Why the election of 9 WOC as judges in AL matters...

[WOT?*]

nymag.com/thecut/2017/01/why-the-election-of-9-black-female-judges-in-alabama-matters.html?mid=facebook_nymag


In an unprecedented event, nine black women were elected as circuit and district judges in Jefferson County, Alabama, this November. For a predominantly Republican state, the Democratic sweep came as a surprise, as Alabama is one of the few states that judges still have to run on party lines to get elected. As a woman of color, I have a complicated relationship with Alabama. I’ve always thought of it as a second home (my family lives in Fayette), but it’s also a place that’s very much stuck in time; Alabama was the last in the country to overturn its ban on interracial marriage, its gay-marriage ban was the most supported in the nation, and in 2004 a vote to take out the segregationist language in the state’s constitution (which still requires separate schools for white and “colored children”) failed narrowly. Barrett Holmes Pitner at the Daily Beast called it “the state where racism is enshrined in the constitution.”

I returned to Alabama recently and had a chance to speak to eight of these nine inspiring women about politics in the courtroom, what it means to be a woman of color on the bench, and things they would like to see change.

(continues at link.)

[CrazyLucky]

I love this. They all sound like idealistic college kids - thinking they can use their knowledge and power for good. I love that years of practicing law in the deep south hasn't beaten that idealism out of them.

[ESF]

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!