Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Florida A&M University College of Law

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 30 of 99

Full-Text Articles in Civil Rights and Discrimination

Why I Will Not Stop Teaching Law Students To Think Critically About Race: The Attack On Teaching About The Role Of Race In Law, Leroy Pernell Jan 2024

Why I Will Not Stop Teaching Law Students To Think Critically About Race: The Attack On Teaching About The Role Of Race In Law, Leroy Pernell

Journal Publications

As someone who has been involved in legal education teaching for over 40 years and as someone who was drawn to legal education as an alternative to a career more directly devoted to litigation concerning racial justice, so that others might be encouraged to explore critically both what race has meant to our legal system and how we might collectively counter its negative influence, the “Stop W.O.K.E act” presents a real and present danger. Thus, in August of 2022 I agreed to be the lead named plaintiff in Pernell, et. al. v. Florida Board of Governors of the State University …


"Exceedingly Unpersuasive” - Discrimination, Transgender Students, And School Bathrooms, Mark Dorosin Jan 2024

"Exceedingly Unpersuasive” - Discrimination, Transgender Students, And School Bathrooms, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

This Article is organized chronologically, in an effort to more effectively reflect the nearly identical fact patterns, timelines, and intersecting opinions of these cases. Part I provides the factual background of both cases. Part II summarizes the substantial preliminary litigation in Grimm; Part III examines the district court ruling in Adams; Part IV analyzes the summary judgment ruling in Grimm. Part V covers Adams’ first appellate ruling; Part VI discusses the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in Grimm three weeks later, and Part VII considers the aftermath of that decision. Parts VIII and IX explore the second panel ruling in Adams and …


Bridge Or Barrier: The Intersection Of Wealth, Housing, And The Disparate Impact Standard Jan 2023

Bridge Or Barrier: The Intersection Of Wealth, Housing, And The Disparate Impact Standard

Florida A & M University Law Review

This note asserts that exclusionary zoning and housing based on income or economic standing can have a disparate impact on race. The disparate impact standard of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42, U.S.C.S § 3601 et seq., used in the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities, does not do enough to aid plaintiffs in bringing claims where there is a racial disparity in housing. Part One of this paper will discuss the Federal policies that historically contributed to the wealth gap that exists on the basis of race, the legacy of these policies, and how …


The Roots Of The Problem: How The Crown Act Could Remedy The Inadequacies Of Title Vii Hair Discrimination Protections In The Entertainment Industry Jan 2023

The Roots Of The Problem: How The Crown Act Could Remedy The Inadequacies Of Title Vii Hair Discrimination Protections In The Entertainment Industry

Florida A & M University Law Review

This article will examine the inadequacies of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) as it relates to hair discrimination in the entertainment industry and how the “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair” (“CROWN”) Act could help to alleviate those inadequacies. Title VII fails to acknowledge the connection between hair texture/ protective styles and race. The entertainment industry exploits the failures of Title VII when casting African American women for television and film roles. Industry executives have been known to ask actresses to mute or exaggerate their blackness through different requests for their …


School Curriculum: The Sigmatic Harm To Students And The Responsibility Of Congress To Act Again Jan 2023

School Curriculum: The Sigmatic Harm To Students And The Responsibility Of Congress To Act Again

Florida A & M University Law Review

When Brown was decided, the Supreme Court felt that it could not trust the States to encourage and facilitate equality on its own, which was proven true in the subsequent, decades-long resistance against integration following the Brown II mandate. Once again, the States cannot be trusted to move towards equality and away from backward community norms and bias without federal intervention. This is currently being exemplified by states like Florida—explicitly banning public schools from teaching Critical Race Theory. The Supreme Court does not seem willing to extend Brown any further, but the federal government may encourage and facilitate curriculum equality …


The American Dream Belongs To All Of Us: Latinos And Jamaican Americans Experience Cultural Genocide By American Assimilation Jan 2023

The American Dream Belongs To All Of Us: Latinos And Jamaican Americans Experience Cultural Genocide By American Assimilation

