To
honor
excellence
in
editing,
the
law
review
staff
at
the
University
of
Memphis
School
of
Law
constructed
a
trophy.
There’s
nothing
wrong
with
that.
Editing
a
law
review
involves
hours
of
painstaking
copyediting
work
and
staff
rarely
get
the
appreciation
they
deserve
for
unpaid
work
arguing
with
law
professors
over
whether
a
footnote
properly
calls
for
“See
generally”
or
“See,
e.g.”
Anyway…
this
is
the
trophy:
(Photo
submitted
to
the
Daily
Memphian)
No.
Do
you
know
how
hard
you
have
to
work
to
make
comma
placement
racist?
Well,
not
all
that
hard
actually
—
there
are
studies
showing
that,
when
shown
identical
documents,
attorneys
are
statistically
more
likely
to
identify
typos
in
a
draft
if
they
believe
the
author
is
Black.
And
there’s
important
scholarship,
primarily
from
Michigan
State’s
Justin
Simard,
on
the
impact
of
subtly
erasing
the
institution
of
slavery
in
case
citations
—
a
project
that
resulted
in
Rule
10.7.1(d)
requiring
academic
work
citing
such
caselaw
to
include
the
parenthetical
“(enslaved
party).”
Though
maybe
we’re
getting
ahead
of
ourselves
confronting
unconscious
racism
in
citations
when
courts
still
positively
cite
slavery
caselaw
to
support
their
originalist
legal
theories
.
So
maybe
we
don’t
need
to
add
any
more
racism
to
the
job.
The
law
review
offices
displayed
the
trophy
for
around
10
days
before
someone
checked
the
calendar
and
realized
it
was
2023.
Last
week,
the
dean
and
the
EIC
of
the
law
review
issued
apologies.
From
the
EIC’s
statement:
A
few
weeks
ago,
a
small
group
of
Law
Review
student
leaders
used
random
items
that
were
found
in
the
Law
Review
suite
to
construct
a
“trophy”
to
recognize
Law
Review
staff
for
excellent
Bluebook
editing.
Bluebook
editing
is
a
weekly
responsibility
for
Law
Review
staff.
The
“trophy,”
which
was
made
up
of
a
football
and
a
wig
of
long
dark
hair
and
other
items,
resembled
a
face.
We
placed
this
“trophy”
on
a
shelf
where
it
was
visible
to
anyone
nearby.Although
no
one
involved
recognized
it
at
the
time,
the
face
resembled
images
of
black
face,
which
historically
has
been
a
horrible
and
humiliating
means
of
degrading
African
Americans.
No
one
involved
intended
to
make
an
item
that
resembled
an
image
with
such
terrible
racial
connotations;
however,
Law
Review’s
leadership
should
have
immediately
recognized
what
the
“trophy”
resembled
and
how
it
harmed
members
of
the
Memphis
legal
community
who
viewed
it.
So
they
say
it
was
accidental.
I
don’t
know
where
the
line
is
between
“we
constructed
a
face
on
a
football
and
didn’t
realize
using
a
brown
base
opened
up
the
possibility
that
it
could
be
construed
as
a
caricature
of
African-Americans”
and
“the
Amos
&
Andy
award
for
excellence
goes
to…”
but
this
is
a
lot
closer
to
the
latter.
The
lips
take
up
half
the
face!
Look,
wide
open
eyes
and
the
big
lips
on
their
own
might
be
passable,
but
in
conjunction
this
forms
a
template
for
minstrelsy.
From
the
Daily
Memphian
coverage:
Kourtney
Thomas,
a
member
of
the
Black
Law
Student
Association,
finds
it
hard
to
believe
that
someone
could
have
made
the
image
and
not
recognized
it
as
blackface
and
belittling.“I
don’t
know
how
all
those
coincidences
could
have
happened,”
he
said.
Honestly,
as
bad
as
it
is
that
it
happened,
it’s
way
worse
that
it
went
unchecked
for
10
days.
Multiple
people
had
an
opportunity
to
think
“hm,
this
seems
bad”
for
a
week
and
a
half
and
just…
didn’t.
Because,
to
bring
it
all
back
to
the
very
function
of
a
law
review,
the
point
of
journal
work
is
to
leverage
the
collective
judgment
of
multiple
editors
combing
over
a
piece
to
make
sure
there
aren’t
any
mistakes.
And
a
whole
lot
of
people
seem
to
have
laid
eyes
on
this
thing
and
never
flagged
it.
U
of
M
law
school
rattled
by
student-made
blackface
caricature
[Daily
Memphian]
Earlier:
Proof
That
Typos
Are
Racist
Judge
Cites
Slavery
To
Support
Custody
Opinion
In
Apotheosis
Of
Originalism
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.