Page 42 - CLT072020

42 ¦ JULY 20, 2020 CLOSING ARGUMENTS

EDITORIAL BOARD

Amid Racism and Privilege,
It’s Time to Check Our Profession

The vestiges of racism can be seen all around Explaining systemic oppression and racism
us. The murder of George Floyd is the most is not easy. It takes time, knowledge and energy
recent incident of a black man being killed to explain why we continue to see the vestiges of
by the police. But this time it feels different. This slavery; why our laws were created, applied and
time, people are standing up differently. Not all interpreted against blacks; why redlining, housing
have the language or the voice but they have the segregation, police brutality, employment dis-
desire to see beyond the media’s narrative, to be crimination and educational inequality continue
allies in a struggle that many of us have been to exist. How can we answer those questions when
fighting for a lifetime. our profession helped to create and continues to
Cries for justice — legal, social and racial — support these systems of oppression? Perhaps we
pepper social media posts and leave the lips of cannot tackle every system but we can start by
protestors. Our profession is heralded as the pro- looking inward at the ways in which our profes-
fession responsible to uphold and protect the rule sion continues to be centered around whiteness.
of law and many look to us to answer the ques- The American Bar Association (ABA) was
tion, Why? moved forward by members of the Connecticut Bar

CONNECTICUT
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