The New Guerrilla Warfare of Civil Rights

• Author: Rebecca Ann Taylor
• Profession: Writer and attorney
• Pages: 265-280

265

This nal section discusses a number of nonlegal remedies for civil rights as

well as potential ideas for the future. As lawyers, we can counsel our clients

on both legal and nonlegal remedies. After all, that’s part of our job, to also

be counselors at law. Civil rights law today requires creative approaches,

and if a litigation strategy does not get your client where he wants to go,

then perhaps a nonlegal remedy will.

There are some ideas here that might seem like off-the-wall proposals,

but we may never know unless we try them. We need to keep the ideas com-

ing from everyone, because new ways of doing things are likely to improve

the state of civil rights law for all. One of the cornerstones of civil rights is

equality, and there are a few ideas here for different procedures that might

prevent the rights of the less powerful from being steamrolled by those in

authority. You can be an advocate for these or your own ideas in your own

jurisdictions, using the unique power and responsibilities we have as lawyers.

Other Forums of Protest

In this day and age, as you can see from the viral videos, online peti-

tions, public protests, and support from high-prole gures, a formal court

approach may not be the only one that gets results. To be sure, the online

Chapter 15

e New Guerrilla

Warfare of Civil Rights

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dossiers on each of us create formidable sources of power for certain par-

ties, such as Facebook, which rose to become a publicly traded initial public

offering as a result of its treasure troves full of our personal information.

Facebook has largely succeeded in its goal of making the world a more

transparent and connected place. This is an age where so much information

online and in the public view shapes our lives; why not harness that power

to work for our advantage? The transparency gives us all greater abilities in

communicating with others to seek redress of wrongs and to connect with

others who can assist us in supporting these causes and elevating them to

the forefront of our national dialogue. Today there are so many alternative

remedies besides litigation, and there will continually be more as we nd

new fora and vehicles for disseminating our ideas and needs.

Many of our brave fellow citizens will nonetheless take to the streets

and continue to claim their civil rights in a good faith manner, even after

the Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington

Supreme Court decision,1 which authorizes strip searches for any arrestee.

Others of us want to help in the ght for civil rights but have legitimate

concerns about participating in the protests, as arrests—even if charges do

not follow—can have severe and catastrophic effects on our lives. Doubtless

this was part of the motivation behind the Florence decision. But we need

not watch helplessly from the sidelines. We can still make our allegiance

and positions known in other ways. What might some of these options be?

1. Social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, etc.;

2. Personal websites;

3. Online petitions;

4. Meetings on private property with the owner’s permission and law-

ful usage;

5. Conventions in hotels or other rentable conference space;

6. Grassroots constitutional amendment petitions;

7. And the list goes on.

One of my friends is a people magnet and, ever since we were in college

1. 132 S. Ct. 1510 (2012).

C   266

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