Message of Solidarity from The PDC

Dear PDC Members,

The past few months have been both horrifying and heartbreaking in equal measure. Communities of color, and in particular the Black Community, have suffered disproportionately as a result of COVID-19 and have had to contend with the traumatizing deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd—deaths that have been particularly difficult to bear given that they represent only a few in a very long, senseless list of many.

We, the PDC Board of Directors, want to be absolutely clear that we condemn racial injustice of any kind. Black Lives Matter. We want our Black members to know that we see you suffering and we are here to support you. You have many allies in the PDC who are ready and eager to use their voices and platforms to advocate and fight for meaningful change. We want to renew our commitment to this effort.

We will denounce racism in our homes, our firms, our schools, and our communities. We will do this by acknowledging the painful reality of the world as it is, listening to and learning from your experiences, and amplifying your voices. More importantly, we will do this by showing up and doing what we do best as an organization: providing high quality training and professional development on this critically important topic. We are committed to making this an ongoing effort and to becoming—and helping others to become—true “diversity accomplices.” In the spirit of demonstrating our commitment through action, we want to provide you with a preview of some of the programming that we will offer in the near term:

• Beginning next week, our Communications Committee will start sharing anti-racism resources, including articles, posts, podcasts, and other resources that may be helpful to our members on LinkedIn and in the Open Forum; we will also invite members to share Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) resources
• We will host a webinar featuring Aisha Greene, and others who have hybrid PD/DEI roles, to share action-oriented suggestions to support and integrate DEI efforts—even when they do not technically fall under our umbrella of responsibilities
• We will include a DEI town hall as part of our upcoming virtual summer conference and will continue to ensure that DEI programs are offered regularly and as a matter of course—not only in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy or in the wake of a global pandemic.

​As an organization whose primary goals include exchanging ideas and providing leadership and direction in the legal community, we are deeply committed to this effort, not just today but every day. There continues to be a woeful lack of diversity in our law schools and in our profession and we can all do more. To that end, we welcome feedback from our membership—when we get it right and especially when we get it wrong—so that we can continue to learn, improve, and contribute to this effort at the highest possible level.

Please feel free to reach out to any member of the Board at any time to ask questions, share your thoughts, or simply to continue the conversation.

Warm regards,

The PDC Board of Directors