Florida A & M University Law Review

Racism in the United States has had a detrimental effect on the Latino and Jamaican experience in this country; affirmative action can be used to promote acculturation rather than assimilation. Part I of this article will explore the origins of the American Experiment as the creation of a country with freedom and democracy and how the benefit of those rights has never been given to racialized minorities without a struggle and fight. Part II explores Supreme Court cases that deal with discrimination issues in America and highlights how the solution to the forced assimilation of diverse cultures cannot be found …


What To The Marginalized Person Is The American Dream Jan 2023

What To The Marginalized Person Is The American Dream

Florida A & M University Law Review

I will organize this Note around three themes Douglass articulated in his speech. These themes, which remain timely and relevant over 170 years later, are (1) the importance of attending to those most impacted by injustices; (2) the responsibility of each of us to address the injustices we see in the world around us; and (3) the practice of remaining hopeful in the face of what, at times, may feel like daunting circumstances. I will structure this Note around these three themes as I consider what the American Dream means for marginalized persons. Throughout, I will weave in examples of …


The Anti-Woke And The Black American (Waking) Dream Jan 2023

The Anti-Woke And The Black American (Waking) Dream

Florida A & M University Law Review

This essay, though not a direct transcript, is based largely upon the keynote address given by the author on February 24, 2023, at the “The American Dream Belongs to All of Us” Symposium sponsored by the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Law Review and the FAMU Hispanic American Law Student Association (HALSA) at FAMU College of Law. The author joyfully acknowledges that her remarks are likely impermissible under the so-called Stop-W.O.K.E. Act that is currently being challenged in court by members of the FAMU College of Law community.


Critical Race Theory And Florida Schools: An Attempt To Suppress Racism Embedded Within American History Jan 2023

Critical Race Theory And Florida Schools: An Attempt To Suppress Racism Embedded Within American History

Florida A & M University Law Review

“Our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among its citizens.” Imagine that a public school student learns that the curriculum taught at their school about their culture and its history has just been banned. Further, they discover that the reasoning for the removal is the belief that the curriculum promotes reverse racism. Imagine this happening only to classes related to their culture and background, but similar courses teaching the history and experiences of other cultures remain untouched, unbanned, and unaddressed. History is the story of the past and tells us where we are, where we come from, …


Silencio: The Hispanic/Latino Reticent Approach To Racism Jan 2023

Silencio: The Hispanic/Latino Reticent Approach To Racism

Florida A & M University Law Review

Many Latinos dream of coming to America in search for a better way of life but instead are faced with discrimination based on where they come from, the language they speak, and the pigmentation of their skin. Racial discrimination is one of the most ever-present issues in the United States of America today. Some look at discrimination and believe that it has been “fixed” through our political and judicial processes. However, others know that discrimination is still alive and prominent today. Today, discrimination has manifested itself differently –it is discreet and indirect but still prominent in the daily lives of …


What, To The Marginalized Person, Is The American Dream, Deidre Keller Jan 2023

What, To The Marginalized Person, Is The American Dream, Deidre Keller

Journal Publications

I will organize this Note around three themes Douglass articulated in his speech. These themes, which remain timely and relevant over 170 years later, are (1) the importance of attending to those most impacted by injustices; (2) the responsibility of each of us to address the injustices we see in the world around us; and (3) the practice of remaining hopeful in the face of what, at times, may feel like daunting circumstances. I will structure this Note around these three themes as I consider what the American Dream means for marginalized persons. Throughout, I will weave in examples of …


Bias And Sexism: The Racial And Gender Wage Gap Affecting Black Women Jan 2022

Bias And Sexism: The Racial And Gender Wage Gap Affecting Black Women

Florida A & M University Law Review

The objective of this Article is to address the racial wage gap between Black and White women and provide a solution. Part I of this Article will discuss the history of Black women and White women in the workforce. Part II will discuss the gender wage gap as it applies to Black and White women in the 21st century. Part III will discuss how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act has failed to address the gender and race issues that Black women face when it comes to work wages. Part IV will …


Off-White: Al-Khazraji And Shaare Tefila's Potential To De-Essentialize Antidiscrimination Law Jan 2022

