Sameness and Difference in a Law School Classroom: Working at the Crossroadst

to reflect the harsh impact of those laws on my life and on the lives of others. I needed something stronger. Therefore, the next year, after we discussed the civil rights demonstration cases, I showed the film Ain't Scared of Your Jails: 1960-61 from the series Eyes on the Prize.26 This film portrays the initial training in non-violence of black college students who would participate in a sit-in at a segregated luncheonette counter. The law school students also experienced the power of non-violence protest, as they watched white hoodlums pull the students from the counter stools, and beat and kick them as the police watched. They also watched the planning for the Freedom Rides, which would protest continued segregation at interstate bus terminals. They saw both white and black college students getting ready for the trip, talking about their commitment and their 22. 379 U.S. 536 (1965). In Cox, 2,000 black students demonstrated in front of a courthouse to protest the jailing of fellow students who had been arrested for picketing stores with segregated lunch counters. 23. 394 U.S. 111 (1969). In Gregory, a small group of protesters marched from City Hall to the Mayor's home to urge the desegregation of the Chicago public schools. 24. Cox, 379 U.S. at 542-43. 25. See generally JUNE P. GUILD, BLACK LAWS OF VIRGINIA (1936). 26. Supra note 10. [Vol. 4: 415 Sameness and Difference fears. And finally, they watched as the buses were fire-bombed, and as the riders were pulled off the bus, beaten, and jailed. I chose this film in large part because it showed the courage of both black and white college students as well as their ability to work together. I was hopeful that the students in the class would be able to identify with the demonstrators in part because they were also students, and in part because these students were presented as heroes. Their response was as powerful as the film itself: a stunned silence.., a few red eyes... some students leaving the room halfway through the film . . . a few halting words: "I didn't know Although this film met my goals of engaging the students in a thoughtful way and of getting them to look in a positive way at the roles of both blacks and whites, the last time I taught this course I added field work to the unit on demonstrations. Several of my colleagues have been actively engaged in a ProChoice network in Buffalo; some serve as escorts at a local abortion clinic, where they help prospective clients walk through pro-life demonstrations and into the clinic. After listening to their discussions, I realized that it made little sense to simply read or view a film about demonstrations, when the students could go and see one for themselves. One goal of the field visits was to flesh out the written class material, so that the students could witness for themselves the power of the First Amendment's guarantee. Another goal was to give them the opportunity to do the kind of work lawyers do when they advise their clients at a demonstration.27 Which of these protest activities would be protected under the First Amendment? Which would not? I gave them guidelines for their fieldwork. Because abortions are performed at this particular clinic early Saturday mornings, the students were to spend at least one hour observing between 8 and 10 a.m. I gave them a map of that location, and asked them to stand across the street from the pro-life demonstration, which was near the entrance to the clinic. Each was to stand with another student; they were to observe, not participate. If a demonstrator tried to engage them in conversation, they were to move silently to another area, or leave. Because the clinic is located on a much travelled city street, and right next to a post office, I asked them to think about whether the free speech rights of the demonstrators would vary depending on the where they were standing-on the post office steps, the sidewalk, the street, the clinic parking lot, the adjacent parking lot of a private business which had granted them access. We discussed the local ordinances which would be involved, ordinances regarding loud noises, harassment, and obstruction of public walkways. I also contacted the director of the clinic before the student visit 27. The students had read an excerpt from Gregory v. Chicago, which noted that the demonstrators were accompanied on their march by their attorney and an assistant city counsel, and that the police were also accompanied by an assistant city counsel. Supra note 23 at 116, 119. 1992] Yale Journal of Law and Feminism to explain our project, and to advise her when the students would be coming.2" We would meet immediately after their observation for a class