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Public Affairs Discussion Group
"Race and the Law"
April 1, 2005
Adelbert Hall, Toepfer Room
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
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Sharona Hoffman
Case Associate
Professor of Law
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Dear
Colleagues:
This
Friday’s Public Affairs Lunch asks a question that has
two obvious answers.
On the
one hand, there must be a place for race as a concept in
American law because the U.S. Constitution – the
Fifteenth Amendment to be exact – refers to it
specifically.
On the
other hand, a provision that no person should be denied
the right to vote because of “race, creed, or previous
condition of servitude” does not exactly cry out for
making distinctions about race after 1865. If the idea
is not to make distinctions based on race, how can it
make sense to emphasize the subject in a whole series of
laws?
Sharona Hoffman, Associate Professor of Law,
believes it is time to abandon discussions of race in
law and all other scholarly pursuits. She argues that
“race” is not a concept that has scientific
validity, and that if we are
concerned about discrimination it would be better to
define minorities and seek to protect their rights in
other terms, such as “color” or “national origin.”
Professor Hoffman therefore proposes that the term be
struck from the law, sending a powerful message to the
whole society against “the ignorance that supports
intolerance and prejudice.”
Is one
word so important? Sticks and stones may break my bones
but maybe words can hurt too. But
would it make such a difference, never mind be possible,
to go through the statutes and replace “race” with other
terms? And what might that whole effort generate
in terms of discussion and new attitudes?
If
this sounds interesting, please join us for the Friday
Public Affairs Lunch on
Friday, April 1,
at 12:30
p.m.
in the
Toepfer
Room on the second floor of
Adelbert
Hall. Cookies and beverages will be
provided.
All
the best,
Joe
White
About Our Guest
Ms. Hoffman joined the
faculty in 1999 and is teaching civil procedure,
employment discrimination, and seminars entitled "Health
Care and the Courts," "Health Care and Human Rights,"
and "Religion, Ethics, and the Law." Prior to obtaining
her LL.M. in health law, Ms. Hoffman was a Senior Trial
Attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
in Houston, an associate at O'Melveny & Myers in Los
Angeles, where she spent much of her time working on the
Exxon Valdez oil spill case, and a judicial clerk for
U.S. District Judge Douglas W. Hillman (Western District
of Michigan). She has published articles on employment
discrimination, health insurance, disability law, and
biomedical research. Her most recent articles were
published in the Indiana Law Journal and the Georgia Law
Review. She is a frequent speaker on health law and
civil rights issues and has been widely quoted in the
media, including the L.A. Times, USA Today, and the New
York Times.
Spring 2005 Semester Schedule
April 8: Toepfer Room: Robert Clarke Brown, Member of the
Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington
Airports Authority and Capital Markets Advisor at the
U.S. Department of Transportation: “The
Politics of Airports.”
April 15: TBA
April 22:
Toepfer Room: Robert Walters Ph.D.,
“Responding to Humanitarian Emergencies – What a
Geologist Learned at the State Department.”
Parking:
People who due to mobility concerns need to make special
arrangements for parking for the Public Affairs
Discussion Group Friday Lunch
Series can send their request for parking to,
patricia.cornacchione@case.edu or you can call
216-368-4440 and speak to Pat or Fay to make arrangements.
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