Our State of Affairs: An Honest Assessment

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

BY KENNON WOOTEN, SCOTT DOUGLASS & McCONNICO

As more and more people receive COVID-19 vaccines, a sense of hope is returning to communities across our nation. As we spend time (in person!) with our families and friends again, we rejoice in togetherness and remember how important social bonds are to our well-being. In addition, the development and distribution of vaccines have demonstrated our remarkable resourcefulness and resilience as human beings. In short, there are sources of gratitude and inspiration all around us.

But the assessment of our state of affairs is incomplete if we do not address inequities highlighted by the pandemic. Data tracking shows that people of color have been impacted disproportionately by COVID-19. For example, as of March 7, 2021, data showed that nationwide Black people had “died at 1.4 times the rate of white people” and that death rates of other people of color (such as Indigenous and Latinx people) also far exceeded the death rate of white people. 1 Why? According to the CDC, “[i]nequities in the social determinants of health, such as poverty and healthcare access, [are] affecting these groups” and impacting “a wide range of health and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” 2 The CDC has also acknowledged astutely that, “[t]o achieve health equity, barriers must be removed so that everyone has a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible .”3

Beyond highlighting existing inequities, the pandemic has fueled racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In 2020, reports of anti-Asian hate crimes rose nearly 150% in major U.S. cities, while overall hate crimes fell by 7%. 4 Also on the rise are hate incidents, which the Department of Justice defines as “acts of prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage.” 5 According to one report, nearly 3,800 hate incidents were reported against people in the AAPI community between March 2020 and February 2021 alone. 6 Why are these hate crimes and incidents on the rise? I believe there are many reasons, including harmful rhetoric used by high-profile people to describe COVID-19, as well as a history of racism that makes people in the AAPI community more vulnerable to racism than they otherwise would be.

Whatever our respective beliefs may be in regard to the roots of and remedies for inequities and racism, one thing is clear: Words and actions have power. Dr. Maya Angelou captured the power of words well when she said: “Words are things. You must be careful—careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that… . Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. I think they get on the walls, they get in your wallpaper, they get in your rugs, in your upholstery, in your clothes. And, finally, into you.” Words have stung us, and they have soothed us. They have united us, and they have divided us. With hate crimes and incidents on the rise, we should all use our words with care. And whenever we see something that is not right, we should say something. 7

I hope you will join us for the Equity Summit this month and in years to come. I also welcome you to join the Austin Bar in our broader efforts “to lay down the burdens of hate and divisiveness, respect the dignity and worth of every human being, and move forward in our progress toward a more unified bar…”

This year, the Austin Bar has focused on words and actions relating to equity and racism. In June 2020, then-President D. Todd Smith and I issued a statement unequivocally condemning racism. In July 2020, the Austin Bar and AYLA issued a joint resolution and, in it, committed to actions such as providing anti-racism/implicit-bias training to our members. Also in July 2020, the Austin Bar introduced a new Equity Committee, which has contributed excellent content to this publication and has coordinated multiple events designed to heighten awareness and advance equity in and beyond the legal profession. More recently, in March 2021, the Austin Bar board unanimously approved an Equitable and Inclusive Vendor Policy and an Equity Statement.

Later this month, on May 14, the Austin Bar will host its inaugural Equity Summit. To make this event equally accessible to all, including people who may not be vaccinated by May 14, the event will be remote (via Zoom) and will be free of charge. As Equity Committee member Craig Moore noted in last month’s issue of Austin Lawyer, the summit will focus on race this year. In years to come, the goal is to focus on other topics, such as intersectionality, gender, and sexual orientation.

I hope you will join us for the Equity Summit this month and in years to come. I also welcome you to join the Austin Bar in our broader efforts “to lay down the burdens of hate and divisiveness, respect the dignity and worth of every human being, and move forward in our progress toward a more unified bar and an equitable, just society that is at peace with itself.” 8 Step by step, and side by side, we can reach a point where our state of affairs is good not just in parts, but on the whole. AL

Kennon Wooten

Footnotes

1. The COVID Tracking Project, The COVID Racial Data Tracker, https:// covidtracking.com/race (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).

2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups, https://www.cdc.gov/ coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ health-equity/race-ethnicity. html#anchor_1595551043298 (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).

3. Id. 4. Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Reported to Police in America’s Largest Cities: 2020, https://www.csusb. edu/sites/default/files/FACT%20 SHEET-%20Anti-Asian%20Hate%20 2020%203.2.21.pdf (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).

4. U.S. Department of Justice, Learn About Hate Crimes, https://www. justice.gov/hatecrimes/learn-abouthate-crimes/chart (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).

5. Stop AAPI Hate, Stop AAPI Hate National Report, https:// secureservercdn.net/104.238.69.231/ a1w.90d.myftpupload.com/wp- content/uploads/2021/03/210312- Stop-AAPI-Hate-National-Report-.pdf (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).

7. Several reporting mechanisms are available, including through (1) the Anti-Defamation League (https:// www.adl.org/reportincident), (2) Stop AAPI Hate (https://stopaapihate.org/), and (3) the Department of Homeland Security (https://www.dhs.gov/seesomething-say-something).

8. Austin Bar and AYLA, Joint Resolution, https://www.austinbar.org/2020/07/ austin-bar-association-and-austinyoung-lawyers-association-resolution/ (last visited Apr. 3, 2021).