First, there’s this:
The interim dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law has scheduled a schoolwide roundtable discussion for today to air concerns raised by a weekend off-campus party in which some law students dressed in hip-hop clothes and toted 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor.Photos of the “Bullets & Bubbly” party were posted on the popular website facebook.com, dismaying some students who regarded the party theme as racially insensitive. Photos depicted partygoers wearing do-rags, muscle shirts, hoodies, and necklaces with gold medallions. (Merritt)
And then there’s this:
The arrest this week of a white woman on charges of filing a false rape complaint against an unidentified black man has put two groups already accustomed to prejudice and misconceptions at odds.
[...]
For those in the African American community, there is no question that the woman’s status as a rape victim is outweighed by the harm she caused when she told police she was raped by a large black man in Bushnell Park two months ago. [...]“We’re not having a victim contest here,” said Carrie Saxon Perry, a former mayor of Hartford. “Understanding is different from excusing. Whatever she is, victim or not, this is about race. Because why else would she say a black man did it when she knew that he didn’t?” (Hamilton)
Carrie Saxon Perry’s question is answered, inadvertently, by the attitudes that led law students to throw a ghetto thug-themed party. Bluntly, people make a connection between black men and criminal behavior. Many on both sides of the racial divide, from white suburbanites to inner-city black kids, glorify that connection, with the help of an overwhelming and in-your-face segment of popular culture. Many others struggle to somehow move beyond that stereotype, but it’s like swimming upstream against a fast and dangerous current. That culture is what prompted the law students to have their party. That’s what made the story of a white woman being raped by a black man easy to believe, and why it generated so little attention until it turned out the woman had lied.
If this were only just a cruel stereotype about black men, that would be one thing. But it’s more complicated than that. Black men make up a highly disproportionate percentage of prisoners in this country and this state. Blacks know this. Whites know it, too. Each side has different suspicions about why this is the case, and about where the blame lies. Few understand or appreciate the complex racial, social, cultural and economic issues underlying the problem. Few want to even see that the issues are there–so they go unaddressed. And the problem perpetuates itself, on TV and in real life. A complex social reality easily leads to more prejudice, and the injustice prejudice creates continues.
Worse, we just don’t talk about race here in Connecticut. There’s a massive, yawning gap growing between the many races who live here. We live in different neighborhoods, go to different schools and stores, and hardly socialize or come in contact in any but the most incidental of ways. Race only ever comes up when there’s a crisis. We simply don’t understand one another. We never give ourselves a chance to.
This lack of communication and understanding is a slow poison–slow enough that we believe that we can ignore the pain, and hope that it might just go away. It won’t. It’ll just keep eating away at us, until all we have left is anger and mistrust.
Sources
Hamilton, Elizabeth. “Arrest Of Rape Accuser Opens Wounds.” Hartford Courant 25 January, 2007.
Merritt, Grace. “Off-Campus Party Theme Called Racially Insensitive.” Hartford Courant 25 January, 2007.
17 responses so far ↓
When you say “we” I assume you are referring to yourself and possibly a mouse in your pocket, Mr. Conn. For me, your opine only perpetuates stereotypes. And this little story says human nature will unfortunatley be what it is:
http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/nifong.html
How so? Certainly not my intent.
In other words, count me out as one of the we’s in broad stereotypical statements like:Worse, we just don’t talk about race here in Connecticut. There’s a massive, yawning gap growing between the many races who live here. We live in different neighborhoods, go to different schools and stores, and hardly socialize or come in contact in any but the most incidental of ways. Race only ever comes up when there’s a crisis. We simply don’t understand one another. We never give ourselves a chance to. As far as I am concerned we are long past the race problem, which albeit does exist, and into a problem of socioeconomics. Maybe the last sentence in this link is appropriate to the thread
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/nyregion/25police.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin
Okay, the “we” I mention is pretty broad and general. Maybe I should have prefaced it with a “by and large.” But race definitely matters, and it’s too tied up with socioeconomics to ignore it. I wish we were beyond race. We’re not.
First, as a disclaimer, I graduated from UConn Law, I’m still in regular contact with people (students and profs) there, and I know all but one of the students quoted in this article very well. I also know many of the people who went to this party, although not particularly well.
