Generations of BC Law alumni have found common ground in relating their experiences with the institution’s most revered fixtures, names like Hillinger, Brodin, Blum, and Katz. This week, I had a chat with Professor “Bob” Bloom, an alum himself and a remarkable legal educator whose one-of-a-kind style has left an indelible mark on any student privileged enough to take his courses (BC Law Magazine published a lengthy Q&A with him last spring; read that here).
Continue readingcivil rights
Two Weddings, a Funeral, and a Naturalization Ceremony
Two weddings, a funeral, and a naturalization ceremony. This pretty much sums up my time in law school, in many ways. I lost my dad suddenly at the end of my 1L Spring semester (during finals: really wouldn’t recommend). During my 2L and 3L years I had two weddings: one in the U.S. and one in the U.K., where I grew up and my family still live. (For the sake of clarity: these weddings were to the same person. I’m nothing if not consistent.) And after having lived in the U.S. since 2016, I became a citizen in February of last year.
Of course, my time in law school was marked by a great deal more. But, when I think back to my time at BC Law, these are the progress points—the proverbial highway markers as it were—that map out the last three years for me temporally. These events were the points at which “life” most intruded into law school. Law school is all-consuming in a way I do not think I fully comprehended before I began my 1L year. I had worked for five years before returning to school, including three and a half years in a high-pressure role in New York City. But nothing prepared me for the way that law school threatened to take over and take me away from my sense of self. The death of my father, marrying my wife, cementing my life over in the U.S.: these were the events and the life-is-what-happens-to-you-while-you’re-busy-making-other-plans moments that burst the illusion of the bubble of law school for me.
Continue readingLaw School in Action: Civil Rights Clinic
Boston College Law School gives its students a wide range of classes to take that are taught by some of the best scholars in the field. Yet, while learning about the law in a classroom is crucial to becoming a successful attorney, nothing prepares you for day-to-day practice more than getting hands-on experience before graduating. That’s where BC Law’s clinics come in.
Law students in their second and third years of study can apply for coveted spots in any of the school’s fifteen clinics. No matter what someone’s legal interest is, there’s a clinic for them! To help students better understand the opportunities available to them, the BC Law Impact Blog is highlighting each of these clinics this semester. Here is our interview with the director of the Civil Rights Clinic, Reena Parikh.
Tell us about your clinic!
The Civil Rights Clinic is focused on advocating for the civil rights of low-wage workers, immigrants, and incarcerated persons throughout Massachusetts. We spend a good deal of time thinking critically about the roles of lawyers, clients, and communities in our advocacy efforts. Our docket has both litigation and community advocacy/policy matters on it that support the organizing efforts of grassroots and membership-based organizations.
Continue readingValentine’s Day Playlist: Black History Edition
Happy Valentine’s Day, and importantly, Happy Black History Month!
Since 1976, U.S. presidents have recognized February as Black History Month. February’s historical designation makes it a time to celebrate African American and Black people’s voices, cultures, adversities, and triumphs.
Though Black people in the United States have a resilient history of fighting the forces of racial injustice prior to the Civil Rights Movement, the American Civil Rights Movement is formally acknowledged as a period in the 1950’s and 60’s. This period was marked by historical moments such as the Brown v. Board of Education case decision, Rosa Park’s school bus arrest, and the March on Washington – to name a few. The Civil Rights Movement prompted the passing of two pivotal pieces of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
During the Civil Rights Movement, Black musicians continued contributing to their art. In honor of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, enjoy this playlist of love songs by Black artists from the Civil Rights Movement era.
- Only You – The Platters (1956)
- In the Still of the Night – The Five Satins (1956)
- When I Fall in Love – Nat King Cole (1956)
- You Send Me – Sam Cooke (1957)
- My Baby Just Cares for Me – Nina Simone (1959)
- At Last – Etta James (1960)
- Won’t Be Long – Aretha Franklin (1960)
- Part Time Love – Gladys Knight & The Pips (1961)
- Careless Love – Ray Charles (1962)
- Then He Kissed Me – The Crystals (1963)
- Be My Baby – The Ronettes (1963)
- Together – Marvin Gaye featuring Mary Wells (1964)
- Your Wonderful Love – The Temptations (1964)
- My Girl – The Temptations (1964)
- Stop in the Name of Love – The Supremes (1965)
Happy Black History Month, happy Valentine’s Day, and happy listening!
Haley Cole is a first-year student at BC Law. Contact her at colehc@bc.edu.
Breathe
“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
Those words, spoken by motivational speaker Eric Thomas, inspired me after I was rejected by The United States Military Academy at West Point when I first applied as a high school senior. Nevertheless, I did not lose my focus, my resolve, or my commitment to attend West Point because I wanted to serve our country and to fight for the rights and freedoms of others. Following the route of General George S. Patton, who attended West Point after a year at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), I went to VMI.
VMI is an institution known for its challenging first-year experience, known as the “Rat Line,” its sexist history (United States v. Virginia et al., 1996), and its military support of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. As an African-American cadet, I had to come to terms with VMI’s past and the constant reminders on its campus that glorified supporters of slavery. For example, as a “rat” (a freshman who has not yet earned the title of “cadet” by completing a crucible known as “Breakout”), I was required to salute the statue of Lieutenant General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson—a Confederate officer who taught at VMI and who believed that African-Americans were incapable of becoming disciplined soldiers—prior to the statue’s subsequent removal on December 7, 2020. I was also required to participate in an annual celebration of the ten VMI cadets who died for the Confederacy during the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864. At this celebration, my classmates and I were ordered to reenact a Confederate charge and seizure of a hill that was occupied by Union artillery forces, which I did with disdain.
Continue readingRemembering Fred Korematsu
Korematsu v. United States is easily one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time, and one that people are often unaware of until they get to the strict scrutiny aspect of their Constitutional Law class. In fact, I distinctly remember getting to the World War II portion of history in APUSH back in high school, seeing a brief mention of this case, asking about it in class, only to be brushed off because it “wasn’t important.”
Yesterday was January 30th, 2022: Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, a day that is mostly only observed in California. On the anniversary of Korematsu, I’d like to draw attention to the article my APALSA mentor, Rosa Kim, wrote up a year ago–and also to weigh in with my own thoughts on the matter.
Korematsu is, undoubtedly, an ugly portion of US History that is often swept under the rug. Fred Korematsu was only 23 when he was ordered by the US Government to evacuate his residence and move into one of the Japanese internment camps prepared in the wake of Pearl Harbor, designed to herd the Japanese American population into controlled areas to supervise them. Anyone “at least 1/16th Japanese” were evacuated. Korematsu was the age many of us students are today when he changed his name and had plastic surgery done to try to avoid this mandate. As a US citizen, he did not understand why he was being herded off to camps as a prisoner merely for the way he looked. He chose to stay at home rather than relocate and was eventually arrested for his violation of the order. Korematsu then courageously appealed his case until it reached the Supreme Court, maintaining that the evacuation order was a violation of his 5th Amendment right.
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BC Law: Impact 