Remembering Richard X. Clark, & More

Remembering Richard X Clark

Civil rights activist and author Richard X. Clark was born on July 29, 1946 in New York City. He was raised in foster homes in the New York neighborhoods of Jamaica, Queens, and the Bronx. Clark graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served until 1968. In 1969, Clark was arrested on charges of attempted robbery and was sentenced to four years in prison. From 1969 to 1972, he served time at multiple state prisons including Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Elmira Correctional Facility, Auburn Correctional Facility, Wallkill Correctional Facility, and the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York. Appalled by prison conditions at Attica, Clark became a Muslim minister and became active in black Muslim political groups. In September of 1971, he was one of the leaders of the Attica Prison riot, which took the lives of forty-three men. During the riot, Clark was head of the inmates’ internal security and served as a liaison between the inmates of D-yard and the authorities.

After his release in 1972, Clark moved to Greensboro, North Carolina and authored the book, The Brothers of Attica, which was published in 1973. Twenty years later, Clark relocated to New York City and became a case manager for Phase Piggy Bank, a Harlem-based organization that provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Guest – Attorney Daniel Alterman has been practicing law for over forty years.  He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the U.S. District Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.  Since 1971, Mr. Alterman has been a member of the Board of Cooperative Attorneys of the Center for Constitutional Rights.  Among his proudest achievements are working for the prisoners at Attica in 1971, and representing black editors and reporters who successfully sued the New York Daily News in 1987.

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Coddling Of The American Mind: Attorney Greg Lukianoff

Coddling of the American Mind is the title of an article in the recent Atlantic Magazine by attorney Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. It examines a particular movement arising that’s been described as “undirected” and driven largely by students that essentially scrubs campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Law and Disorder hosts also take a look at the legal cases being brought by students.

Guest – Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO of FIRE, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. He’s the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate  and Freedom From Speech  and has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, TIME, The Boston Globe, Forbes, the New York Post, U.S. News & World Report, The Stanford Technology Law Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Reason, CNET, The Daily Caller, Congressional Quarterly, The Charleston Law Review, and numerous other publications. He is a blogger for The Huffington Post and Ricochet.com.

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Detroit Shuts Water Off To 53 Thousand Residents In Move To Privatization

It has to be one of the country’s worst humanitarian and public health crisis. In Detroit, an estimated 53,000-plus thousand residential customers of Detroit Water and Sewer have had their water shut off without notice from the City. It is unknown precisely how many of Detroit’s children, elderly, disabled people, or other at risk persons are living without water. That’s because no state or local government has made a comprehensive count and assessment of everyone who has been affected.

High bills in the city were often the product of irresponsible behavior by landlords as well as leaky, aging water infrastructure. Water and sewage rates have increased nearly 9% in 2014 and were scheduled to increase nearly 17% in 2015. The city, recovering from enormous debt, has responded with “payment plans” and other measures to address the problem. None have worked. In July 2014 a civil lawsuit was filed pro bono on behalf of 10 families whose water was shut off. The lead plaintiff in Lyda v. City of Detroit, had her water shut off after her landlord didn’t pay the water bill. She sent her four children to live with relatives because lack of water makes a home uninhabitable under Detroit ordinances. She feared that protective services would take children away because state law gives agencies the right to remove children living in uninhabitable homes.

Guest – Attorney Alice Jennings is a founder of the firm Edwards & Jennings, P.C., specializing in civil rights and employment law, where she has been a partner since 1981. Formerly, she worked as an associate attorney and partner at the firm Philo, Atkinson, Darling, Steinberg, Harper & Edwards, P.C., specializing in workers’ compensation and personal injury. She is a current member and former chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan, serving on the Civil Liberties Committee from 1994-1995. In 2015, Alice was the honoree at the National Lawyers Guild Detroit and Michigan Chapter’s annual event.

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