Law school speaker on Israel, NYPD accused of ‘hate speech’

Fatima Mousa Mohammed offers a graduation tackle at the Metropolis University of New York School of Law on Could 12, 2023 (CUNY YouTube screengrab).

The month of May possibly is generally an remarkable time for new graduates throughout the country, and this year, it is honest to say students at the Town University of New York College of Legislation had a lively ship-off at their commencement ceremony a several months ago.

The phrases of CUNY Regulation graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed — elected by her fellow pupils to give the commencement speech at their graduation on May possibly 12 — rapidly permeated beyond the walls of the Queens Faculty auditorium serving as the decided on graduation location for the community legislation faculty, launched in 1983. The university, which is also my alma mater (I graduated in 2016), has emphasised its mission to educate college students with the goal of forging professions in social justice, with several of its alumni going on to turn into pro bono lawyers, community defenders, and civil legal rights attorneys.

Indeed, Mohammed appeared to channel these really beliefs in her speech.

“Like many of you, I selected CUNY University of Regulation for its articulated mission to be ‘law in the companies of human desires,”” she mentioned. “We joined this establishment to be outfitted with the required authorized expertise to protect our communities.” Addressing her class of a lot more than 200 graduating pupils, she reported she foresaw her fellow classmates using the law to secure customers of often oppressed sectors of modern society, which includes immigrants, tenants, and individuals who have experienced their civil rights abridged.

“I see foreseeable future attorneys who will function to make this world a far better area,” she stated. “I see a course to be rejoiced.”

As a substitute of prompting pleasure, on the other hand, Mohammed’s speech has since absent viral and received nationwide news coverage. Even though Mohammed highlighted some of the most urgent problems in the country — like adult males of colour currently being targeted at Rikers Island, Palestinian political prisoners, and refugees at the southern U.S. border — it was her comments about the navy, police, New York politicians, and Israel that have considering that acquired nationwide consideration.