Law in Contemporary Society

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RaceVClass 52 - 17 Apr 2012 - Main.WilliamDavidWilliams
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 I realize this is going to be a pretty damn controversial post, but I feel compelled to speak on the subject. I sometimes become concerned that classism becomes too easily conflated with racism in our world.

There's many draws to calling a certain policy racist:

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 -- JaredMiller - 17 Apr 2012
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Jared - thanks for following up...

1. I remember when Eben said, "The beauty of the law is in its weakness." Given that law is governmental social "control," I think this statement holds the key of why you become frustrated with the "system." I would suggest that this is because the "law" is extremely deceptive. People, judges (e.g. Judge Day), state and local governments, etc. hide behind the "law," when there are actually more powerful forces at work. It's not really the law, but deep seated notions of family, religion, education, propaganda that are actually intertwined with the law to make it seem as if the law is doing the work. Behind the more powerful forces is the notion of "white supremacy." All white supremacy refers to is keeping those dominant from the "founders" to their descendents in power. That's why even when laws deceptively "change," they change to do their best to keep notions of "white supremacy" evident. For example, although in Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall was able to convince SCOTUS to desegregate schools, the COURT did so with the racist assertion that "separate cannot be equal" and stated that "only" the minority group was deprived of an adequate education. This is the white supremacist belief that "blacks are inferior" and they need to be around whites to have an equal education. Everyone is deprived with this discrimination, and the court refused to reallocate wealth to make sure schools were appropriately funded for all people. Thus, the system was reinforced and it still is reinforced through the "War on Drugs" (drug laws - disproportionately affect African Americans), the type of "docile" education provided through NCLB, casting of political "elections," producing deviance through poverty and the denial of justice, etc. It is so hard to "fight" and is frustrating because it is so entrenched and thus hard to "see." This is why Trayvon Martin was likely killed. It is so entrenched that it is in the subconscious, and only through effort is this "racist" thinking averted.

2. Thanks for wanting to make "law school" work too. That is refreshing and took courage for you to respond to this. This class is the first step. We should do our best to get as much out of it as we can. Then, we should reflect over the summer and stay in correspondence. Maybe we can take some classes together that reflect and support this effort. We need to do whatever we can to become the type of lawyers that we need to be. In July, we should start brainstorming/planning methods in which to affect the law school community and later the rest of the nation. I was thinking about doing a lot of collaboration on events that challenge the status quo (e.g. having open discussions about the legal system and the best way to use it and the greater methods of social control for change, inviting "radical" professors to speak on issues, etc.). Eben is providing access to countless people who never had it through the Software Freedom Law Center. We have to work on providing access too, while using the media and other avenues to convince the world that the world needs changing.

This government cannot function without the PEOPLE. Thus, it uses casting to "convince" the people. We have to figure out how to move the people against the system so that more people can have the justice they deserve.

 
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Revision 52r52 - 17 Apr 2012 - 05:22:30 - WilliamDavidWilliams
Revision 51r51 - 17 Apr 2012 - 02:30:29 - JaredMiller
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