‘THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY’
Destinie Baker Sutton, a former special prosecutor for the organized crime unit of the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office who is now in private practice in West Palm Beach, said she takes a similar approach to educating her 5-year-old about racism, focusing on awareness, safety and decision making.
When Sutton and her son are at the store, she said she teaches her son to be aware of his surroundings, never carry large bags and always ask for a receipt.
“I have to make sure that we don’t have what we call in the legal profession ‘the appearance of impropriety,’ that it doesn’t look like we’re stealing,” she said.
But “as a mom of a Black son, I understand that there’s a critical balancing act where you want to protect your child, but at the same time you don’t want your son to feel that they are an ‘other’ or ‘less than,’ “ she said.
Sutton said the first step toward that goal was making an informed decision about where her son went to school.
“Growing up, I went to schools where I was the only Black person or one of two or three,” she said. “So I wanted my son to have a public school experience with more diversity.”
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