A Louisiana inmate's Rastafarian dreadlocks were forcibly cut by guards who ignored a court order protecting his hair. The Supreme Court case asks whether he can sue prison officials for money damages, or if a federal statute blocks the claim.
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Can you sue for shorn dreadlocks? Supreme Court test the remedy. The Supreme Court is hearing a case from Louisiana that asks a stark question. If guards violate an inmate's religious rights, can he sue them for money? According to the New York Times, Damon Lander, a Rastafarian, arrived with a court ruling that protected his dreadlocks. Guards threw it away, strapped him down and shaved it. Lower courts condemned the act, but said a federal statute may block damages or claims against state officials. Lander's lawyers argued the court already allowed money damages against a federal official under a similar law and that without damages, officials can ignore religious rights. Louisiana's attorney general condemned the shaving, but says the statute differed. The justices will decide whether principle without a remedy is really a right at all or just a promise. Lander says his dreadlocks are central to his identity and faith. Cutting them felt like a violation the law was meant to prevent. So what's the real message here? Rastafarian was sent to prison. They shaved off his dreadlocks. He says, this is violating my religious rights. Okay, we got to decide as a country. Can you just say, it's my religion, I get whatever I want, or are we going to say, you're in prison now? There's a lot of inequities and problems with our legal system and our prison system in the United States. But the idea that you can just say, what's my religious belief? I should get away with anything. What if I said I believe in TJ Farianism and in my religion, I have to just eat caviar and steak and drink champagne all day? Should that be respected by the prisons? I don't think so. Part of prison is you've got to live by our rules now, not by your own ideas of what. Let's dig a little bit deeper, okay? This was a controversial issue. There's no doubt about it. You may say, well, I don't really like Rastafarians. I don't know why you'd say that, but certainly some could. But you may say, well, I am a member of an orthodox particular religion where we're not allowed to do any work or touch on Saturday, or I need to be allowed to pray at 2am when everyone. When the prison law says I have to be asleep. You may belong to a religion that says I have to have metal objects with me at all times. And the prison may say, well, we don't allow inmates to have sharp metal objects. They could kill someone. They could commit suicide. Here's the problem. That's a bit nebulous. The United States is based on the premise of we're not here to establish any one religion. We are supposed to be a secular nation. The problem of course is what's a religion? If Your religion is 2000 years old and you could say, hey, I'm just doing what my parents did, my grandparents did, and that's a part of me, you basically get a pass. But let's not forget the whole concept of faith is you have no proof for this. If I decide I want to have a religion where Mickey Mouse is my God and I have to shout I love Mickey Mouse. Top of my lungs at 3am every day and I have to wear nothing but clothes with Mickey Mouse and I have to wear Mickey Mouse ears all the time, you might say, well TJ that sounds like BS to me. That doesn't sound like a real religion. But my question then would be, who gets to decide what a real religion is? There is just as many facts showing that Mickey Mouse created the world and is an all knowing, all powerful God as there is for any other religion saying their God is all powerful and all knowing. It's, it's very, very speculative at best. So I'm not a big fan of going out of your way to intimidate people, be obnoxious to people. Certainly I'm not in favor of torturing people whether they're in prison inside or outside. But I am troubled by this idea that you basically can do whatever you want, get whatever you want, get all sorts of special privileges and perks in society whether you're in prison or not, simply by saying, oh it's my religion. Because it shows a fundamental disregard for the growing class of people in America and around the world who are not really fans of religion, who don't believe in religion, who think it's all kind of silly superstition, it's not respectful to those people. And according to some polls that's as many as third of Americans and it could easily be billion people around the world. And many, many of these non religious people are simply frankly tired. They get no rights and all someone else has to do is say oh it's my religion, I want this and everyone is supposed to bow down to give it to them. So put me in the camp of hey, you go to prison, you're going to be made to sort of do what everyone else does. If my religion says I'm supposed to sleep till noon every day, I can't just say that when I'm in prison. If all the prisoners have to get up and leave their cells at 6am to go to breakfast. I'm going to have to do that. If everyone else has to have their head shaved, I'm in favor of shaving everyone's head. Now, you could say, well, cj, that's easy for you to say. You don't have a lot to lose. You don't have a lot of skin in the game there. Although maybe that's the wrong metaphor. But I think the far bigger problem when you're in prison is you're in prison, and maybe focusing on things like hair shouldn't be your main priority when you're in prison. It should be figuring out what did I do in my life to get here and how can I really change something in a profound way so that when I get out, I don't end up back here?
