Protester in Minneapolis days after Floyd s killing PHOTO: Olga Enger
On April 20 at a little after 5 p.m., justice was done. A white police officer was convicted of the killing of a black man. All it took was a trial that lasted for three weeks; 40 witnesses, many of whom were bystanders who witnessed the life snuffed out of the black man; members of the white officer’s department testifying against him; conclusive evidence from multiple sources that established that the white officer’s actions were the cause of the black man’s death; and multiple videos of the event, especially one from a 17-year-old bystander who had at least intuited the importance of what she witnessed.
Sunday, February 14, 2021
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In the coming months, as we emerge from our pandemic nightmare, thousands of Rhode Islanders – often low-income Rhode Islanders – will be confronted with a variety of legal actions touching on evictions to debt collections. Many, in need of basic legal support, will be left to fend for themselves in a process they often find mystifying.
The sad fact is that the existing legal services organizations are already overtaxed and there is no other mechanism in place to meet the needs of low-income Rhode Islanders. As some may know, for the past several years I have been a proponent of an Access To Justice Commission to determine which legal services would be necessary to serve the needs of underserved low-income Rhode Islanders, and how to actually do so.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
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Recently I wrote about the importance of the diversity of judges in the Rhode Island courts with particular focus on potential nominees for the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
At the time of that article, there was just one vacancy on the Court due to Justice Indeglia’s retirement. But shortly thereafter, another vacancy occurred thereby changing the calculus of who the governor might nominate for senate approval of now two nominees to the Court.
Too many of our fellow Rhode Islanders are relegated to the fringes of society. They feel at the mercy of institutions which, at best, treat them like fungible cogs in a labyrinthian machine. This not only strips their spirit but their humanity.