The recent testimony of Fani Willis garnered a lot of public attention and I think it's interesting that considering the amount of indictments faced by Trump, this is the first time this tactic has been used. It's obviously a deflection technique but, sadly, the focus has shifted from the crime committed to a private relationship between two adults. Essentially, in the DA's words, they have tried to put her on trial.
It's sadder still that nearly every black woman in a position of power was able to empathize with Willis's outrage and frustration. For anyone, having your intimate, personal details on display to undermine your work would be upsetting. This is something that was seen with the Tory Lanez case against the State for a shooting. Megan's, the victim, sexual history quickly became all anyone was talking about although she was the one shot.
Racism or sexism? It's likely a mixture of both to be honest. Sometimes it's so subtle that no one else notices except the person it's happening to. However, if there is a strong reaction, you run the risk of looking crazy. Regardless, it's annoying to be so heavily scrutinized especially knowing it might not be that way if your race or gender was different.
For example, I've been playing pickleball with friends weekly for the last 6 months. I played tennis in high school so the learning curve was pretty quick. My white boyfriend and I went to a different court by ourselves to get extra practice. He had lost his paddle the week before and hadn't replaced it yet but I had mine. We found two older men to play with and they had a spare paddle he borrowed. After introductions, one of them asked my boyfriend, without even acknowledging me, "Does she know how to play?" My boyfriend answered that I was better than him (not entirely true).
The situation frustrated me because even though I had a paddle in my hand and he didn't, there was an assumption that I didn't know what I was doing and he did. This might have had more to do with being a woman than being black but regardless, subtly being undermined in everyday mundane life is exhausting and I can't imagine that happening on a public stage.
Still much sexism in law practice. I was on a Zoom call Monday morning for a family law committee meeting. The women on the call, all lawyers, shared their stories about still being mistaken for secretaries when they call opposing counsel - typically older male lawyers. Too many of the male lawyers responded with something like "why don't you have your boss call me later."
ReplyDeleteAnd racism combine with sexism, it seems. From Crain's Chicago Business: "At U.S. law firms, 0.86% of partners are Black women, an increase of 0.06 percentage points since2020, and only 0.26 points since 2012, according to the National Association of Law Placement’s 2021Annual Report on Diversity. The percentage of Black women associates stands at 3.17%, a share that has risen a mere 0.13 percentage points since 2020 and just 0.24 points since 2009. Currently, women of color make up approximately 25% of law firm summer associates, students who typically get hired by law firms. This suggests that talent retention is a stark issue, in many cases attributed to cultural implicit and explicit bias and the lack of formal mentoring and investment in diverse attorneys." https://www.chicagobusiness.com/equity/gains-black-women-law-firms-remain-disappointingly-low
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