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Kimani Gray: Guilty Until Proved Innocent
Raising important questions about the demise of the presumption of innocence when today’s black males are involved, the Nation columnist Patricia J. Williams weighs in on the police shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray. The only thing anyone can agree upon is that on Saturday, March 9, 16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot seven times by two…
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The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Kids
The war on drugs has long been derided for its problems, and Patricia J. Williams writes in the Nation that children are its latest victims. Drugs are ubiquitous in this country, and yet we know that some people have the privilege of doctor-prescribed intoxication, while others are thrown into dungeons for seeking the same relief.…
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Guns, Democracy and the Supreme Court
If recent mass shootings have reinvigorated the conversation about gun regulation and access to mental-health treatment, they must also generate a discussion of the Constitution, the role of government and our responsibility to one another, Patricia J. Williams writes at the Nation. As President Obama begins his second term, our hopes and expectations are shadowed…
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Why We Can't Ignore Climate Change
Hurricane Sandy’s destructive path on the East Coast shouldn’t be dismissed as “crazy weather,” urges Columbia law professor Patricia J. Williams in the Nation. Instead, Americans and our leaders must seek out ways to tackle climate change head-on, or we’ll all be the victims of Mother Nature’s angry fists. … “President Obama promised to begin…
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How Much Is Your DNA Worth?
Professor Patricia J. Williams sees a clear line between academic research and R&D as it relates to DNA procurement and analysis. Writing for the Nation, Williams notes that last month the company 23andMe received its first patent for scientific research that might help in the fight against Parkinson’s disease. Williams hopes the company uses its…
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Did George Zimmerman Break the Law?
The Nation columnist and Columbia University law professor Patricia J. Williams addresses the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case through a judicial lens rather than a political gaze. Williams argues that for all of contemporary culture’s assertions of what everyone should be talking about, the ultimate conversation should surround the laws that Zimmerman did or did not…
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The Dangerous Devotion to Eyewitness Testimony
Columbia law professor Patricia J. Williams blogs at the Nation about America’s devotion to eyewitness testimony, despite a century’s worth of studies revealing that, from Sacco and Vanzetti to Troy Davis, witnesses often get it wrong. “We see what we want to see,” my grandmother used to say. This insight visited me recently after I…
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Do We Have Right to Privacy Outside Our Homes?
The Department of Justice has told the Supreme Court that police should be allowed to secretly place GPS devices on our cars, Patricia J. Williams writes in her column at the Nation, but we have already relinquished more rights to privacy than we realize. When attorney and feminist blogger Jill Filipovic landed at Newark Airport…
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Sex, Lies and the DSK Case
In her column in the Nation, Patricia J. Williams writes that a weak case rather than a lack of justice hurt Nafissatou Diallo’s suit against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. … Media accounts suggested that Diallo’s suit was dismissed because of her “questionable past,” but that wasn’t what weakened the case most. It was that she lied to…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
