Page 12 - OWLS AdvanceSheet Spring 2017

We Still Have a Long, Long Way to Go

By Kate Lozano
rious Johnson, an attorney and the of political and economic decisions made
director of the Civil Rights Unit at early in what became American society.
Ethe Oregon Department of Justice, He then showed how these dynamics
presented an exceptional Black History have been perpetuated in insidious ways
Month CLE for OWLS and a number of because of political power struggles and
co-sponsors on February 28. Working with economic interests.
OWLS IN (Intersectionality Network), he Director Johnson explained how we can
spoke on “Slavery, Capitalism, and Citi- look through this political and economic
zenship,” and answered questions from lens instead of framing the conversation
the audience (en masse and one-on-one) as one about race and racism, and how
for over an hour afterwards. I helped to we can use this shift in perspective to
organize and attended the CLE. de-escalate emotional reactions and de-
And I failed. fensiveness. The intellectual framework
I failed Director Johnson in my role he described allows the issues of freedom,
as a CLE organizer, failed to promote citizenship, and opportunities for equity
minorities in the law as an OWLS board to be considered more dispassionately
member and as the OWLS mission calls and with hope, as economic matters. Erious Johnson
me to do, and failed as a white woman When he finished his innovative
to show the solidarity to an African presentation, the very first question disregarded the content of the CLE pre-
American colleague that morality and posed—by a white member of the au- sentation, or were not questions at all,
decency demanded. dience—was a blatant, racist attack on but instead, were opinions that insulted
Director Johnson presented a fascinat- Director Johnson: “Do you talk hip-hop?” the integrity of African American jurors.
ing and compelling CLE that challenged It was also one that, clearly, did not even In the face of what I can only describe
us all to see our history of slavery, and pretend to bear any relation to the CLE as an assault on Director Johnson and
the continuing denial of the badges of material. Other “questions” from the attempts, conscious or unconscious, to
citizenship to members of non-dominant audience—white members of the audi- diminish the authority of an African
cultures in the United States, as the result ence—perpetuated racist stereotypes, American presenter, Director Johnson
was unfailingly professional and even
gracious. I, on the other hand, was
shocked. I was and am also profoundly
disappointed in our legal community. It
was a shameful evening.
However, I am even more disappointed
in and ashamed of myself. As Director
Johnson withstood the barrage of rac-
ism, I was silent . . . silently waiting for
the food to arrive so the caterer would
put an end to the ordeal. I did not chal-
lenge the audience members. I did not
interrupt them. I did not even stop the
question-and-answer session. Director
Johnson is more than capable of speak-
ing for himself. He is also more than
capable of standing up for himself, but
he shouldn’t have had to; I should have
stood with him.
The largely white and “progressive”
Portland legal community has a long
way to go before we can begin to call
our efforts toward inclusion progress. For
my part, I will try to take a page from Di-
rector Johnson and view our community
through a different and less emotional
lens, so I have the focus and courage to
stand with all of my brother and sisters.
Kate Lozano is a member of OWLS Board
of Directors.

OREGON WOMEN LAWYERS AdvanceSheet 12 SPRING 2017