Steeped in Stupid by Bernestine
Singley
Thirty years ago, I was a black female student in a white
law school in the deep South, part of that first wave of integration determined
to change America.
Many things did change, the law, law student populations, and lawyers
among them. Yet, when reading about the recent controversy over white
University of Texas law students who threw a "Ghetto Fabulous" party,
I found myself equal parts despairing and outraged about what hasn't changed.
Not even three months into their first year of study, these aspiring lawyers,
perhaps so stressed by the rigors of their studies, went looking for a way to
chill. And what did the cream of Texas' intellectual crop come up with? A
party mocking the black and brown urban poor – complete with 40-ounce cans of
malt liquor, fake guns, "ethnic" names, do-rags, jeweled grills on
their front teeth, and loud jewelry.
Fully tricked out, UT's best and brightest young white adults didn't hesitate
to use overtly racist images and behavior for a bit of fun and frivolity. Not
surprisingly, some of the black and brown law students weren't so happy when
photos of the party showed up on the Internet, and this private party for white
folks suddenly became very public.
“What did these partygoers know, or what should they have known,
about their own motivations?”
Given that
these are law students, let's ask a legal-style question: What did these
partygoers know, or what should they have known, about their own motivations
and the consequences of their actions?
When defendants are on trial for harm caused by their actions, the legal
standard is simple: Did the defendant know, or should s/he have known, that
what they did would cause the harm in question?
So, did these white men and women lawyers-in-training know, or should they have
known, that their cavorting was stunningly racist and profoundly offensive?
I am a retired member of the Massachusetts and Texas bars. During my
decade-plus of law practice, I was an Assistant Attorney General in Boston and
Dallas. I have a law degree from the University of Florida and a graduate law
degree from Harvard and I was born and raised in an urban ghetto. So I
personally know not only the law, but also how white supremacy works in the
ghettoes of cities and of elite law schools.
So my answer to both questions is yes. They should have known and they did.
Despite the UT law dean's repeated reference to his law students as "these
kids," they are not children. They are grownup college graduates. Given
that they beat out the competition, we also can assume they are not stupid.
So, how is it possible for them to be, as Dean Larry Sager described them in a
television news interview, "innocent of racial motivation" and merely
"guilty of thoughtlessness"?
If these best-and-brightest did not know that their own motivations and
behavior were racist and offensive, what does this tell us about how they have
been educated; about how they have been prepared to be leaders in the world?
Who failed them so abysmally in teaching them to live, work, and love in a
world where most people do not look, think, talk, or act like them?
If these future leaders of our state and nation really didn't know, shouldn't
they have known? And whose responsibility was it to raise them properly?
“The hearts and minds displayed in these staged acts of racial
assault reveal a breathtaking, even heartbreaking, wall of denial, contempt,
and cowardice.”
Who
is accountable for producing this next generation of lawyers who have become
adults steeped in such racial oblivion that they have no sense or sensibility
about their own profoundly offensive and racist behavior? Their grandparents?
Parents? Other relatives? Teachers? College professors? Religious leaders?
Friends and colleagues?
Who
failed them and, by extension, the rest of us?
Do law school administrators and fellow students who created and sustain the
law school environment that invites this kind of behavior, know what they are
doing? Shouldn't they?
In 30 years, my eyes have seen laws change. But the hearts and minds displayed
in these staged acts of racial assault reveal a breathtaking, even
heartbreaking, wall of denial, contempt, and cowardice.
I believe the UT law students know exactly what they did. I believe the law
school and university administrators know the same. Both are failures.
There is another saying in the law: Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks
for itself.
I rest my case.
Contact Bernestine Singley at Straightlk@yahoo.com.