E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
Several months ago, I had the honor of helping West Baltimore Middle School celebrate Brown v. Board of Education. A fascinating experience. Much wonderful revisionist scholarship, most notably Gerry Rosenberg's, The Hollow Hope, and Michael Klarman's, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, questions the deification of Brown in the American civil religion. West Baltimore, was very much into holy worship for reasons more elite academics may forgot. The central struggle West Baltimore teachers face is convincing kids that they want to go to college. The message of Brown day is clear, get an education and help your people. In this environment, it didn't seem quite right to note that on the 50th anniversary of Brown II, I didn't see either a white student or a computer in any classroom.
As we debate the next Supreme Court nominee, I hope we keep West Baltimore Middle in mind. The too easy answer as to what has happened is that the Rehnquist Court lost interest in racial equality, but as I read the elite law reviews, it seems that a good many liberals seem more concerned with privacy and related rights than with the constitutional problems of the non-white poor. My daughters have bright futures ahead of them, however they may encounter gender discrimination. Most of my gay friends lead good lives, even if they are subject to discrimination and cannot yet legally marry. Too many of the children and West Baltimore lack such a future or promise, unless our politics makes their concerns far more central than they have been in either left or right wing politics. Posted
12:44 PM
by Mark Graber [link]
Comments:
But surely the fact is, neither the Rehnquist court nor the left-wing legal academy has the faintest idea of how to solve the problems of the students at West Baltimore, so they have moved on to other problems where they at least have ideas (like a "federalism revolution," or boycotting states that don't allow gay marriage, or whatever) for something to do.
If you have any actual ideas of how to help the students at West Baltimore, by all means write a book. I confess that I do not.