In the second half of the semester we addressed discrimination on the basis of race and sexual orientation, reproductive rights, and the prevalence of sexual assault. We devoted substantial time to learning about the struggles through history of African Americans, the movement toward greater rights for the LGBTQ community, and the legal foundations of Roe v. Wade. Our focus included how the legal system responded to injustices related to all of these topics. For example, the book White Rage, Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and the Canvas reading on the African American struggle for equality describe the injustices, their sources, and how the legal system reacted. We also traced the last 35 years of Supreme Court decisions applying the 14th Amendment’s equal protection and due process clauses to issues related to gay rights. We examined the different sides of the abortion debate and learned about changes in the law regarding the prosecution of sex offenses. This assignment asks you to reflect on one of the central themes of this course as it relates to these topics: Is the current legal structure we have in place adequate to address the types of injustice we studied in class or does the structure itself need to be substantially changed? In other words, do you agree or disagree with the statement that the “legal system”, the structure itself (which is based largely on the Constitution), does not need to change but it is rather the people who make up and run that system that need to change? People like to say “the system sucks.” With specific regard to the legal sy
stem we studied this semester, do you agree? If you take the position that fundamental or radical change to the foundations of the legal system itself is necessary if we are going to eradicate these types of injustice or at least lessen their impact, what changes would you propose? If you take the position that our current structure is up to the task of addressing these types of injustices, explain why. This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade. Please feel invited to express yourselves freely. You can structure your essay any way you choose as long as you address the assignment’s central question. You do not need to discuss every example of injustice we covered; focusing on one and handling it in more depth are fine. Including your personal experiences with any of these (or similar) examples of injustice is also perfectly acceptable, even encouraged. So, for example, we did not specifically cover in this class injustices experienced by immigrants, the disabled, or ethnic groups or communities of people other than African Americans. If in answering the assignment’s central question you wish to refer to an example of injustice other than what we covered during the semester, that is fine. But every student must demonstrate understanding of and fluency with the readings we did cover. You are being assessed on the seriousness of your effort and the thought and passion that you put into this. Originality, depth of thought, honesty, a willingness to stretch are what count. Your paper should be 4 full double-spaced typewritten pages.Use text: Missoula by Jon Krakauer; White Rage by Carol Anderson