We Persevere and We Win: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and the Joy of Justice
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Word in Black
Publication Date
3-24-2022
Abstract
(Excerpt)
But, is she qualified? Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s exceptional credentials have been presented in every possible media space, offered in every available forum, made accessible to every interested person, yet the question persists…is she qualified?
For professional Black women, this is an all too familiar question.
Even when our myriad successes conspicuously overshadow those of our colleagues, our qualifications are always met with skepticism. We know this personally because this has happened to us.
We are sisters — two of three sisters who have made a career in legal academia (our other two sisters chose medicine and filmmaking as their professions). For one of us, early in her career as a constitutional law professor, a high-ranking university administrator suggested that, perhaps, she was not old enough or white enough to succeed in her chosen discipline.
Like Judge Jackson, the other was told by advisors during her college years that pursuing law school — and certainly Harvard Law School — was too ambitious, even though she was a top student. Nevertheless, we both now stand, as award-winning, tenured constitutional law professors. One, the only tenured law professor of color at her school. The other, the first person of color to be dean of her law school.
Over time, as have many Black women, we have learned that this is the peculiar space we occupy. It means that we remain entangled in a never-ending dance to push out of the boxes people have made for us. But, as Judge Jackson so poignantly stated in her confirmation hearings, we encourage each other to persevere. We push against those boxes. And, we win.
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Available at: https://wordinblack.com/2022/03/we-persevere-and-we-win-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson-and-the-joy-of-justice