Circuit Judge Karen Cole recently organized a great event to help lawyers understand and realize the effects of racial, gender and other prejudice. It featured great speakers, good discussion and at least one bonehead: me.
During part of the program, I raised my hand and expressed a belief about the economic issues affecting African-American lawyers that simply was not correct.
A man I very much respect spoke with me afterward and explained to me that my perception that African-American attorneys entered private practice too early for economic reasons (the perception of the existence of a market for services) was not accurate, and that instead many African-Americans were struggling with the inability to appeal to a broader market.
It appeared to me that there were attorneys who were leaving established practices to appeal to that market, but my perception was skewed by a few non-representative examples.
I apologize for having that mistaken impression, but what happened after I expressed it provides some insight into problems that we as a community have. My response to others’ criticism was defensive, and that response was a result of my own cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance is a big deal because it prevents us from rejecting our mistaken beliefs when the beliefs about which we are mistaken conflict with our views of ourselves.
I view myself as someone who is pretty progressive on race and, indeed, much of my career as a lawyer has been spent fighting discrimination. The thought that my belief could involve a racial stereotype couldn’t be right – because it was my idea.
Could it? The truth, however, is pretty much all of us have views and beliefs that we can and should change, but our beliefs about ourselves prevent us from admitting that we are wrong.
If we hope for the community to have a discussion regarding racial issues, we need to be willing to speak up and express beliefs that we can subject to scrutiny.
I spoke up to address what I thought was an issue that possibly needed addressing, and expressed a view that was later corrected.
My belief was wrong because I had misperceived the situation by relying on stereotypical thinking. It was based on limited information, from only limited personal experiences and observations, and I permitted myself to reach a global conclusion based on incomplete and inaccurate information.
The bottom line, however, is that I offended some people, and I sincerely apologize for doing so.
I think we need to all be honest about our beliefs, and subject them to review and revision. It is the failure to discuss our beliefs that leads to continued difficulties and entrenched attitudes.
Correcting my misbelief was more helpful to me than it would have been for me to continue with it. Confronting and correcting mistaken beliefs must be part of any effort to address the problems that confront us.
It is my sincere hope that conversations about race will continue, because I think they can be vital to the rest of the Jacksonville Bar community.
Addressing racial and other forms of inequality in our profession and in our society needs to be one of the our primary missions, and it is my hope that we can make some progress toward that goal during the next year as I serve as The JBA’s president.
I hope you will join me in that effort, and that we can find some innovative ways to make things better through our discussions and our actions.