{"id":1060,"date":"2022-08-04T00:57:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/brooklyn-district-leaders-have-opportunity-to-show-commitment-to-diversity-and-black-lives-matter-in-the-judicial-system-with-civil-court-judge-appointment\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:57:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:57:05","slug":"brooklyn-district-leaders-have-opportunity-to-show-commitment-to-diversity-and-black-lives-matter-in-the-judicial-system-with-civil-court-judge-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/?p=1060","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn District Leaders Have Opportunity to Show Commitment To Diversity and Black Lives Matter in the Judicial System With Civil Court Judge Appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By James Clark (Community Advocate for Equity in the Judicial System) – pictured: Ed King Esq.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For the past couple of years, I have been questioning the sincerity of elected officials and others when they call for diversity and support of the Black Lives Matter movement. I\u2019m sure other New Yorkers feel the same way. If everyone is talking about their commitment to create diversity, why are so many black and brown people still stuck with low-wage jobs and less opportunities. It just doesn\u2019t add up. Saying you are for diversity and that you support Black Lives Matter seems like it\u2019s where it ends for too many elected officials. There is no evidence that action is being taken to support their claims of fighting for diversity.<\/p>\n

Here is a perfect situation where we can put my theory to the test.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civil Court Judge Craig Walker<\/strong> has been selected as the Democratic nominee to become a Supreme Court Justice in Brooklyn. Judge Walker\u2019s term as Civil Court judge is expiring, which opened the door for him to move up to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Walker will still have to run in the November General Election. Since Brooklyn is a stronghold for Democrats it is safe to say that Walker will become a Supreme Court Justice, making him just one of two black male judges in Brooklyn\u2019s Supreme Court. If Walker is successful in his Supreme Court run his position as Civil Court Judge will become vacant.<\/p>\n

Many black and brown people in Brooklyn are advocating for attorney Ed King<\/strong> to replace Walker as the Civil Court Judge in Brooklyn. Ed King has been a practicing attorney for the past 30 years and he has been a strong advocate for tenants who are threatened with eviction. King has represented many religious organizations in matters of wills and trusts, as well as other real estate matters for congregations. King is an advocate for seniors and senior housing, and he has the necessary qualifications to become a Civil Court judge.<\/p>\n

There are currently only three black male judges in Brooklyn\u2019s courts. When Walker vacates his seat on the Civil Court there will be only one black male judge remaining. At a time when so many people, white and black, are talking about the importance of creating diversity and waving the Black Lives Matters flag, it is extremely important for Judge Walker\u2019s replacement to be a black male judge. King\u2019s experience and advocacy makes him qualified to take the seat on the bench as the Civil Court Judge.<\/p>\n

Appointing anyone other than a black male judge to this seat should not be acceptable to the residents of Brooklyn. In the past, open judgeship seats have been backfilled by a person of the same race and\/or gender as the person who is leaving the seat, to maintain the bare minimum when it comes to diversity. In this case, Walker is a black male judge, and his replacement should be a black male judge. This is the only way to start to create diversity at the highest level within the courts system. For those who honestly believe in diversity in the judicial system and Black Lives Matter this should be an easy decision.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen the importance of judicial appointments with Trump\u2019s judges rolling back Roe v Wade, Gun Safety Laws, Miranda Rights and more. Local level appointments are just as important. Brooklyn District Leaders have an opportunity to prove their commitment to diversity within the judicial system and their commitment to Black Lives Matters by selecting Ed King as to Brooklyn\u2019s Civil Court. Diversity at the highest level of the judicial system is a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

The selection of the next judge to replace Walker is in the hands of the Brooklyn District Leaders, who are tasked with voting for the Civil Judge. For those of you who do not know. each Assembly District in Brooklyn has a male and female District Leader. The official title of District Leader is NY State Committee Member. The following is a list of District Leaders who have an opportunity to prove that they are serious about diversity on the courts and believers in Black Lives Matters. These are the District Leaders who will vote for the person to replace Walker.<\/p>\n

I will write a follow up Op-ed to let you know how they voted. Some of these District Leaders are also NY State Assembly Members and NYC Council Members in districts where you live.<\/p>\n

Bradley Reid\u2013 Assembly District (AD) 41<\/p>\n

Jennifer Faucher AD41<\/p>\n

Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn \u2013 AD 42<\/p>\n

Josue Pierre \u2013 AD 42<\/p>\n

Sarana Purcell \u2013 AD 43<\/p>\n

Edu Hermelyn \u2013 AD 43<\/p>\n

Lori Citron Knipel \u2013 AD 44<\/p>\n

Doug Schneider \u2013 AD 44<\/p>\n

Margarita Kagan \u2013 AD 45<\/p>\n

Ari Kagan \u2013 AD 45<\/p>\n

Dionne Brown-Jordan \u2013 AD 46<\/p>\n

Male District Leader \u2013 AD 46 (Vacant)<\/p>\n

Nancy Tong \u2013 AD 47<\/p>\n

Charles Ragusa \u2013 AD 47<\/p>\n

Sharon Fuchs \u2013 AD 48<\/p>\n

David Schwartz \u2013 AD 48<\/p>\n

Victoria Kelly \u2013 AD 49<\/p>\n

Joseph A. Bova \u2013 AD 49<\/p>\n

Female District Leader \u2013 AD 50 (Vacant Seat)<\/p>\n

Emile Bazile \u2013 AD 50<\/p>\n

Arelis Martinez \u2013 AD 51<\/p>\n

Julio Pena III \u2013 AD 51<\/p>\n

Jesse Pierce \u2013 AD 52<\/p>\n

Josh Skaller \u2013 AD 52<\/p>\n

Maritza Davila \u2013 AD 53<\/p>\n

Samuel Nemir Olivares \u2013 AD 53<\/p>\n

Arleny Alvarado-McCalla \u2013 AD 54<\/p>\n

Erik Dilan \u2013 AD 54<\/p>\n

Darlene Mealy \u2013 AD 55<\/p>\n

Anthony Jones \u2013 AD 55<\/p>\n

Kenesha Traynham-Cooper \u2013 AD 56<\/p>\n

Henry Butler \u2013 AD 56<\/p>\n

Shaquana Boykin \u2013 AD 57<\/p>\n

Walter Mosley, III \u2013 AD 57<\/p>\n

Melba Brown \u2013 AD 58<\/p>\n

Cory Provost \u2013 AD 58<\/p>\n

Jaime Williams \u2013 AD 59<\/p>\n

Frank R. Seddio \u2013 AD 59<\/p>\n

Inez Barron \u2013 AD 60<\/p>\n

Charles Barron \u2013 AD 60<\/p>\n

Joanne Seminara \u2013 AD 64<\/p>\n

Christopher McCreight \u2013 AD 64<\/p>\n

Subscribe to NYCPolitics.com<\/strong><\/a> for updates and breaking news about New York City Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Clark (Community Advocate for Equity in the Judicial System) – pictured: Ed King Esq.\u00a0 For the past couple of years, I have been questioning the sincerity of elected officials and others when they call for diversity and support of the Black Lives Matter movement. I\u2019m sure other New Yorkers feel the same way. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}