Would you believe that 45 states and the federal government have
passed laws against hate? A hate crime is generally defined as an act of
violence, harassment or oppression against a member of a certain class
or group. Hate crimes as well as legislation enacted to compensate its
victims gained national attention after the 1998 murder of Matthew
Shepard, a gay student at Laramie, Wyoming.
Being a civil rights lawyer with fifteen years experience under my belt, I never imagined I would become the victim of a hate crime, at least not by the federal watchdog agency funded to protect my civil rights. Yet that is the scenario which began to unfold when I was denied access to the federally-funded Computer Lab at the community college where I was both a student and Legal Research and Writing instructor. In the previous fifteen years, no student had filed a complaint against me, nor had I been disciplined by the State Bar of California. Through a breach of patient-physician confidentiality, women at the college learned I had been diagnosed with a chemical imbalance-related illness and said they were afraid to be in the same room with me.
This set in motion a smear campaign against me which included, bogus evaluations, defamatory letters being put in my personnel file without my knowledge and threats from the Dean of Instruction that if I didn't resign, sexual harassment charges would be filed against me. When I refused to resign, I was fired without the mandatory federal hearing.
The attorney at U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights assigned to investigate my complaint under the Americans With Disabilities Act did not fare much better than the girls in the Computer Lab. While trying to explain the nature of my illness to her boss, I looked up and saw her mimicking me. Then, instead of making a phone call to the college's federal grievance coordinator, she made a 150 mile trip to the college and smeared me with a ten page letter which mischaracterized the facts, applied the wrong legal standard and reeked of more hatred.
Why would a federal judge rule students and teachers were not entitled to a fair hearing when the Code of Federal Regulations clearly states they do? That issue was soon made insignificant when he let the government steal my incriminating court papers from three separate locations in the courthouse to keep them out of the hands of the media. When I attempted to correct the record for appeal by filing a complaint of judicial misconduct and a federal racketeering lawsuit against him, I was informed by the State Bar that I was being disbarred. The witness against me was none other that Office of Civil Rights regional attorney.
During this time, California Governor Pete Wilson shut the State Bar down for nearly a year, calling it the "ultimate political animal." Although one main concern about the Bar the Governor had was its bias against solo practitioners like myself, I saw something more sinister - a continuation of the college and federal agency's ignorance and animosity about
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3097800
Being a civil rights lawyer with fifteen years experience under my belt, I never imagined I would become the victim of a hate crime, at least not by the federal watchdog agency funded to protect my civil rights. Yet that is the scenario which began to unfold when I was denied access to the federally-funded Computer Lab at the community college where I was both a student and Legal Research and Writing instructor. In the previous fifteen years, no student had filed a complaint against me, nor had I been disciplined by the State Bar of California. Through a breach of patient-physician confidentiality, women at the college learned I had been diagnosed with a chemical imbalance-related illness and said they were afraid to be in the same room with me.
This set in motion a smear campaign against me which included, bogus evaluations, defamatory letters being put in my personnel file without my knowledge and threats from the Dean of Instruction that if I didn't resign, sexual harassment charges would be filed against me. When I refused to resign, I was fired without the mandatory federal hearing.
The attorney at U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights assigned to investigate my complaint under the Americans With Disabilities Act did not fare much better than the girls in the Computer Lab. While trying to explain the nature of my illness to her boss, I looked up and saw her mimicking me. Then, instead of making a phone call to the college's federal grievance coordinator, she made a 150 mile trip to the college and smeared me with a ten page letter which mischaracterized the facts, applied the wrong legal standard and reeked of more hatred.
Why would a federal judge rule students and teachers were not entitled to a fair hearing when the Code of Federal Regulations clearly states they do? That issue was soon made insignificant when he let the government steal my incriminating court papers from three separate locations in the courthouse to keep them out of the hands of the media. When I attempted to correct the record for appeal by filing a complaint of judicial misconduct and a federal racketeering lawsuit against him, I was informed by the State Bar that I was being disbarred. The witness against me was none other that Office of Civil Rights regional attorney.
During this time, California Governor Pete Wilson shut the State Bar down for nearly a year, calling it the "ultimate political animal." Although one main concern about the Bar the Governor had was its bias against solo practitioners like myself, I saw something more sinister - a continuation of the college and federal agency's ignorance and animosity about
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3097800
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