Just Like a Tree Planted by the Waters, I Shall Not Be Moved : Charles Ogletree, Jr., and the Plain Virtues of Lawyering for Racial Equality

It was a moment of unbelievable risk, a precipice of career suicide, a decision that would challenge the careful planning of more timid lawyers. His wife urged caution; a Harvard colleague explored back channels with the Senate Judiciary Committee to telegraph warning to him of unseen torpedoes that might lie in his path. Even he hesitated in the face of the immediate demands of the substantial scholarly writing required to earn tenure at Harvard. Yet, at the end of the day of October 10, 1991, Charles Ogletree, Jr., known as Tree to his friends, chose to step into a role for which he is now most remembered: counsel to Professor Anita Hill during her testimony about Judge Clarence Thomas\u27s inappropriate sexual behavior when she worked for him as a government lawyer. It was a defining choice that made visible to the world the deep character traits that have made Tree a well-loved and respected figure in the legal academy, a fixture on the front lines of the legal fight for racial equality. This Essay is a personal reflection on the character traits and public commitments to racial equality that I have observed since I first learned who Charles Ogletree was

Crossing the River of Blood Between Us: Lynching, Violence, Beauty, and the Paradox of Feminist History

Understandably, early feminist legal theory and history focused almost exclusively on establishing white women\u27s autonomy against white male dominance. The vehicles of nineteenth century women\u27s liberation included elements of public equality such as ownership of property, the right to vote, access to male dominated occupations, equal education and employment opportunity. Twentieth century feminists extended the equality project by penetrating the private sphere and attacking the very notion of a separate zone of family relations which was immune from government intervention to protect women from male abuse. Cultural feminists like Carol Gilligan took another approach, arguing that women\u27s experiences as sexual subordinates gave rise to a distinctive moral sensibility. The portrait of white men as victimizers thus became central to advancing the psychosocial and legal agendas for white women\u27s autonomy in this century. This largely bi-polar account of gender relations was a necessary, yet woefully defective, model for true autonomy. If the feminist dialogue is to mature, the complex story of the violence that underlies white women\u27s power as distinct from the power of white men must move from the parenthesis to the central thesis of a new debate about the uses and abuses of power among women. A healthy next stage of feminist discourse will include engagement and accountability for the dual role of victim and victimizer. This will require exploration of the paradox that a subordinated group could at once be the target of violence and disadvantage, while at the same time be the perpetrators of pervasive racial and sexual violence. This Essay seeks to explore the meaning of the complex history of lynching for understanding the relationships between black women and white women today

The Non-Monetary Value of Reparations Rhetoric

I have several comments to offer on the subject of reparations. Reparations is not a single idea. The forty acres and a mule that General Sherman promised to the slaves was the beginning of the idea of reparations in America, but not the end. Reparations is a multi-part idea; until we get that straight, we are vulnerable to the feeling that we are lost again. There are at least three arenas in which the reparations issue may be contested. One is the political arena. In the arena of legislation and political maneuvering, bills must be submitted for majoritarian acceptance. It is no surprise that the current reparations bill has not gained the majority acceptance necessary for success. Thus, success in the political arena requires personal and collective political activism. The second arena is legal. In this arena those wronged can bring lawsuits. There is a coalition currently working on these lawsuits. As a lawyer, I must confess that the legal arena is probably less promising than the political arena. Although several legal precedents serve as barriers standing in the way of success in the courts, lawsuits are not, however, without value. One must simply understand their limited value. Lawsuits create the platform for the third, most important and powerful arena: the intellectual challenge to the history of racism. This arena allows us to challenge, to document, to read alternative stories, and to give those stories to our children-stories that help reposition Blacks from economic parasites to economic contributors unfairly deprived of their wealth. The intellectual arena provides an important strategic difference. When we address tired debates such as whether affirmative action is reverse discrimination, a different perspective emerges; reparations offers that positioning. Reparations as an intellectual project is most promising because it engages us all and gives us an opportunity to challenge the idea of racism - to challenge it as an idea that governs the way goods are distributed in society

The use of high performance anion exchange chromatography for the detection of counterfeit pharmaceutical products using the excipient content as a marker

The aim of the investigation described here was to examine the differences between genuine and counterfeit pharmaceutical products through the development of an analytical method capable of rigorously identifying the sugar-based excipients. High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography, coupled to Pulsed Amperometric Detection (HPAEC-PAD), supported by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), provided a method for the analysis of the carbohydrate based excipients. The analytical method was able to discriminate between the substitution patterns of a number of monosaccharides derived from commonly used excipients and these were compared for both genuine and counterfeit sildenafil citrate based products. The aim of the project was accomplished: the HPAEC-method was employed to analyse a counterfeit pharmaceutical ‘Herbal Viagra’

