Louisville Courier Journal Makes Another Important Point, But Read My Comment.
A diverse judiciary
Help Wanted: qualified minorities to apply for the seven vacancies in Jefferson County's district, family and circuit courts. Good benefits and salary ($100,000-plus).
Interested? Shoot your résumé to Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Denise Clayton, chairman of the Jefferson County Commission on Racial Fairness, or to the NAACP's Louisville Branch. It also won't hurt to express your interest to Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., whom the commission has beseeched to "nominate and appoint qualified African Americans and other minorities to the Kentucky judiciary."
Appointments traditionally have been the path for African Americans to get on the bench, because they help to level the playing field in elections in which their rivals, as is often the case, are better financed and have deep social and political connections through their families.
There are 27 judicial vacancies statewide, but the paucity of racial diversity on Jefferson County's bench really stands out because African Americans are 20 percent of the county's population and 59 percent of those sent to prison. But the county currently doesn't have a single black elected trial judge. Newly retired Jefferson District Judges Janice Martin and Joan "Toni" Stringer are African Americans, and they continue to try cases, but only temporarily through the "senior" judges program.
Though the commission headed by Judge Clayton, who is black, isn't advocating quotas, its resolution rightly makes the point that the paucity of racial diversity on the Jefferson County bench begs "the larger question of whether the courtroom environment alienates or detrimentally impacts African Americans and other racial minorities."
Wisely put.
Editor's comment: When is the Courier Journal going to look to WOEFUL LACK of racial diversity outside of Jefferson County?
When I ask?
Help Wanted: qualified minorities to apply for the seven vacancies in Jefferson County's district, family and circuit courts. Good benefits and salary ($100,000-plus).
Interested? Shoot your résumé to Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Denise Clayton, chairman of the Jefferson County Commission on Racial Fairness, or to the NAACP's Louisville Branch. It also won't hurt to express your interest to Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., whom the commission has beseeched to "nominate and appoint qualified African Americans and other minorities to the Kentucky judiciary."
Appointments traditionally have been the path for African Americans to get on the bench, because they help to level the playing field in elections in which their rivals, as is often the case, are better financed and have deep social and political connections through their families.
There are 27 judicial vacancies statewide, but the paucity of racial diversity on Jefferson County's bench really stands out because African Americans are 20 percent of the county's population and 59 percent of those sent to prison. But the county currently doesn't have a single black elected trial judge. Newly retired Jefferson District Judges Janice Martin and Joan "Toni" Stringer are African Americans, and they continue to try cases, but only temporarily through the "senior" judges program.
Though the commission headed by Judge Clayton, who is black, isn't advocating quotas, its resolution rightly makes the point that the paucity of racial diversity on the Jefferson County bench begs "the larger question of whether the courtroom environment alienates or detrimentally impacts African Americans and other racial minorities."
Wisely put.
Editor's comment: When is the Courier Journal going to look to WOEFUL LACK of racial diversity outside of Jefferson County?
When I ask?
Labels: Justice, Kentucky politics, Race, Racism
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:48 PM
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