10 Questions. Able to Lead

• Author: Jenny B. Davis
• Pages: 10-11

Inter Alia | INTERSECTION

the sale of marijuana in the same way

they were disproportionately damaged

by the policing of the drug though

racially biased arrests. Data compiled

over a three-year period in the Chicago

suburb showed that more than 70%

of those arrested on marijuana charges

were black.

In Evanston, as in many American

cities, glaring disparities exist: Accord-

ing to reports by the city council, resi-

dents of color have been systematically

subjected to redlining and predatory

lending, and they are being priced out

of their homes.

The 3% tax on recreational mari-

juana is expected to generate between

$500,000 and $750,000 in revenue

each year, which would be earmarked

for the city’s reparatory justice projects,

with a cap of $10 million over the next

10 years. Although the city council

passed the measure in November,

details on how the reparations will be

disbursed are ongoing.

Simmons has said measurements

of success can include increased black

household income, increase in reve-

nue for black-owned businesses and

improved infrastructure for historically

black and redlined neighborhoods.

Generational work

In America, where help for marginalized

populations is often denigrated as a

handout, critics wonder why descen-

dants of slaves are entitled to repara-

tions at all. The U.S. clings to a deeply

held notion of a “colorblind” society

where if you just work hard enough,

you can succeed and transcend—and

if you don’t, you have only yourself

to blame. But reparations architects

point to a long and cumulative history

of discrimination and violence that

transcends slavery. Put into perspec-

tive, a 2016 report by the Institute for

Policy Studies and the Corporation for

Enterprise Development found it would

take the average black family 228 years

to build the wealth an average white

family holds at this moment.

The case for reparations has under-

standably sown deep divisions, even

in Evanston, and faces an uphill battle

nationwide. Actor and humanitarian

Danny Glover, who was the keynote

speaker at the city’s December town

hall , called the push for reparations

“generational work.”

“They have stood in the  re to make

this happen,” Glover said, describing

the agitation of past civil rights pioneers

and present-day activists.

“This is a remarkable step,” Glover

continued. “Right now, some action is

taking place right here. And the world

has come to see that, and they will

know it’s possible.” Q

10 QUESTIONS

Able to Lead

From neurodiversity awareness to autism activism, this disability justice

advocate fights for the rights of the marginalized

BY JENNY B. DAVIS

Autistic, Asian, nonbinary.

Advocate, activist, organizer.

Writer, speaker, educator,

lawyer. Lydia X.Z. Brown is

all of those things but also this: a force

of nature. Brown wrote and introduced

legislation on developmental disabilities

training for law enforcement in Mas-

sachusetts , co-founded the Washington

Metro Disabled Students Collective

and co-organized a protest outside the

Food and Drug Administration campus

in Maryland against the use of electric

shock aversives for behavioral modi -

cation on autistic and other develop-

mentally disabled people . Brown, who

prefers the pronoun “they,” has written

for scholarly publications and co-edit-

ed an anthology of writing by autistic

people of color. They serve as co-chair

of the ABA Section on Civil Rights and

Social Justice’s Disability Rights and

Elder Affairs Committee. Brown also

serves as the co-director of a project on

algorithmic fairness and disability rights

at Georgetown University Law Center

and as an adjunct lecturer of disability

studies. They have been honored by the

Obama White House, the American

Association of People with Disabilities ,

and Paci c Standard magazine, which

named Brown a Top Thinker Under 30

in the social and behavioral sciences .

Brown turns 27 this summer.

When we were scheduling

this conversation, one of the

proposed times didn’t work

because you said you would be

visiting a jail. Do you have an

incarcerated client?

No, I am not currently practicing,

though I am hoping to take on some

pro bono cases soon. I was there with a

senior staff member of the Autistic Self

Advocacy Network , speaking together

with imprisoned people there in a class

on neurodiversity and disability justice.

You did practice law, though,

while you were a Justice Catalyst

fellow at the Bazelon Center for

Mental Health Law , right? Tell me

about that.

In that position, I was directly repre-

senting Maryland students with dis-

abilities who were experiencing varying

types of school pushout, disproportion-

ate discipline and criminalization.

You founded and now help

direct the Fund for Community

Reparations for Autistic People

of Color’s Interdependence,

Survival, and Empowerment.

What does the fund do, and how

is it f‌i nanced?

In June 2018, I received an award from

the American Association of People

with Disabilities that came with fund-

ing, so I used that money to seed the

fund. We combined that money with

about $1,500, which were the proceeds

ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2020

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