Contractions Contractions
It all began with a missing sheet of homework. "Contractions," my son had written very clearly in his assignment log. "What's this?" I asked when he announced he'd finished every...
Mar 21, 2002 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Virtual Reality Virtual Reality
In my last column, I mentioned that most actual drug users are young white people, even though most of those "profiled" as drug users are people of color. Indeed, according to th...
Mar 7, 2002 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Better Safe…? Better Safe…?
In my last column, I called the expansion of profiling that has occurred since September 11 "equal opportunity." I meant it ironically, but a surprising number of people took me ...
Feb 21, 2002 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Bad Hair Day Bad Hair Day
We have reached the point that the idea of liberty, an idea relatively recent and new, is already in the process of fading from our consciences and our standards of morality, t...
Feb 7, 2002 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
The Beloved Community The Beloved Community
In this most emotionally charged of times, I think that many of the moral issues we face are overlaid by an oft-expressed tension between the need for security and the full prote...
Jan 24, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Patricia J. Williams
Begging to Disagree Begging to Disagree
In these heated times, what does the word 'fundamentalist' mean? Well, it all depends on whom you ask.
Dec 20, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
More Juice? More Juice?
What plagued the O.J. Simpson trial—corruption, malfeasance and a breakdown of the rule of law—is exactly what the 'war on terror' is achieving in its blind que...
Dec 7, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Disorder in the Court Disorder in the Court
George W. Bush wants to try terror suspects in in secret military courts. Guilt is presumed over innocence.
Nov 21, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
By Any Means Necessary By Any Means Necessary
We can't allow fear to erode commitment to our constitutional liberties.
Nov 8, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Homeland Insecurity Homeland Insecurity
It is hard to write a column like this under the present circumstances. It is hard to comment on what is happening in the world if the military regulates everything. And yet it i...
Oct 25, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams