Where Exactly Is the Middle East And/or Classifies It?

African American Studies 176Race, Racism, and the LawSpring Quarter 2019 Paul Von BlumDue: Monday, June 10 IN MY OFFICE: 2333 ROLFE HALL FROM 9 TO NOON. It is perfectly ok to hand it on Thursday, June 6 in class. Please don’t ask for extensions. YOU MUST INCLUDE A STAMPED, LARGE SELF-ADDRESSED (IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ENVELOPE) ENVELOPE SO THAT I CAN MAIL YOUR PAPERS BACK TO YOU. FOR U.S. ADDRESSES, YOU WILL NEED FOUR REGULAR “FOREVER” POSTAGE STAMPS, AFFIXED TO THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER OF THE ENVELOPE. PLEASE DO NOT NEGLECT THIS! ANSWER ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. BE SURE THAT YOURANSWER IS SPECIFICALLY RESPONSIVE TO ONE OF THE PROMPTS. THERE ARE NO “CORRECT” ANSWERS PER SE. EFFECTIVE, WELL-SUPPORTED, CLEARLY WRITTEN ESSAYS MAY BE CONSTRUCTED FROM A VARIETY OF PERSPECTIVES. THE QUESTIONS RELATE TO BUT ALSO GO BEYOND THE SPECIFIC COURSE MATERIAL IN ORDER TO STIMULATE BROADER AND DEEPER ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION RATHER THAN MERE FACTUAL RECALL. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO ANALYZE THE PROBLEM CAREFULLY, SYNTHESIZE MATERIALS EFFECTIVELY, AND EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS AND CONCLUSIONS COHERENTLY. BE SURE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE REFERENCES TO COURSE READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS WHERE APPROPRIATE, INCLUDING THE COURSE TEXT AND THE VIDEOS. THESE CAN BE USED FOR EXAMPLES FOR WHATEVER VIEWPOINT YOU EXPRESS. THIS ESSAY DOES NOT REQUIRE OUTSIDE RESEARCH AND NO SPECIAL CREDIT IS AVAILABLE FOR SUCH OUTSIDE RESEARCH; IN ANY CASE, CITE SPECIFICALLY ANY SOURCES YOU CHOOSE TO USE. THE ESSAY SHOULD BE TYPED AND BE APPROXIMATELY 6-7 PAGES IN LENGTH. WRITING REALLYMATTERS: AS NOTED IN CLASS, ESSAYS SHOULD ADHERE TO HIGH STANDARDS OF ORGANIZATION, GRAMMAR, AND PUNCTUATION. BE SURE TO PROOFREAD YOUR PAPERS CAREFULLY. AS NOTED AT THE OUTSET OF CLASS, WRITING FORM AND CONTENT ARE INSEPARABLE AND MAJOR ERRORS IN WRITING FORM AFFECT THE EVALUATION OF THE OVERALL ESSAY.1. In 1946, George Orwell published his influential essay entitled “Politics and the English Language.” In that essay, Orwell addressed many problems with the use of language. One of his major themes was the way that political writing often hid and distorted the truth rather than expressed it. He argued, for example, that political speech and writing “are largely the defense of the indefensible.” He also asserted that political language frequently was designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectful. Dictators and even democratic leaders have done this regularly throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Although Orwell’s essay is not required for this prompt, it is short and well worth your attention.

Orwell’s critical views about language could also be applied to legal language, especially in the area of American cases dealing with race. This has been a major focus of the course, particularly in our discussion of cases such as People v. Hall, Dred Scott. v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson (including, for example, part of the dissenting opinion by Justice Harlan in Plessy about people of Chinese origin), Korematsu v. United States, Loving v. Virginia, and others. For this question, you should formulateand developathesis about the nature and political implications of language in various legal documents (cases, statutes, the Constitution, etc.) that we have studied and analyzed in class. You should use specific examples and indicate specifically why these examples have the political and perhaps historical consequences that you have noted in your introductory comments. An effective conclusion to your paper would indicate your suggestions for changes or improvements in legal language that would help people to have a more accurate and realistic understanding of race in the United States. Specifically, you might provide policy suggestions for how lawyers and judges should use language in clearer and non-racist ways. 2. Derrick Bell was one of the key figures in Critical Race Theory, one of the guiding schools of thought underlying this entire course. In his book Race, Racism, and American Law, he provides several hypothetical cases for readers that he calls “Racism Hypos.” Following in Bell’s tradition, this prompt offers a hypothetical situation concerning a racial classification from a state agency, specifically a public university. Derrick Bell put it well in his book: ever since Brown v. Board of Education and several other Supreme Court decisions, state racial classifications that impose racial segregation have generally been viewed as unconstitutional, violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Nevertheless, it is an open and highly controversial question whether compelling circumstances justify narrow racial segregation by the state and be held acceptable by the courts. Imagine, therefore, the following in the state of Texlahoma, where in its large public university a series of very troubling racial incidents have occurred. African American students, in large numbers, have been the victims of racist slurs and even some physical assaults. In several residence halls, nooses have been found. In one incident (taken from real life), videos were recorded while fraternity members and their dates were riding on a chartered bus and students were heard singing “There will never be a . . . . . . at SAE, followed by the lyrics “You can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me.” Other African American students have reported comments like “You must be an affirmative action student” and “What sport do you play?”In response to this situation, officials at Texlahoma State University have created a residence hall and cultural center exclusively for African American students (Du Bois Hall). Women and men live on separate floors in the residence building and African American students have complete freedom to choose to live there or in integrated residence buildings or off campus. Approximately 50% of the University’s Black students have chosen to live in Du Bois Hall. An African American faculty member will serve as the faculty member in residence and will live on the premises. This facility is strictly off limits to non-African Americans except by specific invitation and vote by the majority of the residents for cultural events. University officials have justified the creation of Du Bois Hall by noting the recent racist history on camps and the specific need for a safe space for African American students. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately objects to this arrangement, arguing that it is state- imposed racial segregation violating the 14th Amendment.