This party was one of a series of parties that law students (generally, the younger, straight-out-of-college law students) have thrown over the years that involves getting dressed up in some way. There have been red carpet parties, Halloween parties, etc. This one was actually two themes, and about half of the people in attendance chose to go with the “bubbly” theme and wear tuxes and gowns. It’s all just an excuse to dress up and get drunk. Stupid? Yes, definitely. Racist? No. I think associating the thug wear/gangsta fashion style with race is just stupid. Yes, a lot of the big names who dress this way and make money off selling these clothes are black, but it trickles down to people of all colors. I associate it more with urban lifestyle than anything. I react the same way to all people who dress this way—namely, I question their fashion sense and think they have a screw loose if they ever expect to to be taken seriously and treated with respect when they dress like thugs. (I’m using thugs in a race-neutral way here.) I felt the same way in middle school and high school about the idiots who wore their jeans around their hips.
I do agree, Genghis, that race should definitely be talked about more than it is around New England, b/c it’s an issue whether we acknowledge it or not. UConn Law has been home to more awareness and dialogue about minority issues on campus in the past two or three years than I think ever before, which is a very good thing. I think this forum they’re having today is probably a good thing. But I also just do not see a direct line from the “thug” style of dress to black culture in general, and I think those that do see such a direct line do a great disservice to blacks. A disservice that is harmful in the same way the false rape allegation was harmful, b/c it perpetuates an inaccurate stereotype based exclusively on skin color.
Gems,
But apparently black students did see that line being drawn. According to the article, a number of students both black and white saw it as a racial thing. I don’t think we can easily dismiss that.
The people who threw the party probably didn’t intend to be racist at all. In fact, I imagine they were pretty shocked that it prompted this sort of reaction. But it did.
Not all black students saw the direct connection being drawn. Some agree that it’s more offensive to say that there is such a connection. BLSA is a very strong, very vocal group on campus, but their members don’t agree within their organization about a lot of these issues, regardless of how the Courant chooses to portray it. I’m willing to bet that’s why the group isn’t commenting publicly on this. The SBA president, who is quoted in that article (who is white but has also served on BLSA’s board and on the boards of several other minority groups on campus, so is generally very tied into the minority students on campus), was invited to the party and didn’t think twice about it being insensitive UNTIL someone approached him about it on Monday. Then it became a political issue on campus.
I cannot believe that law students would be so mind numbingly stupid. They really should have known better.
I probably haven’t lived in Connecticut long enough to talk about race issues here. It does seem to me that CT’s cities are having these conversations more than the suburbs, but that’s just my observation.
I’d say that’s an accurate observation, CGG.
The very fact that this party occurred in one of the more segregated cities and counties in the country should give us pause. Less than a mile from where UConn law school sits in Hartford’s West End are some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country that are very black.
I wonder how neighbors of the UConn Law School, say, some of those who reside on Evergreen Terrace, or South Whitney, would have responded if invited to a gangsta dress-up party by a bunch of comparitively rich, white suburbanites who happen to be living in the city while going to law school. I don’t imagine it would have gone over too well, and that is the insensitivity at issue here.
It would be difficult to say what the students’ reaction would be if a bunch of African-American youth had a lawyer dress up party and drank merlot because it would be a way to let off steam. But I imagine the law students wouldn’t know what to make of it.
When I was stuck in jail, one of the African-American youth incarcerated with me put me in my place when I was bitching about being held. He said “This is just an obstacle for you.” His statement shut me up, because it contained within it the very obvious and clear implication that being arrested was something he was going to have to deal with for a long time, based on his race, and it was something I would get over.
Anyone who can read prison statistics knows that America has the highest rates of imprisonment in the world, and those in prison are overwhelmingly non-white, like the young man who cut me down to size. For potential future criminal defense attorneys to dress up like potential clients and think it is fun demonstrates the ingrained stereotypes our culture must confront. The law school needs to address this, perhaps by taking those students on a field trip to Osborne or Manson.
My Civil Procedure textbook suggested that we watch the Marx Brothers “A Day at the Races” to relax during our studies. The movie includes a scene with the Duke Ellington Orchestra that was censored from southern movie theatres when it was released in 1937. We have moved away from that, but the racism that our society deals with now is more subtle, and thus more difficult to address.
But address it we must, because if not, the injustice perpetrated by our current judicial system will persist, and those involved in the cases will not even realize it.
