LETTERS FROM A MIAMI COURTROOM - WE CALL FOR A SIT IN

 Every judge who dons the black robes fantasizes about standing up for justice against popular opinion. "Oh, if only I was a Judge in Mississippi in the 1960's, I would have dismissed all those charges against civil rights activists" they say to themselves. 

In his famous April 13, 1963 letter from a Birmingham Jail, where he was incarcerated for his civil protests, Dr. Martin King famously wrote:

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

The words have deep philosophical meaning. The concept of "mutuality", that we are all inhabitants of this world, this globe, this nation, our own city. When one person acts with injustice, all are affected. That in the words of President Kennedy in a speech two months later "For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." 

Now, in November 2021, with nearly three-quarters of a million Americans dead from an insidious virus that has been more than our equal, our judges in Miami are faced with a choice. Do they, like the southern racist Judges of Alabama and Mississippi, and all of the South (with a few notable exceptions like US District and Circuit Court Judge Frank  Mins  Johnson) look the other way and shrug their shoulders as Florida's Governor and the Florida Supreme Court race to the bottom of science, and pander to the fears and ignorance- the same type of fears and ignorance that allowed racism to flourish- and watch people kill themselves and potentially fatally infect others by not requiring people to wear masks in their courtrooms? 

Judges can tell litigants when to appear in court; they can dictate the manner and method of a trial or a hearing; they require men to wear jackets and ties during August in Miami when humidity is 8000%; but they cannot require a person to wear a mask in court to protect themselves, other participants, and their staff? 

Judges can incarcerate; they can take money; they can order the mechanism of the State to end the life of a citizen; but they cannot require a person to wear a small mask? 

If  our judges do not decide to protect us, we shall decide  to protest like the civil rights activists of the 1960s. AND HERE IS HOW WE DO IT. 

WE SIT

Dr. King organized sit-ins. We sit and we do not stand when Judges who will not protect us do not require everyone in their courtroom to wear a mask, enter a courtroom, because they are not worthy of our respect. 

A simple act of defiance that says "you can order me to appear, but you must also protect my health."

WE CALL FOR ALL ATTORNEYS AND THEIR CLIENTS TO NOT STAND WHEN A JUDGE WALKS INTO A COURTROOM UNLESS THAT JUDGE REQUIRES ALL PAETIES TO WEAR A MASK. 

Dr. King wrote these words and it is time to put them into action:

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham.

This is the moment for all those judges who were sure they would do the right thing. Will you protect the people in your Court? We are watching.