Each week we're counting down to our Cheers to Liberty event by spotlighting ACLU of South Dakota members. We are stoked to have the support of ACLU member and Sioux Falls community activist, Kayla Koterwski. Our Cheers to Liberty event will kick off in just one short week, so purchase your tickets today!
I joined the ACLU of South Dakota because...
I believe in the work we can do together. I believe in the commitment the ACLU holds to seeking justice in its deepest and most intersectional sense.
I am proud to be a member because...
The ACLU is doing work that our country and world desperately needs and deserves, because I have never met more committed, determined, and brave individuals than I have of ACLU staff and members. Because it and the people that make it up are an avenue through which to pursue real change in an achy and hard world that too often values comfort of the dominant over the freedom and justice of all.
A memorable moment for me as a member of the ACLU was…
I could name too many, but one proud moment for me as an ACLU member was in the days following that horrid week when Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were murdered by police officers without justification. Several of us gathered to create a rally, a space where confused and grieving community could gather and reflect and feel together. We were immediately offered whatever support we might've needed by the ACLU of South Dakota.
When I had driven up to St Paul the weekend following the murder of Philando Castile, the community gathered in front of the governor's mansion to protest, occupy, and demand accountability were doing so in the very recent face of incredible grief. Documenters, supply bringers, and occupiers who had gathered and we're working well within their rights were continuously intimidated and misled by officers blocking the street. At one point during my time there, on a day following a particularly aggressive evening of removal of property and intimidation by local officers, ACLU "Know Your Rights" cards were shared with the community, written in both Spanish and English, in easy to understand, accessible language.
