Texas State Bar President Called Black Lives Matter A 'Terrorist Group' On Social Media

Texas is a complete disaster area right now, so why not add a state bar scandal to the mix?

Texas State Bar President Larry McDougal apparently misunderstood the role of a president. After all, presidents are supposed to provide leadership through crises, extend empathy, and foster productive dialogue. Who would believe a president who just posts racist memes on the Internet? Crazy, right?

Over the weekend, McDougal’s posts prompted a response from the State Bar of Texas and Texas Young Lawyers Association.

Online comments made by Larry McDougal regarding #BlackLivesMatter do not reflect the values of the State Bar of Texas and we denounce them in the strongest terms. As leaders of the 105,000-member State Bar of Texas and the 26,000-member Texas Young Lawyers Association, we are united against racism and dedicated to the bar’s mission of advancing diversity and inclusion in the administration of justice and the practice of law…. The State Bar of Texas and our legal profession are larger than any one person, but we believe each person can be a vehicle of change and we hope for positive change throughout the remainder of this bar year.

It’s encouraging to see that there are adults in the room in Texas.

What kinds of posts are they talking about? Well, back in 2015, McDougal referred to Black Lives Matter as a terrorist group. Oof. And that wasn’t the only time he found a way to post troubling thoughts on the Internet. There are a number of posts on Facebook to McDougal’s personal page, the “official” bar page known as “Texas Lawyers,” and “Texas Attorneys,” the unofficial page created because of the “censorship” on Texas Lawyers. [UPDATE: Even though “official” and “censorship” are both clearly in quotes which should communicate that it is neither actually official nor engaged in real censorship, someone asked us to clarify that for some reason. There’s an actual Bar page here which isn’t a discussion group.]

Tipsters say that many of the posts have been deleted, but here’s a taste from Texas Attorneys:

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Delightful. And it’s racially sensitive by featuring a black cop brutalizing a white protester. There’s no way that could be decontextualizing whataboutism concocted to shield a naked endorsement of the lawless suppression of supporters of social justice! Nope.

This is an old post and not a direct response to the acts of brutality we’ve witnessed over recent weeks. UPDATE: A more recent post shows a black poll worker wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt and McDougal claiming that this would constitute electioneering in the same way wearing a MAGA hat would because it is a slogan associated with only one political party. Whether or not he’s legally correct, the fact that he’s functionally correct that “don’t kill Black people” is a partisan stance in 2020 America is far more troubling.

There are two responses to a situation like this and they’re both apologies — apologies to the people McDougal jokingly thought should be robbed of the protection of the law or apologies for McDougal’s antics. Unfortunately, history shows there will be a long line of folks eager to do the latter.

But thankfully, McDougal isn’t one of them. An apology alone may not be enough in light of everything out there, but when given an opening to make excuses, McDougal owned up to what he’d said and explained that he doesn’t feel that way anymore:

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More important that anything else in that apology was his commitment to listen. It may not seem like much, but the worldview that buys a crazy conspiracy theory about BLM being a terrorist group or that thinks it’s all fun and games to joke about brutality comes from a sheltered place. Just listening does wonders.

Maybe, in the end, McDougal will leave office a better president than he came in.

Joint statement of State Bar of Texas and Texas Young Lawyers Association leaders regarding comments by Larry McDougal [Texas Bar Blog]


HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.