Extracurriculars

Well it's been a few months. Sorry.

I am volunteering with this program called Teen Court as of late. It is an alternative to Juvenile detention for young law breakers, offering them a chance to keep their record clean. Before a judge and a jury of their peers, they have to explain various aspects of the crime the committed, their current activities, what they hope to accomplish if they don't get their act together, etc. I help with jury instruction, but it is really not necessary; these kids know their stuff. It is truly amazing to watch theses judges at work. They are not individuals with whom to mess. Tomorrow, we have about 100 kids coming from Dorsey High School to see how we live. Dorsey is a legal magnet school, so hopefully we either scare these kids into choosing a different career path or sharpen their resolve. We can't all be lawyers, after all.

I am now a member of the National Lawyers Guild. It is a Critical Theory Bar Association; basically it is CHID for grown up lawyers. Mumia Abu-Jamal is a Vice President of the organization, if that is any indication of the type of crowd.

Mumia is a black panther convicted of murdering a police officer and is currently serving a life sentence (I believe he was or is sentenced to death, however). It was one of those case similar to the Hurricane (with whom I've spoken), where no one really saw what happened, and an "angry" black man was there to get blamed. Its also a case of racism inherent in the legal system, with various court officials showing evidence of racial bias (This is an understatement which I meant to be sarcastic. A court stenographer filed an affidavit stating that he over heard one of the judges sitting on the appeal state that he would like to help "fry the n****r"). Rage Against The Machine is one of his big proponents.

Needless to say I am excited to go to the first NLG networking event.

I am also thinking about volunteering next door with the Heart of Los Angeles Youth Program. It is a question of when I will find the time however. I need to get on that. A 1L does not have much time to do anything, let alone non-law school things.