{"id":676613,"date":"2026-03-23T19:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/676613\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:02:23","slug":"we-need-a-reflective-judiciary-bar-association-group-says-more-black-men-are-needed-on-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/676613\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We need a reflective judiciary\u2019: Bar association group says more Black men are needed on the bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"MBBA\t\t\t<\/p>\n

New York State Supreme Court Justice Machelle Sweeting speaks at a Metropolitan Black Bar Association panel on the need for more Black male judges. <\/p>\n

Jay McClinton<\/p>\n

Black men make up less than a fifth<\/a> of New York City\u2019s judiciary. That\u2019s a problem, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association<\/a> and NAACP say, particularly because Black men are often more likely to appear in criminal court than any other demographic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to make sure that the bench reflects the people who actually live here, so that everybody that comes into court gets a fair shot and sees a judge who may look like them,\u201d said election attorney Arthur Greig during a Thursday evening panel held by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and NAACP in a panel discussion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell speaks at the Thursday evening panel on the need more Black male judges. He said he\u2019s served on benches where he\u2019s the sole Black man.Jay McClinton<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important for people to see themselves on the bench, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Machelle Sweeting said, because it helps build trust in the court system when people feel confident it includes and understands them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people enter the courtroom and say, \u2018I want to see someone who looks like me,\u2019 what they\u2019re really saying is, \u2018I want to see someone who understands my lived experience, someone who is going to listen to both sides and not pre-judge or pre-determine cases,\u201d Sweeting said. \u201cThey\u2019re saying, \u2018I want someone who is going to issue decisions that are fair and just consistent with the law.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That makes people more likely to put stock in decisions that are made, respect the institution, show up to court and participate in proceedings, panelists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething really kind of magical happens when there\u2019s increased Black judges in a predominantly white courthouse,\u201d said Michael Oliva<\/a>, a judicial election consultant. \u201cIt\u2019s a collegial effect. The ultimate cure for racism is exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Michael Oliva speaks at the NACCP and MBBA panel on the need for more Black judges.Jay McClinton<\/p>\n

He said studies show white judges start to look at Black defendants \u201cmore as human beings\u201d and \u201cunderstand the importance of being less punitive and alternatives to incarceration,\u201d when they share the bench with Black judges.<\/p>\n

But, to get there, the court system, advocacy organizations and law schools need to be creating a pipeline for Black men to get to the bench. That starts by meeting young kids in their schools and neighborhoods, panelists said, both to educate them on the value of becoming a judge and to reverse the negative perception of the court system many young Black people justifiably hold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, for young Black people, their first time being in a court space is when they\u2019re with their parents, who are standing there trying to defend themselves,\u201d said Nicole Lester Arrindell, president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association. \u201cWe have to get them to see that this is a place that they can see themselves working in, when it might be viewed as a barrier to housing, a complicated matter between parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Nicole Lester Arrindell, president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, asks panelists questions as she moderates the evening event.Jay McClinton<\/p>\n

Sweeting said she runs internships and programs where middle schoolers come into her courtroom and carry out mock trials, creating an environment they feel they have a place in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they enter the building, they come not because they have a case, but because they have an appointment with the judge,\u201d Sweeting said. \u201cWe have to increase that youth outreach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

From there, she said, law schools and advocacy groups need to conduct more targeted outreach to Black men who have chosen to pursue a career in law, providing them with the information necessary to point them to the path to the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Election attorney Arthur Greig and Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell speak at Thursday\u2019s panel.Jay McClinton<\/p>\n

But what might be even more critical is convincing Black men that judgeship is a worthy pursuit after law school. One thing that frequently stops people from turning to it, panelists said, is that public service doesn\u2019t pay like private practice does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to talk about the fulfillment that you get from public service,\u201d Greig said. \u201cThere are certain things that come along with serving the public and helping people that \u2026 you couldn\u2019t do anywhere else. Judges can\u2019t help somebody, per se, but they can apply the law correctly and evenly and fairly \u2026 which helps people in our society, in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York State Supreme Court Justice Machelle Sweeting speaks at a Metropolitan Black Bar Association panel on the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":676614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,39800,3228,285149,47284,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,16408,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-676613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-judges","tag-law","tag-metropolitan-black-bar-association","tag-naacp","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-racial-equity","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116280043159467173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}