Over the last few months we have witnessed the consequences of long-standing and unchecked institutional racism unfold in our country. The senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others have deeply angered us and reminded our nation that these events are not new phenomena. They are the result of an ongoing and systemic problem that cannot continue.
The Detroit Bar Association and Foundation stand in solidarity with organizations within our community and throughout the nation that are fighting to end systemic and explicit racism. We recognize that as members of the Detroit legal community we have a responsibility to create a more diverse and inclusive legal community that is well equipped to fight injustices. In recognition of this important responsibility, in the fall of 2019 our organizations took the first of many steps in realizing this goal by creating the Detroit Bar Association and Foundation’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
As stated in The Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion adopted by our Boards, the Detroit Bar Association and Foundation believe:
“... advancing diversity and inclusion raises the bar for the entire profession and we encourage our members to practice with their ‘whole self’ – race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, religion, age, veteran status, marital/parental/caregiver status, socioeconomic status, and any other characteristic that makes a lawyer uniquely experienced to bring perspective so we can learn from one another.”
While our stated commitment to creating a more inclusive and diverse legal community is important, we recognize that this is only an initial step, among many needed, to confront racial injustice. We also realize that as members of the legal community, we are not powerless to fight for real change.
On June 29, 2020, the Detroit Bar Association will offer a complimentary webinar entitled, “Structural Racism 101: Basic Training for Lawyers.”
Wayne State University Law School Professor and Director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights Peter Hammer will define and distinguish the many forms of racism that confront us: express racism, structural racism, spatial racism and forms of implicit bias.
Prof. Hammer will also provide a framework to better understand the dynamics of structural racism as an evolving dialectic between belief systems and institutions that have mutated in form from slavery, to Jim Crow segregation, to the forms of spatial-structural racism that define Southeast Michigan.
Those who would like to participate in the webinar may register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/structural-racism-101-basic-training-for-lawyers-tickets-110807662702.
This is the first in our series of initiatives to help our community combat inequality and injustice. Details on those efforts will be forthcoming and posted on the Detroit Bar Association’s website.
The Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Detroit Bar may be reached at dbadiversity@detroitlawyer.org.
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