Ken – First of all, how old is your Civ Pro textbook? Second, I thought you were held in a conference room. Were there lots of other political prisoners of all races in there with you? And I think this was hardly an “inconvenience” for you, as you now have greater notoriety and opportunity to profit from your “imprisonment”, not to mention how in tuned you now are with the incarcerated minorities you met on the “inside”. If somehow you think your being held for a few hours makes you more aware of or more of an authority on the racial injustice of our penal system, you are sorley mistaken.
Joe, I think you should check out Ken’s resume before attacking him–he’s worked with some of Hartford’s youth quite intensively, as I recall, so he has a broader basis for his assertions than just sitting in jail (or a conference room, whichever it was) talking with one person.
Ken: Not all of the UConn students “just happen” to be living in Hartford while attending school. Some grew up in Hartford, some are from just over the line in Bloomfield and other surrounding towns. Some, like me, moved here for school and are now working and living in Hartford after school. I plan to stay here for the foreseeable future. I generally like it here, for all of Hartford’s problems, and I’m invested in Hartford’s future. I interned at the Courant for two summers, so I’m familiar with more than just the West End and downtown. Yes, UConn Law is still significantly white, and yes, there are less fortunate neighborhoods around that campus that many students, to their detriment, never explore. I think the same could be said for your institution down in Hamden (which by the way costs a pretty penny more than UConn, so I would guess–though I confess this is not based on any data–that your campus is probably less diverse than ours). There are also a lot of students at UConn who do get involved in teh community, through mentoring programs, Habitat for Humanity days, volunteer work at soup kitchens and other organizations, and coaching debate teams at local high schools and middle schools. The simple fact is that this party was a stupid excuse to get dressed up and get drunk. Half of the people there brought champagne and wore tuxes and gowns. This was not a “gangsta dress-up party.”
Let’s face it–no one who goes to UConn Law dresses in thug wear–black, white, whatever. I’m willing to bet that pretty much no one at any law school in the country, including yours, dresses like that at school, whether they’re from urban areas or not, whether they listen to hip hop and rap, where a lot of this fashion originates, or not. Why? B/c you can’t expect to get taken seriously in thug wear if you want to be a lawyer. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean lawyers are racist. It means that for a vast majority of legal jobs, you need to look and act like a professional. Especially if you appear in court before a judge who you want to rule in your favor. And do you really think a criminal defendant would have faith in an attorney who walked in to meet with him or her and was dressed in thug wear?
As for your point about the disproportionate number of minorities sitting in prisons–yes, that’s a serious issue. And yes, the system is broken, I think in large part due to the stuff penalties for non-violent drug crimes and the disparity in enforcement of certain laws in urban versus suburban areas. I just don’t see this stupid drunken party as being a comment on that situation. People drew fake tattoos on themselves, including the teardrop tattoo, where each tear is supposed to represent someone you’ve killed–to my knowledge, that is not race-specific, it’s gang-related, and gangs are unfortunately universal across racial lines.
I want to emphasize again that I think the party is totally stupid, and the posting of pictures from it reflects poorly on the intelligence of those students. I hope legal recruiters are checking out Facebook pages before hiring students. But I don’t think it indicates those in attendance are racist.
The Smoking gun has pictures of the party. Their parents must all be so proud.
Joesixpack – My civ pro textbook is up to date, with cases from 2006 in it. And A Day at the Races is funny, and I dare say a better way for law students to let off steam than irresponsible binge drinking reminiscent of college.
Gems, My bad on the gross generalization about UConn law students. Perhaps I was stereotypical on it because I was rejected by the public law school four blocks from my house and have to commute 90 minutes round trip three times a week to attend a very expensive private university (which is putting me in debt). Glass houses and stones, I get it. I’m not sure on the diversity aspect of our schools, although it would be interesting to compare.
But the deeper issue of insensitivity is present in such a party. Would it be acceptable to have a Modisyahu party and everyone dress up in yarmulkes? Or what if it was a hijab and turban party? Tonite, I watched a mock interview at Quinnipiac between two of the deans demonstrating do-nots of job interviewing. Wet t-shirt pictures on Facebook merited mention, and it plays into what you’re saying. We’re teaching young lawyers the Erie Doctrine and 12(b)6, but not common sense (which, perhaps can’t be taught at all).
