Antonio X. Milton got the bug to be a lawyer when he visited his father’s southern Louisiana law office after school.
“I was in first grade, and I’d go to his office to do homework,” Milton told Tulane University, his alma mater, in a 2022 interview. “I would see him working with clients, representing real people and arguing before the courts. Just seeing him in action had such an impact on me.”
Milton was the first African American editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review, clerked for former Chief Judge Carl Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and is now a lawyer at the Houston litigation firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing.
For Black History Month, The Texas Lawbook asked Milton five questions about race, diversity and inclusion and whether he worries about Black history being “cancelled.”
Texas Lawbook: What does Black History Month mean to you and what should it mean to us?
Antonio Milton: As a multiracial child growing up in a small town in Louisiana, I was fortunate to have a family proud of its heritage with a profound knowledge of the struggles of the generations before me.
I grew up in the state where Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black children to attend a segregated, all-white school in the country. That was in 1960. My father, a pastor and lawyer, is only a few years younger than Ms. Bridges. Yet her story and struggles — and the story of many other champions of civil rights are easily swept aside by those seeking to score points in the ongoing culture war. It is my sincere hope that the ongoing sociopolitical strife does not wash over the efforts that change makers of all backgrounds undertook to challenge injustices. The purpose of Black History Month is to honor those who have made history by contravening a system of dehumanization and exclusion.
We should all be motivated by the countless Black individuals of generations past that struggled to ensure the basic freedoms and privileges we all enjoy today, whether that means personhood or citizenship, owning property, casting our votes, or admission to the bar as a practicing attorney. I ask that we all take time this month to learn more about the African American servant leaders that have been forgotten or the efforts that have been ignored to ensure a more perfect union.
Lawbook: How has being a lawyer of color changed — if it has changed at all — since the start of your legal practice?
Milton: I obtained my law license in the fall of 2022. What I have noticed since then is that there is no shortage of support for the idea that the bar should look like the public that we represent. However, I have also noticed that in some spheres of practice, there is the implication from some that a qualified attorney of color is there only by result of D&I programs instead of their own efforts. This is the unfortunate result of the ongoing debate about D&I.
Lawbook: Have any D&I efforts or programs influenced your career for the positive or negative? Please explain. What elements of D&I efforts do you think are ineffective?
Milton: Though I have only practiced for a few years, I have seen substantial change in the way the law firms and businesses address this issue. Following the events of Summer 2020, I noticed that law firms across the country increased visibility of their D&I efforts. Many for the first time began offering diversity “scholarships” or “fellowships” offering candidates from underrepresented backgrounds the opportunity to receive additional training or support.
I find these efforts, while well-intentioned in some respects, to be mostly performative. While I admit to having benefited from one such program as a law student, I call out those entities that take this direct approach in recruiting because they often fail to rectify other major hurdles to diversifying the bench, bar, and business environments. Often, the process of applying for these positions requires applicants to share their most traumatic experiences.
For a long time, D&I initiatives in law and business have failed to address the problem retaining and advancing qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to partnership or senior leadership. Increasing the intensity or providing ancillary benefits in recruiting talent addresses a small part of the gaps D&I efforts seek to fill.
The legal community should aim to have a bench and bar that reflect the communities we practice in. The same follows for boardrooms and bodies of government. But the current D&I approaches miss the mark and fail to get us closer to those aims, and D&I critics have seized on these shortcomings and narrowed the meaning of the term “diversity” to serve their own interests. To be clear, the current state of D&I efforts needs amending to serve its ultimate aims.
Lawbook: Do the attacks on diversity and inclusion efforts today have any legitimacy?
Milton: Having seen these arguments laid out in a number of contexts, I have always thought that the challenges to D&I initiatives were based on misdirected anger and selectively misguided premises. Economic studies have revealed that the largest beneficiaries of affirmative action programs or D&I efforts in collegiate and business spaces are not people of color or Black people. Yet, when the D&I discussion rears its head, it seems that the main arguments for and against revolve around racial diversity rather than the other benefits provided by these initiatives.
Diversity means much more than just race. It incorporates disability status, gender, military service, sexual orientation, family of origin, parental status, socioeconomic background and religious affiliation. In the ongoing debate, the true definition is reduced to something more contrived. So, to some degree, I posit that the attacks on D&I are somewhat distracting as well.
Lawbook: Do you have any worries about the future of Black history being watered down or “canceled”?
Milton: In my view, Black history is taught from the “master narrative” or the most convenient version of history that does not dwell on the most painful and impactful atrocities or injustices of our nation’s history. This is prevalent in the ongoing discussions about book bans or the limitations placed on certain collegiate curricula dealing with Black history. So, in one way, I don’t have any worries about the future of Black history being shoved aside because it historically has been set aside.
However, I do worry that the antipathy toward its celebration may reverse the gains for which prior generations fought. I would urge everyone, regardless of background, to advocate for the remembrance of Black history in its most expansive narrative. Black History Month’s origin story provides some guidance in this manner. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson established Black History Month to celebrate the historic contributions of Black people and their achievements in a society openly hostile to African Americans. Regardless of the pushback from some on its need for recognition, people of all backgrounds must continue to celebrate their ancestors that broke barriers, dismantled Jim Crow, and made innovative strides in various sectors.