Vegetation restoration plan, New Plymouth Fitzroy to Bell Block coastal walkway extension

In 1999, the New Plymouth District Council began construction of its award winning coastal walkway. Along with providing an area for recreation, this new walk and cycle path serves as an alternate route for commuting along the city away from arterial roads. The New Plymouth District Council is in the process of extending this walkway a further three kilometres from Fitzroy Motor Camp to Ellesmere Avenue, Bell Block. This will encompass Peringa Park, Hickford Park and the Mangati Walkway, with completion expected by mid 2010. As part of this $4.2 million project, the District Council aims to restore the surrounding native duneland vegetation. The Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research (University of Waikato) was contracted by the New Plymouth District Council to provide a vegetation restoration plan for the Fitzroy to Bell Block section of the coastal walkway. This report considers the current vegetation of this three km section of the walkway, based on a rapid qualitative assessment undertaken in June, 2010. The target ecosytems Spinifex sandfield, flax-taupata shrubland and coastal forest vegetation types once dominant in the area are described in detail. Restoration recommendations are included to assist in the recreation of these ecosystems, including planting zones, weed control strategies and ongoing monitoring objectives

Mechanisms of interference between kahikatea and grey willow in the Waikato

Research was undertaken to determine the nature of the coexistence between kahikatea and grey willow in the Waikato Ecological Region. Three main questions were investigated. Is grey willow inhibiting recruitment of kahikatea? If this is occurring, which mechanisms (of interference) are involved? And does anthropogenic disturbance influence this interaction? The first and third were addressed by measuring kahikatea and grey willow populations for age, stem frequency and diameter at six sites, to assess how populations were structured, to reconstruct the population histories at each site and to determine whether kahikatea is successfully regenerating and what possible factors influence regeneration. Results indicated grey willow was establishing after kahikatea populations at all but the Totara Park site, and that once grey willow had reached the canopy, no further recruitment of kahikatea into the canopy occurred. No kahikatea saplings were present in grey willow densities above two per 10m2 and sapling presence did not always result in canopy emergence. Sites containing the highest sapling frequencies were those most recently exposed to moderate to large-scale disturbance, and those closest to a large seed source, rather than those with long established kahikatea populations. This suggests anthropogenic disturbance of certain scale and frequency can promote the regeneration of both species. The second question was investigated using a range of methods. Dendrochronology was employed to compare diameter growth rates between the species at each site and found grey willow only performed marginally better than kahikatea and its competitive advantage in reaching the canopy faster is likely exerted via more rapid height growth rates. Experimental methods involved measuring annual height and diameter growth rates of forty introduced and twenty naturally established seedlings in various grey willow canopy treatments and water table heights in Totara Park, Hamilton city. Hemispherical photography and water table measurements were used to quantify seedling microhabitats. The greatest seedling diameter and height growth rates were recorded in the open canopy introduced treatment and the lowest in the closed canopy naturally established treatment irrespective of water table height. The reduction in summer light levels from a grey willow canopy regularly caused apical stem death or reduced growth rates of kahikatea seedlings. Interference effects from allelopathy were investigated as previous research indicated kahikatea litter is toxic to its own seedlings. A trial was set up using potted grey willow cuttings and Sinapus alba seedlings and regularly sprayed with kahikatea litter extract. Results were inconclusive and the natural concentrations of kahikatea litter found at Totara Park did not appear to affect the growth of either species. Overall this research suggests grey willow is inhibiting kahikatea regeneration via overtaking kahikatea growth to the canopy, shading out further recruitment, and maintaining dominance through efficient vegetative reproduction. Active management is required to ensure the return to dominance of kahikatea in Waikato swamp forests and highly disturbed sites, close to abundant seed source may provide novel opportunities for restoration

Fact Sheet: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: A Closer Look at Tax Breaks and Societal Costs

The 116th Congress is weighing potential policy mechanisms to reduce the impact of climate change and cap global warming to an internationally agreed upon target of no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). As a result, fossil fuel tax subsidies, as well as other mechanisms of support, have received additional scrutiny from lawmakers and the public regarding their current suitability, scale and effectiveness. Indeed, the subsidies undermine policy goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.The United States provides a number of tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry as a means of encouraging domestic energy production. These include both direct subsidies to corporations, as well as other tax benefits to the fossil fuel industry. Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20 percent currently allocated to coal and 80 percent to natural gas and crude oil. European Union subsidies are estimated to total 55 billion euros annually