Raimondo’s Opportunity to Match Her Rhetoric - MINDSETTER™ Ray Rickman
Saturday, June 27, 2020
The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has created a moment of racial reckoning, where the public demands politicians confront the reality of systemic racism in our government and our society. As someone who has worked for Civil Rights since I was a teenager, leading a walkout and lawsuit to desegregate the Detroit school system and having my skull broken open by a Mississippi sheriff’s deputy while marching to end Jim Crow, I have lived through many of these moments. Too often, they are all talk and no action, where our leaders pay lip service to equality but no lasting change occurs.
That doesn’t need to be the case here in Rhode Island. Governor Gina Raimondo administratively removed the archaic “Providence Plantations” from our state’s name. She can match that wonderful commitment with action by appointing the first Black justice to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, ending the archaic all-white bench. This would be a huge symbolic step but it would also lead to real change, because the perspective of a Black justice would inform his or her colleagues about the realities of race in our legal system.
The Rhode Island judiciary is 90% Caucasian. The legal profession is more diverse but still skews more white than our state’s population. Most years, over 60% of the defendants are Black or Hispanic. Many of these defendants will go through the legal system seeing only white faces in positions of power. This is unfair and often leads to excessively harsh penalties for minority defendants.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTI speak from experience because I served on the parole board for two years. There, I saw the disparities in our legal system firsthand. With the exception of two murderers, the parole board reduced the sentence of every white person incarcerated who came before us during my two year appointment. When Black and Hispanic people appeared before the board, they received far more scrutiny and skepticism.
Disparities like this exist throughout the criminal justice system. There are many reasons for them, but a leading one is that positions of power lack the perspective of non-white voices. It is comforting to believe in a colorblind America where everyone is the same. It is also naive. As long as our society is stained by the lingering effects of racism, an overwhelming white judiciary will exacerbate the unfairness of our system. It is essential that the judiciary has some connection with the life experiences of most of the people who appear in court.
A Black Supreme Court justice will not be a panacea but it will be an important step towards representation and equity in our legal system. A Black person being appointed to the Supreme Court, especially in this climate, would have an effect on all of the other judges. The late Walter Stone was a trailblazing Black Superior Court justice. I’ve had three or four judges tell me he greatly influenced them on issues of race. A Black Supreme Court justice would have the same effect.
The lack of minority representation is not because of a lack of qualified Black and Hispanic attorneys. Instead, it is inextricably linked to the flawed way Rhode Island selects judges, which is an entirely political process. For a long time, judges were almost always either a state legislator, a politician’s relative or law partner, or the governor’s legal counsel. That’s why we waited until 1982 to appoint the first black judge, exactly 100 years after Michigan did so. Even now, appointees are almost always legislators, relatives of legislators, or relatives of judges. This reinforces existing power structures, denying qualified minorities a chance at a judicial appointment.
The pending Supreme Court appointment gives Governor Raimondo a chance to match her laudable rhetoric on race with action. My whole life, I have waited for politicians of both parties to match their words with deeds. In the 50s, 60s, and 70s; Black people were told “just wait, these things take time.” Politicians don’t say that anymore, but we’re still waiting. Governor Raimondo will never say that Black lawyers need to wait, or that they aren’t qualified — she simply won’t appoint one. I pray I’m wrong but I fear our Governor will not pair her rhetoric with action to create a more diverse judiciary.
Ray Rickman is the co-founder of the non-profit Stages of Freedom and heads the public affairs firm — The Rickman Group. He is a former State Representative and Deputy Secretary of State for RI.
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