Off-White: Al-Khazraji And Shaare Tefila's Potential To De-Essentialize Antidiscrimination Law

Florida A & M University Law Review

The figure of the Arab Jew has historically occupied a space at the margins of Jewish life, rendered peripheral or even invisible by a lens trained on the experiences of Jews of European descent. Drawing in part from the academic lineage of Kimberl´e Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, American Jews of Arab and Middle Eastern descent (“Mizrahi Jews”) are increasingly joining their Israeli counterparts and Jews of color in the United States in challenging the naturalization of Jewish whiteness in the popular imagination. In a striking parallel between this groundswell of community theorizing and legal strategy, the Supreme Court in …


Post-Conviction Release And Defacto Double Jeopardy: Making The Case For Felons As A Quasi-Suspect Class Due To The Collateral Consequences Of A Felony Conviction Jan 2022

Post-Conviction Release And Defacto Double Jeopardy: Making The Case For Felons As A Quasi-Suspect Class Due To The Collateral Consequences Of A Felony Conviction

Florida A & M University Law Review

Felons are a prime example of a sub-class of individuals that, once convicted in a court of law, are classified, punished, stigmatized, stripped of their rights as American citizens, and discriminated against. Could this be a form of De Facto double jeopardy? While felons are not literally subjected to a second trial within the judicial system for the same offense, felons face a pseudo trial with society, as its jury, upon re-entry into society, based on the continual discrimination for crimes they have already served time for. The enactment of discriminatory laws against felons dehumanizes the individual by discarding their …


The (White) Washing Of American History Jan 2022

The (White) Washing Of American History

Florida A & M University Law Review

In 2019, the New York Times Magazine released a special issue of its magazine, called the 1619 Project, entirely dedicated to reframing the founding of America and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans as central to America. The 1619 Project quickly became a national lightning rod—the book version of the project reached the top 100 on the bestseller lists of Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com more than a month before its release date, and several states responded by banning the teaching of The 1619 Project in schools. Bans on teaching The 1619 Project have erroneously referred to …


Caniglia V. Strom: Brief Of Professor Leroy Pernell And The National Association Of Criminal Defense Attorneys In Support Of Petitioner, Leroy Pernell Jan 2021

Caniglia V. Strom: Brief Of Professor Leroy Pernell And The National Association Of Criminal Defense Attorneys In Support Of Petitioner, Leroy Pernell

Amicus Briefs

No abstract provided.


The Battle Of Brandy Creek: How One Black Community Fought Annexation, Tax Revaluation, And Displacement, Mark Dorosin Jan 2021

The Battle Of Brandy Creek: How One Black Community Fought Annexation, Tax Revaluation, And Displacement, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

The Brandy Creek community is a working class, Black neighborhood located just east of I-95, south of Weldon, North Carolina.' In 2005, this rural neighborhood and its surrounding land were legislatively annexed into the city of Roanoke Rapids as part of a planned economic development project. The decision to pursue legislative annexation allowed city officials to bypass the statutory notice and municipal service requirements of a city-initiated, involuntary annexation. Residents were never informed of Roanoke Rapids' intent to annex the community and had no opportunity to voice their opinions on the issue to town officials. In fact, the community first …


Historically Black Colleges & Universities: A Model For American Education, Jennifer M. Smith Jan 2021

Historically Black Colleges & Universities: A Model For American Education, Jennifer M. Smith

Journal Publications

Hungry for freedom and knowledge, enslaved Blacks engaged in a massive general strike against slavery by transferring their labor from the Confederate planter to the Northern invader, and this decided the Civil War. In 1865, the North conquered the South, and slavery officially ended. Having been starved of the opportunity to learn to read or write, the recently emancipated Blacks were eager to learn. Within a year after slavery ended, however, Florida and other Southern states enacted laws to ensure the continuation of the vestiges of slavery in the United States. The legacy of slavery and racism evolved into an …


Damn It! A Conversation On Being Black, Female, And Marginalized During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Is The World Listening? A Conversation Between Black Female Law Professors, Patricia A. Broussard Jan 2020

