68 people signed up to speak in Monday’s emergency meeting of the State Bar of Texas.
State Bar of Texas President Larry McDougal started a specially called meeting of the Texas Bar’s board of directors Monday with an apology and asking for forgiveness for his past comments calling Black Lives Matter a terrorist group and seemingly encouraging police brutality as a form of justice.
“I admit I have a lot of blind spots – we all have a lot of blind spots,” McDougal, a former police officer and prosecutor turned Fort Bend County criminal defense attorney, said via Zoom.
“I’m asking for forgiveness,” said McDougal, who was sworn in as the state bar’s president only a month ago. “I know I’m going to take a lot of heat today and a lot of negative things said about me. I am here to listen.”
Then, the two and a half-hour fiasco began.
More than five dozen infuriated Texas lawyers appeared on the screen for three minutes each to denounce or defend McDougal’s past Facebook comments that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization. Hundreds more posted inflammatory comments on the bar association’s Facebook comments section.
Most condemned McDougal’s comments as racist or at least highly improper. A large portion of them called for his resignation.
McDougal defenders were equally as adamant. Some defended him as a person and a friend. Others used the opportunity to blast the Black Lives Matter movement. A few even pointed out that the very existence of the mandatory state bar is at stake.
Sugarland family lawyer Georgia Trudeau said McDougal “does not have a racist bone in his body.” She said that BLM is a “violent, Marxist and anarchist organization” that she said wants “to destroy Christianity.” In Facebook posts supporting McDougal, Trudeau said that BLM supports the killing of police, the murdering of children and the destruction of families and churches. She also advocated for the dismantling of the mandatory state bar.
Louis Iselin, a lawyer in Houston, said those denouncing McDougal and his comments are involved in a “racism smear” and “bullying” campaign. Iselin specifically criticized the state bar past and future presidents who issued a public statement two weeks ago condemning McDougal’s comments.
“These statements are not mine but I am forced to defend it through my mandatory dues,” Iselin said. “The state bar must demand the resignation of those who led the attack against President McDougal.”
Another Houston lawyer, Andrew Bayley, said the campaign against McDougal is “downright Orwellian.”
“People should be judged by the sum of their actions,” Bayley said.
None of those supporting McDougal or his 2015 statements that BLM is a terrorist organization addressed the fact that McDougal himself has said his comments were wrong and that he has changed his mind about BLM and its mission.
State Bar Board Chairman Charlie Ginn opened the Zoom meeting Monday morning by stating that 68 people had signed up to make public comments about the situation and that the board has received more than 1,100 emails and letters about the matter.
“The board of directors cannot solve these issues today,” Ginn said. “We need to move forward. We begin the process of healing. Healing does not happen in a day.”
Several Texas lawyers and board members admitted that they are helpless in taking action against McDougal, but they said they need to take steps to change the state bar bylaws.
“This needs to be remedied,” Austin lawyer Rekha Roarty said. “This could be just the tip of the iceberg of what could happen.
“Anything [McDougal] does will be clouded by his comments,” Roarty said. “The state bar will look like a joke if President McDougal does not step down.”