The Council for Diversity and Inclusion promotes the inclusion of diverse lawyers, judges and others in the legal profession through educational and informational programs along with celebrating and recognizing advances made by diverse lawyers. The committee encourages the recruitment, hiring and promotion of diverse lawyers and judges throughout the legal profession and develops strategies to assist diverse attorneys in attaining full and equal participation.

Racial Injustice continues to be a problem in 2020. Recent events in America have reminded us that the onus is on us to dispel the legacy of hatred and inequality and work to unite us into a nation of justice and opportunity. So, what can you do? Here are a few things you can do to help promote racial justice:

1. Speak Up Publicly
2. Talk with your children and other young people about racism
3. Challenge your own stereotypical beliefs
4. Mentor someone who doesn’t look like you
5. Participate in a Council for Diversity & Inclusion webinar, town hall or other program Bar Association
6. Join the Sarasota County Bar Association’s Council for Diversity & Inclusion
7. Resources to Read:

Articles to read:

• Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists)
• "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)
• The Combahee River Collective Statement
• “The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)
• “Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?” by Courtney Martin (June 1, 2020)
• ”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh
• “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)

Videos to watch:

• "Dialogue on Diversity" | by Vicki Clark, Vicki Clark Consulting (October 9, 2020)
• "How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion" | Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools (18:26)
• “How we can make Racism a Solvable Problem – and Improve Policing” | by Phillip Atiba Goff
• “The Urgency of Intersectionality” | by Kimberle Crenshaw
• “How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at A Time” | by Baratunde Thurston
• "A Conversation on Racism" (June 30, 2020)
• "Policing Our Community: Building Confidence and Trust" (July 30, 2020)
• "Silence is Not An Option" (August 21, 2020)
• "Policing Blacks" (October 30, 2020)
  
• "Race, Mental Health, and the Criminal Justice System" (January 25, 2021)
• "Integrating Sarasota's Schools: An Interim Progress Report" (February 23, 2021)
• "The Injustices of Eviction: Race, COVID & the Looming Crisis" (March 24, 2021)
• "Words Matter: Understanding the Rise in AAPI Hate Crimes" (May 18, 2021)
• "Juneteenth: Its History, Culture and Why It Matters Now" (June 18, 2021)
• "Booker Law Academy Mentoring Program" (2022)

Podcasts to subscribe to:

• 1619 (New York Times)
• About Race
• Code Switch (NPR)
• Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
• Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
• Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
• Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)

Books to read:

• Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
• Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
• How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold
• Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD

Other Resources:

• Showing Up For Racial Justice’s educational toolkits
• Zinn Education Project’s teaching materials