Agenda - 05-13-2010 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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39 Thurgood Marshall pointed out on the occasion of the Constitution's bicentennial, the negotiation of these ideals has involved constant struggle. He noted that the government devised in Philadelphia "was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for individual freedoms and human rights, that we hold fundamental today."9 Social movements that were driven by a quest for effective rights have built social justice legal organizations that really took off in the 1960s. As they evolved, they changed the way that lawyers practiced and thought. As Oliver Houck observes, the lawyers had clients and the clients were injured, but also [there) was a larger sense of justice that is as difficult to define precisely as it would be to deny. Most importantly, they did not simply seek compensation for their clients; increasingly they sought to change the law." Thus, the phrase "law reform" described the efforts of lawyers such as those involved in the three large movements focused on ending poverty, promoting civil liberties, and achieving civil rights. Because rights are indeterminate, legal advocacy has continually reshaped the conception of rights to be more effective in advancing social justice. Beyond legal rules, social justice claims have viewed rights as expressions about how people should be treated - as nouns and values rather than fiats. According to Martha Minow, under this conception: "'Rights' can give rise to `rights consciousness' so that individuals and groups may imagine and act in light of rights that have not been formally recognized or enforced. Rights, in this sense, are neither limited to nor co-extensive with precisely those rules formally announced and enforced by public authorities. Instead, rights represent articulations -public or private, formal or informal - ofclaims that people use to persuade others (and themselves) about hnw they should be treated and about what they should be granted....[1] include within the ambit of rights discourse all efforts to claim new rights, to resist and alter official state action that fails to acknowledge such rights, and to construct communities apart from the state to nurture new conceptions of rights. Rights here encompass even those claims that lose, or have lost in the past, if they continue to represent claims that muster people's hopes and articulate their continuing efforts to persuade. "Consciousness, or cognizance, of rights, then, is not simply awareness of those rights that have been granted in the past, but whispered or unheard have become claims, and claims that once were unsuccessful, have persuaded others and transformed social life. The connections between past and future claims of rights are voiced through interpretations of inherited understandings of rights. Interpretation engages lawyers and non-lawyers in composing new meanings inside and- outside of legal institutions. Charges against new rights express opposition to this interpretive process." 10 Under this conception of social justice rights and claims, which is consistent with international human rights, rights potentially enhance our collective consciousness, change our cultural and institutional habits, mobilize people beyond the courtroom, organize political groups at the grassroots, and force those in power to account for their actions. Rights join with culture, power, conscience, and human dignity as expressions of social justice. Herein lies the transformative potential of rights claims. III. How is social justice manifested? How could it be manifested? These questions must be addressed in the context of a local government's capacities and overall functions and objectives. Where does social justice fit within the institutional behavior of county commissioners who are accountable to principles of right action and serving the people of the county in concrete ways? It is important to recognize the view of many who see the local government's ability to control its community character as the fundamental responsibility of self-government. As Gerald Frug points out, for these people, "local self-governance means the ability of citizens to create for themselves the kind of city [or county] they want to live in." As we think of Orange County, social justice should be part of that determination of community character. It must transcend local boundaries that mark the county's cities and act in a way that advances an inclusive regional notion of the public interest. What, then, is the county's vision of social justice and how can that vision translate into polices and programs that are within the power of local government to realize? This is the orienting question for discussion. OR4NGE COLI,'VTYSOCL~IL JUSTICE GOAL