SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG

Read and share extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change

Environmental Justice, Clean Air, East Liverpool Teddy Basham-Witherington Environmental Justice, Clean Air, East Liverpool Teddy Basham-Witherington

Environmental Justice In Ohio: East Liverpool Residents' Battle For Clean Air

At Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, we've had our share of uphill battles. Fair Shake uses a sliding scale to charge for its services, so many of our clients are of modest means, and they're often facing corporations with a phalanx of lawyers.

It's so easy—clichéd—to lump such matters into another David v. Goliath story. But that reduces these cases to…well, to something other than people. We represent people, not cases. Besides, neither David nor Goliath had to live next to a waste incinerator plant. Others—specifically people in East Liverpool, Ohio—were not so lucky.

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Kauai Community Takes On Syngenta To Demand Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice, Kauai, Pesticides Teddy Basham-Witherington Environmental Justice, Kauai, Pesticides Teddy Basham-Witherington

Kauai Community Takes On Syngenta To Demand Environmental Justice

One leaves the Garden Island wondering why the people of this breathtakingly beautiful island need to play Russian roulette and hope they don’t become a statistic in a cancer cluster when people in the countries where these companies are headquartered live by the precautionary principle. Switzerland, home of Syngenta, has banned the use of the very chemicals that continue to drench the soil of the Garden island.

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Post Paris Withdrawal: Respond with Political and Legal Action
Climate Change, Paris Accords Teddy Basham-Witherington Climate Change, Paris Accords Teddy Basham-Witherington

Post Paris Withdrawal: Respond with Political and Legal Action

President Trump may have stated from his federal perch that the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Accords, but on the domestic stage, our efforts to uphold these goals and regulations are far from undone. It appears that by withdrawing from the Paris Accords, President Trump strengthened the resolve of climate leaders within the United States and weakened his own ability to participate in one of the largest opportunities to create jobs, strengthen the U.S. economy, and ensure the existence of a viable environment.

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ALEC: A LOBBYING GROUP MASQUERADING AS A PUBLIC CHARITY
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Teddy Basham-Witherington American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Teddy Basham-Witherington

ALEC: A LOBBYING GROUP MASQUERADING AS A PUBLIC CHARITY

When Exxon takes state legislators to dinner to lobby against climate change laws, should taxpayers pay for the entrée?  When the NRA invites politicians to attend its annual clay pigeon shoot so it can lobby against an assault weapons ban, or when Reynolds Tobacco pays for the attendance of politicians at its Cigar Reception to convince them that tobacco is benign, should the rest of us pay for the ammo, cigars, and resort accommodations?

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Derailing the Polluters - Impact Litigation Stops Crude By Rail In Its Tracks
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington

Derailing the Polluters - Impact Litigation Stops Crude By Rail In Its Tracks

Moving oil by train means that hazardous oil train routes would cross through eight of the state’s ten largest cities and through the downtowns of many smaller cities and towns. Increased oil train traffic is a threat to all Californians but brings the greatest risk to environmental justice communities: low income communities of color that already live with a disproportionate and elevated health and safety risk from industrial spills, fires and explosions, as well as, chronic, daily air and water pollution.

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Failed Birth Control Device: Thousands Seek Justice
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Teddy Basham-Witherington Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Teddy Basham-Witherington

Failed Birth Control Device: Thousands Seek Justice

Anna Jennings, mother of two, was promised that the Essure birth control device was a safe, quick, and easy option for family planning. Sadly, it turned out to be anything but. Thousands of women are now suffering from severe side effects and complications they allege were caused by Essure. These include allergic reactions (to the nickel contained in the Essure coil), chronic pain, excessive bleeding, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy.

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Civil Rights, Class Actions, H.R. 985 Teddy Basham-Witherington Civil Rights, Class Actions, H.R. 985 Teddy Basham-Witherington

Think Your Rights Are Safe? Think Again...

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a million dollars (or even one-tenth that) to devote to suing anybody. Right now there is no line item in my family’s budget for “lawsuits.” So basically, in a no-class-action future scenario, if I get screwed over by a company or the government, there will be absolutely nothing I can do about it. This would be a huge win for anyone itching to start their own Ponzi scheme, but a terrifying disaster for the rest of us.

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Class Actions, Racial Justice, Police Abuse Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Racial Justice, Police Abuse Teddy Basham-Witherington

Class Action Victory for Racial Justice Protesters in Berkeley

Sam Wolson, a photojournalist who was on assignment by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper at the protest, was clubbed on the head as he knelt to take a photo. Wolson remarked afterward that, “If you can’t have media safely holding all parties accountable, the whole system breaks down.”

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Class Actions, Title IX, Class Action Hall of Fame Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Title IX, Class Action Hall of Fame Teddy Basham-Witherington

A Class Action Hero Fights To End Gender Discrimination In High School Sports

We female athletes realized how much we were being wronged and we stood together to fight for what was right. It still baffles me that softball facilities were allowed to deteriorate while facilities used by male athletes were so much better. At the time, we truly were not aware that there was a law that protected our rights as female athletes to have equal opportunities, treatment, and benefits, nor were we aware that our rights were being violated. But we quickly learned and began exercising our rights.

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Teddy Basham-Witherington Teddy Basham-Witherington

From a Death Sentence to Hope

Gary was a member of the class action lawsuit that the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC) filed against the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) in 2003.  The lawsuit, Fussel v. Wilkinsonaddressed the prison’s denial of adequate medical care for serious medical needs.

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Teddy Basham-Witherington Teddy Basham-Witherington

Hope & Action - Let's Gather Inauguration Eve!

