The State Bar of Texas president Larry McDougal in 2015 described the Black Lives Matter movement as “a terrorist group.”
At the time, McDougal felt free to post his thoughts on Facebook: “Groups like Black Lives Matter has publicly called for the death of not just police officers but also White Americans. This is a terrorist group,” he wrote in September 2015, referring to the “news media” waging their war against law enforcement over the controversial topics of the day.
As an afterthought, McDougal is also now shamed for his posts about a suspended lawyer that happened to be a woman, described as “demeaning to women” (he said the person in question looked “hot” – though also a “meth head.”)
McDougal had served as president of the Texas Bar for only a month, but unfortunately for him, it’s been a month or two lending themselves particularly well to cancel culture and digging up years-old comments made on social networks as a way to accuse and remove people as irreparable bigots.
The bar’s African American Law Section (AALS) – supported by the Asian Pacific Interest Section, Diversity in the Profession Committee, Hispanic Issues Section, LGBT Law Section, Native American Law Section, Texas Minority Counsel Programming Steering Committee, Women and the Law Section and Women in the Profession Committee – now gave McDougal two choices: denounce his comments from five years ago and demonstrate a change in his stances, or step down.
McDougal chose the former and apologized. He said that being sworn to uphold the US and Texas constitutions, he was opposed to “racism in any and all forms.”
Other reports cited recent posts that saw McDougal equate wearing Black Lives Matter and MAGA political paraphernalia to polling stations as equally unacceptable.
Addressing the remarks he made in 2015, he is quoted as saying, “I want to assure you that those comments do not reflect my beliefs today. They changed quite a while back.”
But that’s not exactly what his critics had in mind.
After an online conference with leaders of the African American Law Section – during which McDougal apologized “and promised that he could be a ‘change agent’ for more diversity and inclusion in the legal profession” – the section presented a series of demands.
These included “a formal written apology, a public acknowledgment of the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement and an explanation of his change in viewpoint about why the Black Lives Matter is an important movement.”
There’s a deadline, too – September 24. If their demands are not met by that date, the AALS will “call on his immediate resignation.”
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