No!  The days of passing letters with a question that asks “Do you like me? Check the box for either yes or no” or a quick peck on the cheek from your kindergarten crush, have long been gone.  Those days have been replaced with parental claims of sexual harassment and/or assault and battery.  Due to school tragedies such as Columbine, and more recently Sandy Hook, children have been forced to face the harsh reality that everything they do has very real consequences.  Unfortunately, time out is no longer an option. Thus when my client, lets call him Alex, hid a toy gun in the heater of a school van, he ultimately ended up facing charges of possession of a weapon on school property.  Alex was NOT allowed to have guns of any sort in his home.  Alex also knew that guns were not permitted in school.  Alex never threatened anyone with the toy gun nor did Alex ever tell another student where the toy was hidden.  In Alex’s infinite adolescent wisdom, he genuinely believed that the school bus wasn’t school property.  Guess what, so did Alex’s parents.  Nonetheless, because of this juvenile oversight, Alex was hand-cuffed to a police bench and sent off to Lima Detention Center without Alex’s parents ever being informed that Alex had been removed from the school.  Though a huge over reaction to the situation, schools are no longer turning the other cheek to adolescent mishaps.  There is no longer patience for innocence. 

So Solange just hauls off and starts punching, kicking, and presumably cursing at Jay Z.  Though speculation exists as to why Solange was so enraged, the very real fact remains….  she put her hands on Jay Z.   The law calls that, assault and battery.  Though Jay Z is bigger and perhaps stronger thus Solange may not have posed a credible threat, she still assaulted Jay Z.  Many women feel that they can hit a man without consequence. Because he is stronger he can take a punch, and it would be cowardly of him to hit her back.  Au contraire mon cheri, men do fight back now-a-days and it is called a PFA (Protection From Abuse) order. 

Women, you can get it too!!!  Men can successfully get an obsessed ex-girlfriend, baby mama, or wife out of their life with a PFA.  Protection From Abuse orders are reserved for individuals who are family members, household members, sexual or intimate partners, or persons who have a child in common.  A PFA prevents a person from having direct and indirect contact with the individual who sought the protection.  Thus, a person can not have their cousin, aunt, or friend attempt to contact their ex.  That too will get them arrested.  Here’s the kicker that most people, typically women, fail to realize.  If the person you have a PFA against can not contact you, you can NOT contact them.  It is quite possible to be in violation (contempt) of your own PFA.  Therefore, don’t get too cocky. 

We were having a group discussion about racism, sexism, etc.  The debate had gotten heated and I jumped in the fray to say that real discrimination doesn't need to compare itself to others.  If someone is really discriminating against you, you don't have to compare yourself to Black slaves, you just know it.  A fellow attorney sent me an email about cheap comparisons and shared this article :  Rosa Parks.   I have to admit that it was a good read.

You see, many of us have a persecution complex quickly followed by an overinflated ego.  You have to understand that the system is not stacked against you, it is adversarial for us all.  Just as there are not always clear winners, there are not always clear losers.  The point of hiring an attorney, an advocate, is to have someone who understands the system working for you.  However, a good attorney will tell you that you are not Rosa Parks.  Your matter is important to you, but you are not touching off the Civil Rights Movement.  Try to calm down and breathe through it.  Let us fight the battles.