Tournament: Damus | Round: 1 | Opponent: IDK | Judge: IDK

Racism AC

My value is equality and my role of the ballot is a vote to confront racism. The role of the judge is to act as an ethical educator, teaching how to best deal with racism.

Racism is unacceptable on its face. Rejection of racism is the ethical obligation of a society— it prevents acceptance of injustice. This is a side-constraint on any ethical theory.

Memmi, 2000 - prof of sociology at Univ of Paris ~Albert. Racism. Trans. Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 2000.
The struggle against racism will be long, difficult, without intermission, without remission
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. True, it is a wager, but the stakes are irresistible.

Ending racism must take priority over other goals because racism makes all other values impossible – it warps equality, justice and morality.

Lipsitz 2000 - Professor at Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, (George, October 2000, "The White 2K Problem" (for Cultural Values ISSN 1362-5179 Volume 4 Number 4 pp.518-524)
The persistence of residential segregation, educational inequality, environmental racism, and employment discrimination
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At the same time, their unearned disadvantages structure unearned advantages for whites.

Racism must take priority over util – racism is the flaw in utility, because the "greatest good for the majority" will always sacrifice the minority. When this sacrifice takes place in the name of race, it makes war and conflict inevitable.

Foucault '76 ~Michel, Society Must be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975-1976, p. 254-257 Trans. David Macey~
What in fact is racism? It is primarily a way of introducing a break
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second half of the nineteenth century), except by activating the theme of racism

Solutions to racism must embrace political advocacy to avoid being trapped in theory. Abstract alternatives undermine any productive discussion

Curry 2014 – prof of philosophy at Texas AandM Univ. ~Dr. Tommy J. The Cost of a Thing: A Kingian Reformulation of a Living Wage Argument in the 21 st Century. http://www.academia.edu/9798210/The_Cost_of_a_Thing_A_Kingian_Reformulation_of_a_Living_Wage_Argument_in_the_21st_Century
This gap between what is actual (in the world), and what is represented
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used to currently justify the living wages in under our contemporary moral perspectives. 

Legal reforms within the system are necessary to end racism – there is no alternative, and the system is more flexible for change than kritik authors claim.

West 1988 - Director of the Afro-American Studies Program, Princeton University, ~Cornell, 97 Yale L.J. 757, Lexis
There simply is no intellectually acceptable, morally preferable, and practically realizable left social
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legitimation — with contested interpretations the primary motor in this struggle.
 

Contention One: The Status Quo Reinforces Racism

Police violence is increasing and they are not held accountable for racist violence – criminal prosecution Never happens, and qualified immunity blocks civil lawsuits.

Brodin, 2016 – Prof of Law at Boston College ~Mark Howard Law Journal Spring, 59 How. L.J. 765 The Murder of Black Males in a World of Non-Accountability: The Surreal Trial of George Zimmerman for the Killing of Trayvon Martin Lexis~
POLICE USE OF LETHAL FORCE Police (like Ian Fleming's James Bond) have a
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like standing to sue n29 in the path of possible redress for victims.

Police abuse is the cornerstone of white supremacy – historically, it has progressed from colonialism, through slavery and Jim Crow to current racist violence by police

Smith, 2016 – Dean of Clinical Programs at UDC School of Law ~Jonathan Michigan Journal of Race and Law Spring, 21 Mich. J. Race and L. 315 Closing The Gap Between What Is Lawful And What Is Right In Police Use Of Force Jurisprudence By Making Police Departments More Democratic Institutions Lexis~
II. The Democratizing of Policing Can Help Overcome the Barriers Erected to Civil Litigation
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in political power to avoid the reality of the African-American community.

Qualified immunity is effectively Absolute immunity – it is impossible to overcome the "clearly established" standard

Carbado, 2016 – prof of law at UCLA ~Devon Georgetown Law Journal August, 104 Geo. L.J. 1479 Blue-on-Black Violence: A Provisional Model of Some of the Causes Lexis~
A second problem with the "clearly established" doctrine pertains to how courts apply
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a significant doctrinal hurdle to holding police officers accountable for acts of violence.

Qualified immunity is structural racism – it contributes to the social factors that make African Americans vulnerable to police violence.

McLeod, 2016 – prof of Law at Georgetown University Law Center ~Allegra Georgetown Law Journal August, 104 Geo. L.J. 1405 Confronting the Carceral State Lexis~
Devon Carbado introduces another explanatory account of the persistence of police abuse of African-
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, rather than measures that address only the behavior of errant officers. n41

Police abuse too often goes unpunished. This destroys the trust by minority communities for law enforcement. Until the police are held accountable, no communities are truly safe and secure

Wallis, 2016 - president of Sojourners,~ Jim Sojourners Magazine 05-24-2016 "No Accountability, No Trust" https://sojo.net/articles/no-accountability-no-trust
Freddie Gray died in Baltimore police custody after being arrested last April without any good
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safe. Unaccountable must become unacceptable for the police.
   

Contention Two: Limiting Qualified Immunity fights Racism

Only limiting Qualified Immunity defenses can hold police accountable. Criminal prosecutions of police cannot solve abuse or violence, because juries and judges will not convict police officers of crimes. Congress should change Section 1983 to eliminate Qualified Immunity.

Newman, 2016 - senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ~Jon O. The Washington Post June 24, 2016 "A better way to punish police How to punish police: Sue them for negligence" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/heres-a-better-way-to-punish-the-police-sue-them-for-money/2016/06/23/c0608ad4-3959-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html?utm_term=.c67051e854f7~~
The acquittal Thursday of another Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray
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a strengthened Section 1983 remedy available for the next episode of police misconduct. 

Limiting Qualified Immunity is the most important reform to hold police accountable. All other reforms will fail without eliminating qualified immunity

Wright, 2015 - a Public Interest Lawyer, ~Sam Above the Law Blog, Nov 3, 2015 "Want to Fight Police Misconduct? Reform Qualified Immunity" http://abovethelaw.com/2015/11/want-to-fight-police-misco…~
Recently, police have been killing and otherwise abusing people of color with what seems
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want to see justice done, we should push to make it happen.