The "Brown" decision's legacy/More violence in Gaza/UF to pack "The Swamp" despite Covid-19

Ol' Hobbs's Tuesday Talking Points!

Remembering the Brown Decision

Yesterday marked the 67th anniversary of the seminal Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision that served as the jurisprudence end of segregation (even if the real end was nowhere near and arguably still in effect in some respects).

If you look at the wall in my old office below, over the left shoulder of the jazz drummer you will see a framed copy of the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat from May 18, 1954 that reads: (The United States Supreme) "Court Bans Segregation in Public School Cases." 

The Brown decision overturned the previous 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson decision which upheld Jim Crow laws by requiring “separate but equal” state level accommodations. During the period when Plessy was the controlling law of the land, America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) thrived despite being severely underfunded by Southern state legislatures. This shameful legacy remains with us to this very hour, as evidenced by the recent half-billion-dollar settlement in Maryland that will redress past funding disparities at Morgan State, Bowie State, Coppin State, and Maryland-Eastern Shore, and the Tennessee legislature’s acknowledgment that Tennessee State University had hundreds of millions of dollars withheld from it during the Jim Crow era. 

I raise this issue today not just to commemorate the past, but to acknowledge that in the present, when one looks at the differences in physical plants and course offering at the Universities of Maryland, Tennessee, and Florida in comparison to Maryland Eastern Shore, Tennessee State, or Florida A&M, that the formerly all-white flagship schools have had a tremendous financial advantage dating back to the period when legislatures got the "separate" part down pat—but were reticent to provide the "equal" funding as mandated by then-existing law. Such is why these lawsuits are necessary and more crucially, why persistent advocacy for equal funding in the present remains our collective charge to keep as supporters of HBCUs. 

Biden needs to get off the fence in Gaza

As fighting spills into a second full week, President Joe Biden yesterday was extremely careful in his words and called for a general "cease-fire," but did not give a full-throated condemnation of the disproportionate violence and catastrophic civilian death toll that the Israeli military is exacting in Gaza. 

For the "Israel has a right to defend itself" crowd, I agree—it does. So, too, do the Palestinians! Further, in Anglo-American jurisprudence, there's this little thing called “proportionality,” meaning, I can defend myself to the extent reasonably necessary to repel an attack. For example, if an unarmed person pushes me during an argument, I am justified to push or punch them back—but not to pull out my 9mm and blast them five or six times at point-blank range. (Nota Bene: For those who ask, "well Hobbs, didn't George Zimmerman shoot and kill Trayvon Martin after a scuffle that Zimmerman started and still was found not guilty? You are right—and you make my argument against the flaws within Stand Your Ground laws across America because they can have a chilling effect on proportional responses, particularly depending upon the race of the person who supposedly stood their ground).

Digressing, nothing that Israel is doing in Gaza is proportional to the rockets fired at Israeli targets by Hamas that more often than not inflict little to no damage. This past Sunday, two Israeli airstrikes in killed 43 Palestinians—including eight children—and injured 50 others, most of whom were women and children. Thus my call for President Biden to do more than just announce tepid support for a cease-fire—he needs to demand a full cease-fire ASAP. As I wrote on Facebook last night, Biden also MUST get off of the fence and "work for a peaceful two-state solution...that respects the rights of Palestinians with the same vigor that Israeli rights have been supported by the US for seven-plus decades!"

Florida Field will fill to full capacity

As an alumnus of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, it came as no surprise to me yesterday when I read an e-mail that the University will open up its iconic football stadium, "The Swamp," to full capacity this fall—even as the Coronavirus Pandemic remains a threat to the lives of all who will enter. My lack of surprise stems from knowing that money is what matters in America, and with FBS football being a billion dollar industry, there's no way that the powers that be were going to allow another season to pass by with limited seating capacity and restraints on the amount of money concessions stands can make on game day. 

Last fall, the so-called "Power Five" conferences which includes the SEC, Florida's home conference, pressed forward to play despite the inherent dangers of so doing. By December, more than 6,600 athletes, coaches and staff members had tested positive for the Coronavirus and as the same remains novel, it may be years before we realize the impact that the disease had on the "young, in-shape athletes" who contracted it and were forced to sit out for two weeks. To be sure, some athletes did choose to opt out, including my very own nephew/cousin Amir Rasul, a former running back at Florida State University who sat out after transferring to play his final season as a graduate student at Middle Tennessee State University. Earlier this spring, when asked about his decision to opt out last year, Rasul said, "It was a lot that played into it. I just didn't want my family members to catch the disease without a vaccine around yet. I wanted to protect my family, and there was a lot of unknowns around. It's been amazing being back. I'm just blessed to have this opportunity."

Amen! In similar fashion, while I and the majority of Rasul's family members are fully vaccinated now, I will continue to mask up and refrain from being among 95,000 screaming fans at "The Swamp" so that I, and we, can remain "Rona" free.

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