insurance.
The critical scholarship on slavery, which was featured in our seminar, paints an intricate picture of the law’s historical and ongoing entanglement in racial subordination. Throughout the seminar we were asked to read the narratives of Black women and families whose stories are often neglected. It was not just that we learned about histories of oppression but that we were expected to identify the narratives of resistance about the law’s potential to constrain and inform individual choice, litigation for freedom, and broader social movements. With these teachings, I am reminded of the creative function of the law as a tool for social change. I am also conscious of the fact that my own learning, legal training and future practice has inevitably been shaped by compassion, collective work, and responsibility as a result of working through these narratives with my colleagues.
7 BLawyerisH/March, 2017
By Brittany Williams
The unspeakable in this case is the disposal of black bodies without consideration for their personhood. While we grappled with the horror of this act, we also considered that this case was not that much out of the ordinary for those times. This unspeakable case can be related to the way we treat legal cases in our pedagogy and the fact that we often disregard the people involved. The story of what happened on the Zong as well as many other stories that stemmed from such legal cases must be told. No matter the atrocities contained within them, we, as law students, must recognize and emphatically consider the individuals we know only by their last names in the titles of cases.
Much of the material we encountered in this seminar was difficult to read, as the subject of slavery is a difficult history to contend with. Despite this, we read, discussed and considered the real-life implications of this global institution and how it has shaped current legislation. We should strive to include more discussion and education regarding the lasting social repercussions of different case decisions, laws and the like. It is through this practice that I believe we can become well-rounded jurists with holistic views of the law and its effects.
"Law professors should strive to incorporate critical analysis of cases like Gregson v Gilbert into their pedagogy and to include conversations about legal violence and systemic racism towards people of colour "
Credit: Dublin Business School