “Our dedicated volunteers outdid themselves to provide a wonderful event for ACLU friends to come together to share camaraderie, to be inspired and to rededicate ourselves to the invaluable work of the ACLU” said Diana Godwin, Chair of the Event Committee. The evening’s program, emceed by State Senator Kate Brown, paid tribute to and honored two civil libertarians who have brought immeasurable progress for civil liberties in Oregon.

ACLU volunteer attorney Charlie Hinkle led a special tribute to the late Stevie Remington who was Executive Director of the Oregon ACLU from 1970 until her retirement in 1992. We announced the creation of the new Stevie Remington Award, which will be given in the future to individuals or groups who, by significant personal sacrifice, have contributed to the advancement or defense of civil liberties and civil rights. Board member Kris Olson presented the 2004 E.B. MacNaughton Award to former Oregon Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts. Justice Roberts thanked her family and shared stories of her lessons learned, giving the audience a glimpse of the passion behind the actions she took to advance civil liberties, civil rights and equality for all people. 

Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield—only a few days after being exonerated of any involvement in the Madrid train bombings—and his wife Mona attended the dinner as ACLU guests and were introduced to the audience which gave them a standing ovation. Current Executive Director David Fidanque then described some of the many accomplishments of ACLU since Anthony Romero became National ACLU Executive Director in September, 2001, as he introduced “our fearless leader.”

Anthony spoke about ACLU’s extraordinary response to the current threats to civil liberties as a result of the war on terrorism. He discussed ACLU’s work on the pending Supreme Court cases that arose from the detentions of Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla, and the detainees held at Guantánamo who had all been denied access to the federal courts to challenge their detentions. (Editor’s Note: The Court later repudiated the Justice Departments denial of due process to the detainees and ruled that they had the right to petition in federal courts. Despite the court’s ambiguous rulings, the Administration is still maintaining that the Guantanamo detainees have no right to be represented by counsel.)

Encouraged by the many anti-USA PATRIOT Act resolutions across the country, Anthony exhorted the audience to keep pushing at the local level for changes to policies in Washington. “Grassroots organizing and public debate are two essential ingredients for democracy,” Romero said. “They are like the canaries in a coal mine. When they stop singing, you know democracy is in trouble.”

The dinner was a benefit for the ACLU Foundation of Oregon, and netted over $30,000 to fund our litigation and education programs.

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