Isabel Wilkerson Instagram – Reposting with full videos….
A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History.
We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.”
She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve.
We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country.
We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her:
“ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ”
It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget. | Posted on 07/Mar/2025 08:07:16
