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Monday, November 12, 2007

Anne Kass on Peeling the Paint: Justice for All

Peeling_2This is a guest blog by political activist and retired Second Judicial District Judge Anne Kass of Albuquerque:

I had the opportunity to attend the swearing-in ceremony for Charles W. Daniels to the New Mexico Supreme Court Friday. It was a moving and inspiring ceremony. 

Justice Daniels told of being a share-cropper's son in Arkansas where, as a small child, he played with a black child names James. When it became time to start school, James went to the dilapidated schoolhouse down the road, while young Charlie Daniels was bussed miles away to a white-school. He was taught the Pledge of Allegiance and began to recognize the disconnection between the words “with liberty and justice for all” and the reality of his experience. He talked about his dedication to making the promise of “justice for all” a reality. His talk was truly moving. 

During his remarks Justice Daniels addressed the issue of equal rights for women. He mentioned that Fred Hart, who was Dean of the New Mexico School of Law when Justice Daniels was a student and professor there, opened the doors of the law school to women and minorities. (I made the same observations when I was a student at the UNM School of Law.) 

Justice Daniels said, after some years, when almost half the law school classes were comprised of women, "... the good 'ole boys discovered that the paint didn't peel off the walls when women appeared in the courtroom as lawyers or judges." While he continued his remarks, I found myself thinking -- That's right, the paint didn't peel off the walls, and THAT'S the problem. The paint should have peeled off the walls.

The paint of property law that allows for the private ownership of everything needs to be peeled off the walls of the halls of justice, starting with laws that allow for the private ownership of everything, including other human beings. Today, one manifestation of this notion is in the form of incarceration and deportation of undocumented workers only trying to survive while their exploitative employer-owners go unpunished.   

Property law also allows for private ownership of DNA genetic codes and private ownership of cures and treatments for terrible diseases. In many of these cases, the underlying research has been paid with public dollars. There are many layers of property-law-paint that need to be peeled off the walls.

The same holds true for many layers of criminal-law-paint which dictates grotesquely disproportionate imprisonment of people of color for drug offenses and which makes the penalties for shoplifting severe while providing no penalties at all for the looting of the national treasury by corporations such as Halliburton. 

Justice Daniels was correct. The “good ol’ boys” have learned they have nothing to fear from either women or minorities entering the law. They have simply co-opted them. Women and people of color have been allowed and even encouraged to join the ranks of lawyers and judges but only on the condition that they walk, talk, and look just like the “good ol’ boys” who wrote the rules and laws in the first place.   

Women and people of color have not changed the system. They have accommodated themselves to a very rigid system. They are the ones who have changed, become assimilated. And that's why, although a relatively small number of women and people of color have risen to positions of much prestige and power in the law, the status and circumstances of women and people of color, in general, remain virtually unchanged. 

If Justice Daniels has any hope at all to make good on his promise to make the national promise of “justice for all” a reality, the first thing he needs to do is peel paint -- lots of paint -- off the walls of the halls of justice. I enthusiastically support his intentions.

This is a guest blog by Anne Kass, who posts periodically on DFNM. Guest blogs provide our reader with an opportunity to express their opinions and may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand side of the page.

November 12, 2007 at 01:48 PM in Blogging by Anne Kass, Civil Liberties, Corporatism, Current Affairs, Women's Issues | Permalink

Comments

Judge Kass is on to something here. Although the speech given by Justice Daniels was truly moving I must take issue with his story about the black child named James and how his reciting of the pledge of allegiance opened his eyes to the disconnection between minorities and women. I would like to ask Justice Daniels “What ever happened to James?” “Did he go to college?”, “Did he graduate from High School?”, “Is he married?”, “Did you remain lifelong friends?”. This is the same kind of political pandering that upsets me as a minority. I am not saying that Justice Daniels isn’t committed to bettering the disparity amongst women and minorities, but for him to truly make the kinds of strides he is advocating for he must truly be connected to the communities he wants to improve and not just give us an example of how he is “familiar” with these communities.

Justice Daniels should pull out the spackle and chip away that paint that is clinging onto the walls of justice. Justice Daniels has an obligation to these communities to truly reach out and develop new strategies of how to engage them in a profession that he has truly embodied and embraced.

I am proud of our New Mexico State Supreme Court, it includes Chief Justice Edward Chavez, Justice Petra Maes, Justice Patricio Serna, and Justice Richard Bosson. I know from personal experience with all the above named Justices that they truly have a “personal” relationship with minorities and women in our state. Each have made tremendous commitments to changing the face of the judicial political process and have on occasion been the exception to the rule in regards to political candidates and appointees. I have to point out that Justice Bosson has always struck me as more of a vocal advocate for minorities than the other Justices because in some instances (because of the judicial culture Judge Kass touched on) can be the only one to have that voice.

Thank you Judge Kass for joining him and making a commitment to the same.

Posted by: Stop Attacking Hispanic Candidates | Nov 12, 2007 4:00:22 PM

Don't be ridiculous. Charles Daniels has worked for civil liberties and equality for decades, for everyone. You are so hung up on whether someone has a Hispanic surname that you can't see straight and you really didn't get the point of Judge Kass's post at all. I'm not surprised.

Posted by: RP | Nov 12, 2007 9:36:14 PM

RP,

I think I got the point, maybe you ate the paint and have some impediment not allowing you to see what Justice Kass was trying to get across to us.

Posted by: Stop Attacking Hispanic Candidates | Nov 15, 2007 7:16:53 PM

One thing she obviously meant was that women and minorities have to work harder to confront the good ole boys system instead of accommodating themselves to it for employment and financial security. What are the minority and female members of the judiciary at all levels doing to work for these causes? That's the real question. Someone like Daniels can't fight all their battles for them.

Posted by: Reader | Nov 16, 2007 11:11:53 AM

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