I respect the notion of volunteerism and Habitat for Humanity and all, but the pro bono ethic is part of the bar’s code of conduct, so I don’t suppose I would expect anything less. What did pResident Bush call it – the soft bigotry of low expectations – for the future lawmakers at one of the top 50 law schools in the country, I hope we could expect more.
People at Quinnipiac wear suits and ties and t-shirts and jeans and everything in between. But no, thug wear doesn’t seem to be the uniform of choice, even among African-American students. However, it’s the underlying notion that it is okay to buy 40s and dress like a thug that I don’t find as innocent. The very concept of baggy jeans hanging down your butt without a belt originates in prison culture, where one-size-fits-all jeans are the norm.
As far as my own incarceration, I spent 90 minutes in an interrogation room by myself then when I invoked my Mirandas, I was booked and put into the normal lock-up with a dozen or so other “criminals.” One of those people, in fact, actually worked at the newspaper, Echoes from the Streets, that I established for Hartford teens back in 2001; so much for literacy training lowering the recidivism rate (yet there really is a direct correlation between illiteracy and violence).
But the statistics from the State DOJ lay to rest any myths about the inherent institutional racism in our judicial policies:
1/1/7 Incarceration Stats
http://www.ct.gov/doc/cwp/view.asp?a=1505&q=330324 if that link doesn’t work.
Peace,
KK
Here’s the thing: the “theme” of the party was hip-hop. And these students dressed in a manner which fit that description. There was no mention of race, no mention of an intent to mock any group. The intent behind the party was hip-hop, and that’s what was represented. It’s no different than if there had been an 80’s Hair Metal themed party, where everyone showed up in outlandish wigs and mesh shirts. It was a party about a particular lifestyle, not any race.
To be honest, I had always though that African American culture was very complex and nuanced, with facets that could not be explained simply. However, the UConn chapter of BLSA (Black Law Students Association) seems determined to let me know that all blacks are represented by anyone dressing up in baggy pants and basketball jerseys.
This party in no way was mocking or making fun of blacks. I can say from being there that those who chose to dress up in “thug” outfits were doing so more to emulate popular hip hop heroes such as Tupac, Outkast, and the like. If the party was called “Dress Like A Black Guy” and everyone came dressed thuggish, I could see where that would be racist – the assumption that all blacks are thug rappers.
That was not the case here, however. Furthermore, little is being made of the “retaliation” party started by several BLSA members. Entitled “Saltine” it encourages attendees to “dress like a cracker” for the event. First, this goes a long way toward discouraging the “open dialog” suggested by BLSA and the university. Second, it essentially tries to prove that two wrongs do make a right, when it uses an slur to refer to white people.
It is even more unfortunate that certain members of the UConn Law community chose to bring this issue directly to the press and outside parties, before even attempting to resolve this with internal discussions inside the school. In fact, certain members of the school, who were not at the party, not members of any group that may have been offended, have attempted to insert themselves into the media proceedings. I can only assume that such people are self-righteous media whores, looking to exploit this sensitive issue for their own gain.
Again, if this party was found to be offensive by certain individuals, rest assured it will never happen again. But shame on those who went to the media first, without trying to engage their peers in discussion, and shame on those who are blowing this out of proportion and attempting to make mountains out of molehills. Grow up.
p.s. BS….we all see through you, so give it up.
For everyone speaking about professionalism and the standards of the legal profession, it is hypocritical to hold people involved in an off-campus private party to such high expectations while professors and fellow students continue to display the lowest common denominator. Before students who attended the party were even made aware that their actions had “offended” certain members of the community, pictures were sent to the media, national reporters were called in and one or two professors were publicly calling students who had been in their own classes “racists” whose actions were analogous to ministrel shows. At the same time, a counter-attack launched by students on facebook against partygoers has somehow escaped national attention. Calls for vengenance and physical violence against people in the pictures apparently don’t warrant attention. How can we expect our future attorneys to learn and grow as professionals when their own teachers are gossiping, perpetuating the rumor mill and name calling without even bothering to find out what this party was all about?
Huge whatever on this story. If this involved an anti-war protest held off campus most of those who post on this site would criticize the law school administration for (among other things) sticking their nose into an off-campus affair. To wit, should Quinippiac Law School hold a forum on Mr. Krayeske’s behavior?
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