Patricia J. Williams Essay -- Patricia Williams Law Society Essays

Patricia J. Williams While most pundits of Americas social and political discourse be both beating dead horses or tilting at windmills, Patricia J. Williams seeks extinct the racist, sexist, heterosexist, and classist forces that underlie a number of socio-political pathologies. Williams regular Nation magazine column, Diary of a softheaded Law Professor is curious in that it often evokes visceral electronegativity in casual readers. It certainly affected me that way. At first it was serious to get beyond the name of her page thumbing through each passing I sheepishly wondered what this crazy lady would get bent out of shape about this week. Though I generally agreed with her ideas, it smitten me that Williams was too radical (as if there really is such a involvement in a mainstream media culture that chooses to wear blinders). Williams vigorously uproots conventional lore as she strips away the rich-white-male-centric viewpoint power and a voice ar given to those who simpl y are acted upon. Like Howard Zinn who has promoted a view of register through a populist lens, Patricia Williams promotes a viewpoint that examines and judges the manipulation of the marginalized. Williams is clearly not the only contemporary essayist with a broad-minded viewpoint on social issues. Katha Pollitt, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal, and Alexander Cockburn, among many others, are similarly progressive in their opinions on nightclub, politics, and culture. Williams, however, has a modified gestalt upon which her freehanded commentary about socio-political affairs is based. The way in which the mechanics of society can be explained is a relationship of dominance and submission, a grown association. As described in Clarence X, pornography, on a take aim greater ... ...aracterization like the Nutty Black Feminst Ultra-Liberal Professor. The key to accessing Williams is the key she teaches us for accessing a more equal society a society in which pigeon holes are eliminated , since clearly, neither we nor Patricia Williams can be so categorized without losing our humanity. kit and boodle CitedWilliams, Patricia J. The Alchemy of Race and Rights. Cambridge Harvard UP, 1991.Clarence X, Roosters Egg. 121-136.Fire and Ice. Alchemy. 133-145.A Hearing of Ones Own. Roosters Egg. 137-149.Little augury in the Hood. The Nation. 19 Jun 2000 9.Mirrors and Windows. Alchemy. 166-178.The Pain of Word Bondage. Alchemy.146-165.Racial Ventriloquism. The Nation. 5 Jul 1999 9. intercommunicate Hoods. Roosters Egg. 42-56.The Roosters Egg. Cambridge Harvard UP, 1995.Teleology on the Rocks. Alchemy. 55-79.