SOLOMON’S LEGACY Chair Chuck Tauman welcomes attorneys to a lunch program Jan. 24.

Lawyers look at 'Elimination of bias'

By Deborah Moon

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Nearly 65 attorneys flocked to the Benson Hotel Jan. 24 to learn about the history of anti-Semitism in the Oregon legal community and how to combat discrimination and bias.

Hosted by Solomon’s Legacy, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s group for attorneys, the “Elimination of Bias” program featured two speakers. Historian and author Harry Stein spoke on “Anti-Semitism and the 20th-Century Oregon Bar.” Portland State University Associate Professor Christine Cress spoke about “Discrimination and Bias: Myths, Realities and Strategies for Change.”

Stein drew most of his talk from his biography of Gus J. Solomon, one of the two namesakes of Solomon’s Legacy (the other being the biblical King Solomon) and the longest-serving federal judge in Oregon from 1950-87.

Stein’s recitation of the anti-Semitism Solomon encountered, primarily in terms of firms’ reluctance to hire Jewish attorneys before the 1960s, prompted several attorneys to share their own experiences with that phenomenon.

Moving to the more general phenomenon of prejudice, Cress said the causes of prejudice are “people are mean and people are stupid.”

“Why people are mean or stupid has to do with the brain’s biology and how they are raised,” said Cress.

She said people have a natural inclination to look at new information or new experiences in a way that confirms the world view they were raised with. Cognitive consistency releases a “happy hormone,” she said. “If a fact challenges our world view, we get an unhappy hormone. … Our brain structure continually reinforces our world view.”

Cress said that effective interactions with individuals from other cultures or backgrounds are the most effective way to break down stereotypes. People literally build new synaptic connections when they get to know a person of a different group, she said.

“Thinking in different ways is hard work,” she said. “You’re literally creating new synaptic connections.”

Cress suggested that rather than following the golden rule, people consider dealing with others using the “platinum rule—do unto others as they themselves would have done unto them.”

“We have to learn about a variety of cultural contexts,” she said. “We have to open up ourselves to get to know others. … Not that we can learn every culture well, but that we go with the right intention. Use empathy.”