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Colin Starger
Brooklyn, NY
I am an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at New York University School of Law and was a Staff Attorney at the Innocence Project from 2003 to 2007.
Recent Activity
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Colin commented on the article |Interesting point Manda. It is absolutely central to civil disobedience (C.D.) to accept the punishment for the consequences of your actions. Of course, Frankie still has a trespassing charge and will have to face the punishment for that. The question becomes whether the "Contributing to the Delinquency" charge was ever justly brought against the Mom for allowing her daughter to participate in C.D. I think not, but could see the idea of accepting the charge to protest just how skewed our criminal justice system has become.
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Colin commented on the article |Great Earth Day post, Matt. I'm certainly all for decreasing the footprint of prisons and offering training in Green Jobs as part of rehabilitation programs. However, I must say that I *hate* Washington's name for their program -- "Sustainable Prisons Project". Who wants to sustain prisons when we've got 2.4 million people locked up? It seems like the goal should be to get rid of prisons at this stage in the game. Of course, the Washington program is referring to a different kind of sustainability (one that I support!) but names matter in my book. I wonder if they would consider a less confusing option...
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Colin commented on the article |If only it were that simple. Anatole France put it best:"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."
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Colin commented on the article |As a teacher educator in a public university, you should know that this is first and foremost a cost-cutting measure. Online instruction for universities and K-12 schools is cheaper, by a lot. Online instructors do not need the same qualifications and do not need to be paid benefits, if they are teaching discrete courses. Most poor kids do not have computer access and so the digital divide will not necessarily get resolved through this. I am all for technology, don't get me wrong. Let's just call this what it is. The intentions here are not just out of an interest in technology.
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Colin commented on the article |Jason: We may have to agree to disagree here.
Certainly, I concede your point that defending Ekas' rights could work to defend the general principles of civil liberties. At the same time, I don't see all civil liberties as equally valuable -- and the right to flip off the cops for no reason whatsoever is not a right that really inspires me.
Moreover, I do see humor in the situation. Ekas seems to see humor as as well as he waves the bird around during his interview and talks about the digitus impudicus. Ekas clearly put himself out there to the media and so I have no problem lampooning what I see as absurd. Mine is no random or savage attack on a helpless victim.
In the end, what seems to bother you most is my use of the phrase "privileged white guy." But I'll stand by that phrase because I think white privilege is an important phenomenon to point out and critique. (It's not the only sort of privilege of course, but a particularly prominent one in our society). Such privilege warps perspective about what are the most pressing inequalities and injustices in our society. Privilege unreasonably demands that we pay attention to its problems when we really have more important work to do.
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Organizations
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Innocence Project and Color of Change1 Action 0 Recruits
