Lawyering Up, Week 3: Wed, Period 2 (1/23)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'" Nathan said as he handed out that week's information packets. If he gave a studied, inscruitible look in Wyatt's direction as he did... well that was probably a coincidence. "Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence. Not a law, but certainly a statement that acted as strong guidelines for the laws that followed.

"We're discussing Civil Rights." Nathan leaned against the front of his desk. "In plain language, laws that say what you are allowed to have and do as a citizen. For though the truths may be self-evident, they're not supported unless the written law says so. Of course, there's always a catch."

Nathan looked around at each student in turn. "All men are created equal. Men. Not women. Also not anyone of color or anyone who didn't own land. This isn't a traffic dispute. This isn't how you pay for your favorite music. This is about people in power deciding who else gets to have power. People in power deciding who is powerless."

Why yes, Nathan had been affected by a weekend spent finding out that people had been turned into second-class citizens in his name. Thanks for asking.

"This nation's history is littered with laws that have been used to take rights away. Now we do learn. We have removed some of them. But we have not removed all, nor have we created enough laws which offer protection. And that's just for the categories we know about - race, religion, gender, sexuality. What about the ones you now know about because of this school? Those from different planets, those who are a different species, those who have a special ability and those who do not? What about the law then?

"In honor of this Monday, and because I never rewrite anything that was perfect to begin with, I'm going to give this over to Martin Luther King. In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail he says:

One may well ask: 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?' The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'

"Let's talk about this," Nathan said. "What are the civil rights laws you have dealt with that you feel were unjust? What, if anything, did you do about them? What, if anything, do you think should be done? And for any of you who might be doubting your ability to make a difference, I point you back to Dr. King, who says that one day the list of heroes:

...will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

"So let's get talking," Nathan said. "And if anyone would like extra credit beyond the usual lawyer jokes, try taking the Civil Rights Mythbuster quiz. I have the answers up here when you're done. Also Wyatt? Stay after if you have a chance."

[ooc: Wait for OCD OCD is up! I'm off to bed, will be around tomorrow.]

Comments

Sign In (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Name, in collapsy fashion

Re: Sign In (1/23/08)

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt Halliwell

Re: Sign In (1/23/08)

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel Evans

During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Listen, talk amongst yourselves, the usual.

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt's eyes widened and he gave Isabel a nervous glance when Nathan mentioned his name. Uh oh. This couldn't be good.

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel was pretty sure that answered the question of whether or not Nathan listened to radio. "He can't kill you. I'm pretty sure that's in the contracts the teachers sign."

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[neurotic-witch.livejournal.com]

A note orbed on to Wyatt's desk.

What did you do?

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

Coming from a town that had a major problem with this sort of thing, Meg was extremely interested in the subject. Too bad Neptune wasn't going to change any time soon...

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[multiplez]

Z was kind of...confused. Yeah, they weren't so big on the civil rights in Newtech City.

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan paid attention to the lecture, wondering about how this might affect his world when aliens became public knowledge... which he could see happening fairly soon. Were there enough wizards in the right places to prevent it from becoming a disaster?

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[neurotic-witch.livejournal.com]

The topic in today's class was a little troubling for Chris, given the memories he still had from his future self.

But he took a lot of notes and wondered why the teacher wanted his brother to stay after class.

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana took a large number of notes, but still found time to pass Chris a note.

What did Wyatt do?

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[misshargrove.livejournal.com]

Annette listened intently and took detailed notes.

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

As much as Turtle loved this class, she found herself a little distracted today, trying not to think of all the things building up on her shoulders. Trashed store, stock market still dropping....She sulked as she took her notes. At least she wasn't pregnant anymore, right?

Re: During the Lecture (1/23/08)

[smartestone]

Hermione had been taking notes and trying to forget that anyone might have seen her this last weekend, but she perked up throughout the lecture.

Nothing like standing up against house elf discrimination to make a girl feel better.

Classwork (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Discrimination via unjust civil rights laws. I can't imagine anyone in this class who could talk about that kind of thing. Oh wait...

Re: Classwork (1/23/08)

[smartestone]

Hermione's hand shot up. Anyone who's heard this before could feel free to take a nap.

"Where I come from, there are creatures called house elves, where the blantant disregard for their welfare is even in their name. They're put to work, taking care of people, doing all of the cooking and cleaning and staying out of the way so it was three years before I even knew they were there. They can be employed by horrible people who abuse and mistreat them and the poor house elves will continue to work and never say a word because they're that loyal. They work without pay and get absolutely nothing in return, and their entire lives are service, and the think it's perfectly all right just because they don't know any better. Meanwhile, we wouldn't dream of treating a human this way without it getting media coverage due to it being a civil rights violation, so I don't see why it's all right to do it to anyone, no matter what their size and species," Hermione went on, seemingly not taking a breath. "I even created an organization called S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, designed to raise awareness. I have pamphlets in my room if anyone's interested."

And now would be a good time to wake up.

Talk to Nathan (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

If you have any questions or comments for Nathan during the class, here's where they go. Ditto any lawyer jokes you'd like to share.

Talk to the TA (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

If you have any questions or comments for Sam during the class, here's where they go (once he pings in).

Re: Talk to the TA (1/23/08)

[likethegun]

Sam was here, looking a little more distracted than usual.

After Class (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Nathan's taking his time packing up, in case anyone wants to talk privately.

Re: After Class (1/23/08)

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt reluctantly waited after class as Nathan had requested, mentally going over what to say in his head. I'm sorry, it wasn't me who molested your little brother, it was my evil gay twin? It's all a lie, itwas just wishful thinking by the squirrels? Don't worry, I have no intention of coming between him and Sam? Does this mean I get an F in the class?

Re: After Class (1/23/08)

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

After one last squeeze of Wyatt's hand, Isabel went to wait in the hall for him. It's quite possible she was wishing that the alien-fu included super hearing.

OOC (1/23/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

All the linked stuff makes for fascinating reading, I found. Or maybe I'm a huge geek.

Re: OOC (1/23/08)

[likethegun]

*points* Geeeeeeek!