Damn It! A Conversation On Being Black, Female, And Marginalized During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Is The World Listening? A Conversation Between Black Female Law Professors, Patricia A. Broussard

Journal Publications

We are African American women with a combined forty-four years in academia. We are professors of law and have seen firsthand how COVID-19 has ravaged African Americans across this country. As we conversed with one another in the Spring of 2020 about what we were witnessing, we began to look through the spectrum of the law and discrimination, and how this novel Coronavirus is laying bare the inequities and inequalities that have been evident for hundreds of years in the Black community. We felt compelled to put pen to paper and document our conversations in an attempt to give a …


Bridging Race + Ip: The Challenges And Potential Of Utilizing Transdisciplinary Methods To Undo The Unbearable Whiteness Of Intellectual Property, Deidre Keller Jan 2020

Bridging Race + Ip: The Challenges And Potential Of Utilizing Transdisciplinary Methods To Undo The Unbearable Whiteness Of Intellectual Property, Deidre Keller

Faculty Books and Book Contributions

This chapter is part of Approaches and Methodologies in Intellectual Property Research edited by Irene Calboli and Maria Lilla.


Doctrine Of Dignity: Making A Case For The Right To Die With Dignity In Florida Post-Obergefell Jan 2020

Doctrine Of Dignity: Making A Case For The Right To Die With Dignity In Florida Post-Obergefell

Florida A & M University Law Review

The discussions about the right to privacy have evolved, and the national landscape on physician-assisted suicide has changed since Krischer. Surely, it is time Floridian citizens are given the opportunity to decide whether the right to privacy guaranteed by the Florida constitution includes the right to die with dignity. Numerous states across the nation have adopted legislative provisions which afford those within that state’s borders the ability to die with dignity through physician-assisted suicide. In addition, the seemingly unrelated decision of the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges has reopened the discussion of Glucksberg and its holding. In …


Leviathan Goes To Washington: How To Assert The Separation Of Powers In Defense Of Future Generations Jan 2020

Leviathan Goes To Washington: How To Assert The Separation Of Powers In Defense Of Future Generations

Florida A & M University Law Review

The separation of powers was originally drawn from the common law of England, vindicated during the American Revolution as a fundamental bulwark against tyranny, and constitutionalized in the first three articles of the U.S. Constitution. It was adopted as an assurance that the present generation would not assert dead-hand control over the future of American society for mere efficiency, vanity, or greed. The separation of powers, therefore, exists to empower future generations to contend for their rights of life, liberty, and property. Both the long history of the separation of powers and the recent, controversial practices of multinational government contractors …


Ban Child Marriages: Florida Is Not Acting In The Best Interest Of The Child Jan 2020

Ban Child Marriages: Florida Is Not Acting In The Best Interest Of The Child

Florida A & M University Law Review

This Note argues that Florida must follow Delaware and New Jersey and ban all minor marriages, without exception. Although the right to marry is a fundamental right, the states have the power to set the age requirements to obtain a marriage license. Permitting any minor to marry, even with specific limitations, is harmful to a child. Thus, Florida must ban all marriages of any person under the age of eighteen. Florida’s current marriage statute sets the minimum age to marry at seventeen, once specific exceptions are met. The statute is an improvement from Florida’s previous marriage statute, which is now …


Bibliography Of Journal And Law Review Articles Discussing Virgil Hawkins And His Legal And Social Impact, Paul J. Mclaughlin Jan 2020

Bibliography Of Journal And Law Review Articles Discussing Virgil Hawkins And His Legal And Social Impact, Paul J. Mclaughlin

Documents

No abstract provided.


