The Sound of Glass Shattering
Did you hear that? It’s the sound of a supreme glass shattering, echoing across the nation. Last week, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman and first former public defender to be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Black women around the country shared the deep and emotional impact of this historic confirmation, from Vice President Kamala Harris, who presided over the confirmation, to Black women who were historic firsts to serve on their state’s highest court to the women of Harvard’s Black Law Students Association. The accounts are resounding and familiar. Reaching this pinnacle of achievement takes not only perfection, but guts of steel. For many, it is affirmation of every achievement earned, every tear shed and heart broken, and affirmation of all the hard work and future efforts to come.
Courtesy of womenwhogif
These historic milestones are momentous because trailblazers like Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson become heroines in our imaginations — and not just for Black women. They mold and make imprints on our collective imaginations, and expand what we believe to be possible for ourselves and our children.
As a Harvard Law graduate, I viscerally relived the nerves required of the legal path, and can imagine what it took for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to reach each milestone from her student life throughout her professional journey. Her career has been a string of impossible feat after impossible feat, from multiple acceptances into Harvard, editing on the Harvard Law Review, to her judicial clerkships and appointments. These feats are impossible for any young lawyer, much less one who must shatter glass ceilings at every turn of one’s career.
However, cultural milestones can only make an imprint on your imagination if you allow space for it. That’s why it is integral to mark and celebrate these milestones for our next generation. After Judge Jackson’s nomination, Springwell students learned about who she is and about her life’s work. They studied the judicial process, and how the Supreme Court works. They discussed the importance of diversity and representation, and what it means to them.
At Springwell, we celebrate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her confirmation makes more space for all of our students to become themselves, authentically and heroically, no matter where they come from and no matter where their paths and efforts may take them.
Gloria Chan
Springwell Head of School
