Introduction
| Author | Rebecca Ann Taylor |
| Profession | Writer and attorney |
| Pages | 13-20 |
XIII
Once, the body of law and progress in American civil rights was like a
ne statue, proudly celebrated and admired by our society and around the
world. But now, like the once great statue Ozymandias of which Percy Bys-
she Shelley wrote,1 the body of civil rights has been severely decimated and
is a mere shadow of its former glory. Unlike Ozymandias, however, if the
body of American civil rights history and law were like a statue, it would
not have a “frown, [a]nd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command.” Such
a statue would have an expression of tolerance, in celebration of diversity,
virtue, and justice, all principles upon which America was founded.
In the spirit of this vision, Civil Rights Litigation seeks to help attorneys,
their clients, and the general public negotiate the eld of civil rights law in
the social and political climate of America today. Asserting our civil rights
goes to the heart of what it means to be an American—but unfortunately
our property, liberty, and even life can be sacriced when we exercise these
fundamental rights. As a result, we may very well need attorneys to assist
us when authority gures wrongfully attempt to deny us those rights and
to obtain relief for injuries we have suffered in the process.
The potentially relevant elds of law are far too vast for us to be able
to examine every possible aspect and detail of civil rights here, but this
book does focus on nding potential answers for many problems faced by
today’s civil rights plaintiffs and their counsel. This book also highlights
some important tools and strategies offered by the litigation process and
alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, described in Part Three, The New
Guerrilla Warfare of Civil Rights.
Our natural and inalienable rights “include the right to personal liberty,
to personal security, to acquire and enjoy property, to religious liberty, to
1. P B S, O (1818), available at http:// www .online-literature
.com /shelley _percy /672 /.
Introduction
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