The State of Texlahoma claims that the situation at Texlahoma State University has revealed compelling circumstances that allow for this modest racial separation that does not affect the overall operations of the University Law Firm A will represent the ACLU. Law Firm B will represent the State of Texlahoma.Choose a side and make an argument in a 6-7 page essay. Your argument should address the broader social, political, and historical implications of your position; this should not be a strictly legal argument. 3. Imagine that you are a successful lawyer in Los Angeles and that you do pro bono cases regularly as part of your practice. Imagine also that you have heard from your former teacher at UCLA who taught your class in “Race, Racism, and the Law” when you studied there. You and he have remained in close contact since your graduation. He has told you of the following seven (actually true) stories from students and staff members. (These events occurred at different times, but disregard that for purposes of this prompt). These are the seven stories:1. An African American student reports that she answered an advertisement for an apartment in West Los Angeles, not far from campus. When she arrived to see the premises and meet the landlord, she was told that the apartment was unavailable because it had been rented only two hours previously. To her surprise and dismay, she noticed several days later that the advertisement was still posted. When she phoned again, she was instructed to visit the premises. However, before she went, she learned that one of her classmates, a young white woman, had just rented the apartment. 2. An African American graduate student was stopped by the police on Venice Blvd. and informed that he was under investigation for a serious felony because he met the description of the suspect. After he was handcuffed, he complained that the cuffs were too tight and were hurting him. The police officer proceeded to tighten the handcuffs further, before releasing him about an hour later without any apology. 3. An African American woman staff member at UCLA was shopping at a large Westwood Department Store and noticed that the clerk was ignoring her, while several white patrons were being served. After several minutes, she politely asked why she was not being helped. She was ignored. After her second inquiry, the female clerk turned to her and replied, “you black bitch.”4. A tall, attractive African American female undergraduate from UCLA was stopped by the police in a Los Angeles suburb and instructed to exit her late model automobile and walk backwards towards the police car. When she got there, the male officer grabbed and handcuffed her and told her that “hookers were not welcome” in town. After several minutes, following an extensive computer background check, she was released without apology.

5. A representative from a collection agency called a Latino undergraduate and informed him that he owed approximately $800 on his credit card and that the payment was overdue. The student explained that he was the son of two farmworkers who were both suffering from pesticide-induced cancer. He also said that he used his credit card to help them out and that he expected to pay the debt as soon as he could. The collections agent, however, aggressively accused him of using the money to “buy drugs” and implied that this was typical of young Mexicans. He threatened the student with possible jail time. After the phone call, the student was totally distraught, with no idea of where to turn. 6. A dark-skinned, long-haired Latino Ph.D. graduate student at UCLA was stopped by an LAPD officer at Venice Beach and issued a citation for jaywalking. He was one of perhaps 15-20 people jaywalking at the same time and was the onlyperson who got a ticket; the others were ignored and the Latino student was obviously singled out. When he inquired, the officer initially said nothing. Finally, he muttered something like, “You’re the Mexican.” 7. A Black husband of a white graduate student was taking out the garbage at a UCLA housing complex for grad students. The UCLA Police approached him and asked what he was doing. He answered that he was taking out trash because he lived there. But he was not especially polite (but not entirely hostile either) and showed irritation to the police. After a few moments, the police handcuffed him and then he indicated the apartment where he lived. He was escorted to that apartment and when his wife answered, he was brought in, still in handcuffs, while his small children watched. After verifying that he actually lived there, and after a lawyer arrived, the police removed the handcuffs and left the premises. No charges, of course, were filed.You tell your former student about each of these racist incidents and ask her whether she can take any of them on as pro bono cases. She tells you that she will think about which ONE she can handle right now and will write you a 6-7 page memorandum of which one she thinks will have the greatest impact and the supporting reasons for her decision. YOU are that lawyer. All the cases would be good to take on. You don’t necessarily need to show why the others are less significant; merely make the case why your choice may have the most significance.4. In recent years, there has been much talk and discussion about reparations for African Americans in light of centuries of slavery and horrific discrimination. This has been a part of political discourse and may be part of the presidential campaign in 2020. Several Democratic candidates have begun talking about the topic. It is, of course, not easy to decide how reparation payments would be made. Armenians have also justly demanded reparations from Turkey for the Genocide. Other reparations payments have been simpler: German Jewish victims of the Holocaust, for example, have received payments from the German government. This prompt, however, is more straightforward. We have discussed the Little Rock, Arkansas resistance to federal law (Brown v. Board of Education) in depth (the film Eyes on the Prize) in class as well as the severe toll against the nine courageous young boys and girls who integrated Central High School in 1957 in the face of hostile mobs and continuing racist threats and actions throughout the academic year.Imagine this: The Arkansas Legislature (Disregard this fantasy! It would not happen politically!) has voted to offer, provisionally, a one million dollar reparation paymentto all members of the Little Rock Nine (one member of The Nine has died, so the payment would go to his heirs). These courageous young people, now in their senior years, suffered enormously throughout their entire year at Central

High School, enduring grotesque racist invective and insults and frequent physical assaults. As explained in class, these experiences last for a lifetime. The Legislature has decided to put this up to a vote. How would you vote if you were a citizen of Arkansas. Do you think that, at this stage of history, such a reparation payment is justified? Give your reasons. (There are arguments both ways).