We’re a group of people from diverse occupations: furniture makers, small business owners, lawyers, builders, designers, event planners. We’re also human beings, which means we’ll each be impacted in some way by this administration’s plans. In discussing our reaction to the election results, we realized two things...

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Jamaican Anti-Sodomy Law, LGBTQI Discrimination Teddy Basham-Witherington Jamaican Anti-Sodomy Law, LGBTQI Discrimination Teddy Basham-Witherington

Long Road to Justice for LGBTQI Jamaicans

As a lawyer defending the human rights of LGBTQI people in Jamaica, I am accustomed to receiving death threats. But when I received a particularly vulgar and graphic email threatening to immediately end my life, I was so shaken that I finally went to the police. What happened next shocked me...

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Disability Rights, 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, ADA Teddy Basham-Witherington Disability Rights, 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, ADA Teddy Basham-Witherington

SHAME ON YOU, ANDERSON COOPER: 60 Minutes Mocking the ADA

Anderson Cooper would be the first to call out Donald Trump’s ridicule of a reporter with a disability with righteous indignation. Yet, on December 4, 2016 Cooper used the 60 Minutes broadcast to throw people with disabilities under the bus in the name of journalism. He used his power and prestige to denigrate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the honorable lawyers that enforce it. Cooper could not have been more successful, if his intent was to lead the parade of horribles against the ADA. I suggest that presenting a skewed piece of journalism which serves only to undermine the first national law providing civil rights protections for people with disabilities is at least as harmful as mocking a reporter with a disability.

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The Impact Fund, Brad Seligman Teddy Basham-Witherington The Impact Fund, Brad Seligman Teddy Basham-Witherington

The Impact Fund - From Living Room To Supreme Court

Brad Seligman’s father was a prosecutor at Nuremberg. Selig, as he was known, was a New Deal kid and lawyer-turned-TV/movie-producer who instilled in his son the value of public service and giving back. “Looking back,” says Brad, “it’s pretty obvious that I was destined to be a lawyer and, after a few of the obligatory 60’s detours, I decided to conduct a five-year experiment to see if I might be cut out for the legal profession.” He’s been renewing that experiment ever since.

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Fair Housing, Civil Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington Fair Housing, Civil Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington

Latino Families Fight For Fair Housing & Civil Rights in Richmond, VA

The final question we had for Ms. Molina was the kicker, as we prepared her to testify in an upcoming summary judgment hearing in federal court. We were asking about the effects of the city of Richmond’s aggressive maintenance code enforcement campaign against the residents of the mobile home park where she lives. City inspectors had threatened her, like most of her neighbors, with imminent displacement and the condemnation of her home (a later review of the inspectors’ notes showed that there was nothing to justify condemning the home, despite the city’s threats).  “How often do you think about it,” we asked the retiree from El Salvador. Ms. Molina’s eyes welled up with tears and, after a pause, her voice cracked, “All the time.” She paused as she wept. “All the time.”

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Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington

Cleaning Up The Criminal Justice System in Paris, Texas

Under Texas law, individuals can be required to pay for their court-appointed defense attorney. While the Court of Criminal Appeals has clarified that a court must determine that a defendant actually has the ability to pay attorney fees before ordering them to do so, not all courts follow the law. In Lamar County, a local defense attorney, relatively new to Texas, was shocked when he saw defendants ordered to pay money they didn’t have for a court-appointed attorney, and then threatened with jail if they missed payments.

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Grassy Narrows First Nation Fights New Mercury Poisoning Threat

The people of Grassy Narrows have sustained themselves for thousands of years on their traditional territory – 2,500 square miles of forest, lakes and rivers. These indigenous people are no strangers to environmental injustice. Between 1962 and 1970 the rivers and lakes they depend on for their sustenance and livelihood were poisoned by the Reed International Paper Mill. In spite of assurances that the logging and associated activities were safe, twenty tons of mercury was dumped into the river. So, when the people of Grassy Narrows learned that the Ontario government was planning to give the go ahead to resume clear cut logging, there was astonishment...

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Teddy Basham-Witherington Teddy Basham-Witherington

Beyond Outrage: Civil Rights, Not Pity

No doubt that Trump’s mocking arm movements and disgusted facial expression is a prime example of bullying. And no doubt that bullying is a major problem for people with disabilities. But I feel like everyone has jumped on this incident as a breach of decorum (don't stare, don't make fun), but no one is talking about it from a policy perspective. This type of mocking is not just a matter of manners, decorum and crossing lines, but has real and terrible policy implications. 

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Prisoners' Rights, Hepatitis C Teddy Basham-Witherington Prisoners' Rights, Hepatitis C Teddy Basham-Witherington

Prisoners Face Hepatitis C Death Sentence

Not only was a de facto death sentence a realistic possibility for many of the prisoners being denied treatment, it was a death sentence of liver failure.  I myself have witnessed people die this way.  It is a slow and horrifying process, far worse than any sentence, any punishment, or any manner of death penalty, imposed by any state, for any crime.  In light of that knowledge, “sentenced to die” is actually putting the matter quite lightly.

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Black Lives Matter, Class Actions, Racial Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Black Lives Matter, Class Actions, Racial Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington

Black Lives Matter: Advocating for Racial Justice in St. Louis County

In May of 2016, Quinton Thomas, a native St Louisan was pulled over in Beverly Hills, a Missouri town of 574 people that is 93% black and receives 26% of its general revenue from court fines and fees. Mr. Thomas was driving his friend to a barber shop to get his haircut when he was stopped by police for having a “busted front bumper.” In the past three years, Mr. Thomas has been pulled over, arrested and jailed for unpaid traffic tickets, and as a result he has lost two jobs and one vehicle, not to mention days of his life, and a sense of safety when he gets behind the wheel.

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