Although we endeavor to teach students, and one another, to lawyer for equity the current cultural moment presents insurmountable obstacles. We are experiencing an acute iteration of silencing and shouting, making generative conversations difficult.
W.E.B. Du Bois’ assertion that the 20th century’s problem is of the color line resonates today with the murder of George Floyd and of other Black people. Similarly, violence against Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and other people of color attest to the ongoing salience of racism.
In this session, we will explore how the clinical teaching modality of rounds may facilitate generative discussions of these topics for faculty. Our goal is for “rounds on race” to provide an opportunity for imagination and humility to emerge during difficult and hopefully courageous conversations about racism.
Some session panelists have engaged in “rounds on race” in their own institutions, only to find that the energy that animated such rounds in their early days have waned. Some clinicians of color have reported that “rounds on race” have suffered from the same inadequacies of other conversations on race: at best, putting clinicians of color in the role of teacher, and at worst marginalizing those voices.
We will use rounds themselves as a vehicle to explore how “rounds on race” might more effectively and helpfully be employed in our institutions. We will structure the conversation to focus first on problem/issue “description” and then on “identification”/diagnosis. The group next will articulate potential “goals” and brainstorm “solutions.” Finally, we will address “lessons learned”/takeaways about race and racism in clinical teaching as we strive to teach anti-racist lawyering. Ask participants to be engaged in authentic conversation, open to learning from their own and others’ experiences, generous in giving and receiving feedback, respectful in disagreement, and mindful of their own identities.