The Roundtable
Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
Warning: This post discusses epithets that may be offensive or disturbing to some readers.
By Dan Spinelli Dan Spinelli is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). On June 23, 2007, longtime television anchor Tom Burlington walked into an editorial meeting along with eight other personnel. Burlington, a weekend anchor and reporter at Fox 29 — the Philadelphia affiliate of Fox News — joined his colleagues in a discussion of a segment regarding the “symbolic burial” of the n-word by the Philadelphia Council of the NAACP.[1] While discussing the story, Burlington — a white male — asked, “Does this mean we can finally say the word n-----?” Nearly eight years after the meeting, Burlington, 53, argued in a federal racial discrimination suit that his use of that racial epithet cost him his job and his reputation. He sought damages from the station for firing him on July 12 of that year, weeks after the editorial meeting. Earlier this month, Burlington testified in federal district court in Philadelphia that he has been unable to acquire another job in broadcast journalism after being fired from Fox 29. “The hardest part is my children,” he said in court. “They’ll believe I’m a racist.”[2]
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By Tanner Bowen
Tanner Bowen is a rising sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying business. Chocolate has essentially become a staple food of Western culture. With the world’s sweet tooth steadily rising, pressure has been placed upon chocolate producers to cut costs and increase supply. Efforts to keep up with this exponentially increasing industry have given rise to allegations of child slavery throughout the cocoa industry in countries such as the Ivory Coast and Ghana where over 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced. [1] Fortunately, former child laborers have not kept quiet. Three former victims of child slavery filed a lawsuit in 2013 under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) protesting their treatment. The ATS states that, “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” [2] Formed approximately twenty years after the founding of the United States, this law has been rarely utilized until recently. Now, numerous foreign citizens are using this statue against American corporations for aiding in crimes against humanity conducted overseas. Employing the power of the ATS, the plaintiffs alleged that chocolate giants Nestlé and Cargill Incorporated were guilty of abetting and promoting child slavery in the Ivory Coast by doing business with farmers who enslaved numerous children. [3] They brought the case John Doe v. Nestle USA, Inc. (2013) to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. [4] |
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