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MLS Diversity Problem: More than Just Racism

3/10/2016

 
KAI LIU
Volume 10, Issue 10
This article is a response to comments underneath last week's De Minimis article, MLS’ “Diversity Problem: It’s Just Not Going Away.
Jasmine Ali is right when discussing the issues that MLS has with diversity. She is right, and her lived experiences should not be doubted by people who read her article. What she has experienced, what all people, not just PoC have experienced, are valid life events, and should not be doubted, nor attacked. The comments on the article calling her life experiences “asinine” were disgusting.
But racism is merely one side of a stacked, diversity restricting, coin. Jasmine rightly identified that MLS students tend to be:
“students with historically high levels of socio-economic stability, and their flow on effects, adequate study time, financial support from families, a culture of veneration for the student’s chosen academic pursuit, and equally important, the relative freedom experienced from the fetters of day-to-day discrimination.”

Race is merely one part of the equation. Class forms another. To clarify, I’m not arguing that class informs race, nor that race informs class. Rather, there is a worrying and correlated trend between those of lower socio-economic classes, and racial minorities. It is reductive to the extreme to say that racism is caused by class. As a minority, I have been lucky enough to lead a privileged life, in a stable household, and where I was given freedom and space to grow academically.

Not all of those who are minorities are so lucky. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are one such group in our society who are, disgracefully, over represented in the lower socio-economic classes. Refugees form another. In fact, even those from ‘model minority’ groups, such as East Asians and Indians find themselves in the ‘lower classes’. For them, the stigma attached to being an Asian ‘not good at study’ may be worse.

It’s no surprise that a law school that prides itself on academic achievement, and on success in the LSAT, would attract those who come from backgrounds where resources are available to ensure that they succeed. I’m not accusing MLS of having racist admittance policies, but those who can take time off to study for the LSAT will, of course, do better than those who cannot. Is it a surprise then, that students who have functioning families, don’t have to worry about working, and who can afford to intern without pay are over represented in MLS?

And if that’s true, then of course the cohort will be overwhelmingly white; those who are able to afford to do so are likely to be overrepresented in that demographic group. It also explains why certain groups of East Asians are disproportionately represented in MLS as well.

But even those who are from minority groups that have generally been well off in this multicultural society have been discriminated against. As an Asian, I am cognisant of the existence of racism in our industry, and in business more generally. Of course racism exists in our society. To claim otherwise would be too reductive. Class is not the explanation for everything. For heaven’s sake, I prominently display my law textbooks every time I walk into the library, just to make sure people know I’m not a commerce student. I’ve felt the judgemental stares, and I wouldn’t wish them on anyone.

​Until we address underlying structural issues in our society, however, any proposed solution to racial inequality is merely shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic as it sinks under the weight of decades, if not centuries of racial minorities stuck in lower socio-economic classes.

Kai Liu is a second-year JD student
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The rest of this week's issue:
  • The Psychology of Climate Change Denial
  • A Monkey In Silk Is A Monkey No Less: A Reply to the Critics
  • On the Other Side of the Keyboard the Problem of Anonymous Commenting
  • MLS Diversity Problem More Than Just Racism
  • The Hiatus and Why We Should Embrace It
  • The Normal Finishing Time
  • Forget Corporate Law, You Can Be A Space Lawyer
Pseudo Nym
4/10/2016 12:34:50 am

"She is right, and her lived experiences should not be doubted by people who read her article. What she has experienced, what all people, not just PoC have experienced, are valid life events, and should not be doubted, nor attacked"

Unfortunately there is such a thing as dishonesty. Humans tell lies from time to time and I don't really think it is workable to say that people have an entitlement to be taken at their word or not doubted.

The rest of your article was good and showed some nice nuance.

Anon
4/10/2016 09:45:00 am

"She is right, and her lived experiences should not be doubted by people who read her article."

To suggest Jasmine's 'lived experiences' should not be doubted, or 'attacked' as you have claimed, is to discard any chance of scrutiny or analysis of her argument. This is intellectually dishonest, and unfortunately it represents a growing trend in universities.

Scrutiny and analysis gives no licence for abuse or trolling, but the outright bullying of those who merely questioned the claims and the argument's themes was unacceptable.

Otherwise, you have raised some interesting points on the nexus between race and class in a constructive manner.

William Davenport
4/10/2016 07:42:52 pm

Dear Avid Readers of De Minimis,

As a third year LLB student heralding from the Nation's premier university north of the Murray, I would like to throw my two cents of philosophy into this rigorous debate.

The Common Law is fundamentally a constitutional device created through the crucible of Anglo-Celtic, then Anglo-Saxon and finally Anglo-Norman conflict and migratory displacement. Do not get me started on the Hanoverians. It is a system of laws that predicates itself upon a desire to ensure property rights of all the above mentioned ethnic groups are included and represented in the legal system of the British Isles.

Therefore it is a waste nay a downright superfluous experiment to attempt to reconcile 19th Century doctrine Marxism - so beautifully espoused by Jasmine Ali's article from last week - with this Legal system that ensures the protection of Private Property. We must strive to ensure that our debates as legal scholars of this tradition do not get warped and carried away in this attempt by a failed ideology trying to place itself within the legal mainstream.

As always

Sidere mens eadem mutato

William Davenport


Good try
4/10/2016 10:40:08 pm

If your point is that doctrines from the 19th century are too old, you've only undermined yours own argument. The Anglo-Saxon origins of the common law, as you have just described, have a history that date much earlier than 19th century Marxism.

If old doctrines are the problem, then surely the oldest doctrine is the common law, and that must therefore, by your reasoning, be the first to fall...


Kai Liu
5/10/2016 12:07:21 am

Hi there Good Try. I'm not sure where Marxism comes into my article - maybe you're misinterpreting my usage of 'class'? When I say 'class', it's merely a shorthand for 'that somewhat amorphous grouping of socioeconomic reality that people find themselves living in'. Hence, not having to worry about the creature comforts is middle class, needing to scrabble day to day to survive, lower class. I'm not discussing the proletariat nor the bourgeoisie.

Old doctrines might be a problem; the structure that, to some extent by historical accident and also in some circumstances erected by decades of abuse and systemic neglect, are the root cause of the correlation between race and class. To state that I've argued for the complete destruction of the 'old doctrines' is false.

Regardless, I'm not saying we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater either. Just that there is a serious systemic issue of minority groups languishing in the lower socioeconomic classes, and we need to address that issue if we're to take a holistic approach to racial inequality in our society.


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