jonetta rose barras: Failing girls and women of color in DC

Not much has shocked me during my years of reporting and opining on District affairs. I admit, however, that I have been flabbergasted by the response of the government and of elected officials to the suicide of Stormiyah Denson-Jackson. Add to that the recent decision by Ward 6 DC Council member Charles Allen to delay a vote on legislation named after the young girl that seeks to end racial and gender discrimination in certain lawsuits.

Allen told me in an email sent last week that he plans to bring the Stormiyah Denson-Jackson Race and Gender Economic Damages Equality Amendment Act of 2020 “before the committee in the next few months for a vote, and then on to the full Council.” 

Don’t get excited. That is deliberate spin.

Then, he said, “Seeing that it’s [the] end of October right now, it would likely be beginning of the new year [2021].”

The schedule might well kill the legislation. According to council rules the only way Allen could act on the proposal would be if the bill were reintroduced and he remained chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. 

He didn’t reply to my email with a follow-up question, confirming the need to reintroduce the legislation.

Allen and other council members talk a good game about ending racial inequality, economic inequity and overall discrimination. When called to act, however, they offer excuses or sidestep the issue entirely.

For example, earlier this year, Allen — joined by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson — stepped in the path of the bill’s passage when it was introduced as an emergency measure by Ward 8 Council member Trayon White. That happened not once, but twice. 

Aiming, perhaps, to placate White and the bill’s supporters, Allen promised to hold a public hearing. He did that on Oct. 1. Apparently, that may be all he will do.

White did not return my request for comment about the delay. 

“We should cure a racial injustice immediately whenever it occurs. There is no excuse for it,” former at-large Council member William P. Lightfoot told me during a recent interview. His firm MayLightfoot PLLC filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the SEED Public Charter School and the SEED Foundation on behalf of Stormiyah’s estate and her mother; the 12-year-old was enrolled there and was in her dormitory when she took her life. 

An uninformed observer of DC politics might conclude there is some kind of public controversy surrounding the bill. There isn’t. Certainly, none was presented at the hearing. 

As introduced, the Stormiyah Denson-Jackson Race and Gender Economic Damages Equality Amendment Act would require that “in an action for personal injury or death caused by wrongful act, neglect, or default, estimations, measures, or calculations of past, present, or future damages for lost earnings or impaired earning capacity may not be reduced based on race, ethnicity, or gender.” 

That’s a pretty straightforward proposal. 

Earlier this year, Robert Johnson, a California-based forensic economist, explained to me that often in personal injury lawsuits government educational attainment tables are used to determine the amount of money damages. When race and/or gender are  included in the mix, “women consistently receive lower amounts than white males based on projected lifetime earnings.” 

Johnson, who travels around the country as an expert in such cases, made a similar argument before the California State Assembly and Senate, prompting unanimous passage of legislation there to end racial and gender discrimination in awarding damages. Appearing virtually before Allen’s committee, he urged the District to follow California’s lead. 

Carah Fray, president of the DC Trial Lawyers Association, also offered support for the bill. Speaking at the hearing, Lightfoot told the council that the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law conducted a study and subsequently recommended that “all states pass laws” that would end the use of economic tables to determine how to award damages in personal injury lawsuits. He called them “unreliable, discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

“They give lower value to the lives of women and people of color,” continued Lightfoot. “At the intersection of race and gender, Black women remain one of the most impacted demographics.”  

Consider the fact that in the case filed on behalf of Stormiyah’s estate, the economist for SEED School and The SEED Foundation calculated the value of her life at $25,550 when using those tables to propose damages. Meanwhile, the economist working on behalf of the MayLightfoot firm estimated the economic loss from her death at $2,888,053, if race and gender were excluded as factors, according to records filed in DC Superior Court.

Ironically, last week the council gave unanimous preliminary approval to what’s now known as the Racial Equity Achieves Change Amendment Act of 2020. That legislation, initiated by Ward 5’s Kenyan McDuffie, would establish a system in the executive and legislative branches to assess the impact of public policy and budget decisions on people of color. 

As part of the rationale for the bill’s approval, the Committee on Government Operations, chaired by Ward 4’s Brandon Todd, noted in its report the broad and sweeping history of racist practices in DC and the rest of the country. “As a result, disparate outcomes persist across nearly every indicator of success including in education, criminal justice, employment, housing, environmental justice, health, and business,” Todd wrote. “Now is the time that local governments can and should take bold steps and remedies to correct the wrongs created by centuries of racist policies that have negatively affected black residents.”

I probably shouldn’t be shocked by Allen’s decision. It’s not as if legislators’ hypocrisy or doublespeak is a new thing. 

After all, faced with allegations that SEED’s violation of DC law and general neglect for Stormiyah’s mental health may have created conditions conducive for her death in 2018, not one elected official has sought an investigation. Mayor Muriel Bowser hasn’t called for an internal probe by the inspector general as she did when the media raised questions about former City Administrator Rashad Young taking a job at Howard University or about then-DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson jumping the lottery line to get his daughter into a select school. Those were instances that affected her political standing, however.

Neither Mendelson nor at-large Council member David Grosso — who share oversight of public education — convened a public roundtable to examine lax adherence to DC laws at SEED School. 

DC Attorney General Karl Racine recently filed a lawsuit against the Washington Hebrew Congregation. Using the DC Consumer Protection Procedures Act and the Nonprofit Corporation Act, he charged the school with failing to protect children in its child care and summer programs; 15 children had made allegations of sexual abuse against a former assistant teacher. The school has denied the claims in the AG’s suit.

“What we hope this case establishes at the end of the day a clear message to all institutions in [DC] that are responsible for taking care of young students … that they’ve got to follow the law in regards to making every effort to ensure that kids are not put in situations where they can be abused,” Racine told DCist.

Racine never charged the SEED School with anything — although it, too, appears to have violated the consumer protection act as well as the South Capitol Street Memorial Amendment Act of 2012 and the Youth Suicide Prevention and School Climate Survey Amendment Act of 2016. 

Fortunately, the lawsuit filed on Stormiyah’s behalf has been settled. While Lightfoot would not share details, chances are the amount of the settlement was greater than $25,550. “Mrs. Jackson was satisfied,” he told me. 

What happens next time around, without passage of the Stormiyah Denson-Jackson legislation put on hold by Allen? Will other little girls of color, particularly those from low-income or working-class families, be forced to battle in court? Don’t they deserve protection from racial injustice — protection the government could provide, if it really wanted to?

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.