North Carolina's H.B.2: A Case Study In Lgbtq Rights, Preemption, And The (Un)Democratic Process, Mark Dorosin Jan 2020

North Carolina's H.B.2: A Case Study In Lgbtq Rights, Preemption, And The (Un)Democratic Process, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

In 2014, community advocates in Charlotte, North Carolina, began organizing to press the city to amend its antidiscrimination ordinance to add several new protected classes, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. After a contentious hearing where opponents argued that the change-which would allow transgender people to use public restrooms according to their gender identity-would subject women and children to "sexual predators," the city council voted down the amendment. Undaunted, advocates worked over the next several months to elect new council members and a mayor who supported LGBTQ rights. The amendments to the civil rights ordinance were then brought …


If Animals Are Like Our Children Let Us Treat Them Alike: Creating Tests Of An Animal's Intelligence For Determinations Of Legal Personhood, Paul J. Mclaughlin Apr 2019

If Animals Are Like Our Children Let Us Treat Them Alike: Creating Tests Of An Animal's Intelligence For Determinations Of Legal Personhood, Paul J. Mclaughlin

Library Faculty Publications

The notion that animals could be granted rights under the law was once ridiculed, but now courts and legislatures have begun to move towards granting animals greater protections from cruelty and emotional trauma. Animal law as a course of study was not available in law schools until the early 1970's. It has since grown into a field of debate and study that has drawn in experts from around the world." The rules of law that treat animals as property have been fought by animal rights advocates as being archaic similarly to the laws that once allowed for slavery. Animal owners …


A Damaging Cure: Queer Youth And Conversion Therapy Jan 2019

A Damaging Cure: Queer Youth And Conversion Therapy

Florida A & M University Law Review

This article proceeds in six parts. Part I dissects the development of the conservative narrative that queerness is a contagious trait, how the gender norm perpetuates a broad rejection of homosexuality, and the concept of “cured passing” in terms of conversion therapy success stories. Part II examines the progression of the general LGBT rights movement by highlighting its historic adult-centered victories and elaborating how these victories allowed for the necessary space and momentum for the contemporary movement of state conversion therapy bans to gain traction. Part III provides the background and history of conversion therapy by exploring its medical origin …


Disparities In The Use Of Prophylactic Treatments In Reproductive Health Between The Sexes: A Recommendation For The Use Of Hpv Vaccination Schemes Rather Than Surgical Interventions To Reduce Inequities And Threats To The Public’S Health Jan 2019

Disparities In The Use Of Prophylactic Treatments In Reproductive Health Between The Sexes: A Recommendation For The Use Of Hpv Vaccination Schemes Rather Than Surgical Interventions To Reduce Inequities And Threats To The Public’S Health

Florida A & M University Law Review

This Article will examine the unequal treatment of the sexes under the law with regard to prophylactic treatments against STDs. The second section of this Article will discuss the ethical and legal issues in the use of prophylactic treatments and the issues involving informed consent regarding their use. The third section of this Article will discuss the historic and current use of prophylactic surgeries on both sexes to prevent disease and the challenges that have been raised against such practices. The fourth section of this Article will discuss the use of the H.P.V. vaccinations in both sexes to reduce the …


A Life Worth Living: Fighting Filicide Against Children With Disabilities Jan 2019

A Life Worth Living: Fighting Filicide Against Children With Disabilities

Florida A & M University Law Review

This article aims to explore filicide as it relates to children with disabilities. Filicide is a specific type of killing where a parent murders his or her own child. Part II gives a historical perspective on filicide. Part II also explains the various reasons behind filicide and why those reasons specifically apply to the killings of children with disabilities. Further, Part III explores the relationship between sentencing disparities in cases where society sympathizes with the parents of children with disabilities and condemns parents of nondisabled children. Part III also argues that children with disabilities face additional barriers in the fight …


The Virgil Darnell Hawkins Collection: A Special Collection At The Heart Of An Hbcu Law School, Yolanda P. Jones Jan 2019

The Virgil Darnell Hawkins Collection: A Special Collection At The Heart Of An Hbcu Law School, Yolanda P. Jones

Library Faculty Publications

The Florida A&M University College of Law has several special collections, but the most significant of those special collections is one that is on the fourth floor of the law library. When you look at it you will see several ranges of books that are outdated. They include case reporters, statutes, secondary sources and other legal materials that are no older than the 1960s. This collection, frozen in time, is named in honor of Virgil Darnell Hawkins, an African-American who, while little known, was critical to the creation of the Florida A&M University College of Law and had an impact …