The hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Jackson have been going on for the past couple of days and in real time we get to see what it feels like to be the first, a woman, and Black all wrapped up in one.
Who is Ketanji Jackson?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated by President Biden for supreme court judge to replace justice Stephen Breyer. From 2005-2007 she worked as a federal public defender and spent most of her career in Washington serving as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columba from 2013 to 2021. She is married to surgeon Dr. Patrick Graves Jackson and they have two beautiful daughters.
Cool, Calm, and Collected…
Judge Ketanji spent 22 hours this week being grilled by judiciary committee members who repeatedly interrupted her, dismissed her attempts to answer their questions, and had to defend herself when asked the question “What is a woman?”
Everyone can see that she was well trained for this. Even with the attacks, and interruption, she kept calm and did her best. What we know for sure is that she understands that this moment is bigger than her. I have to be honest, I’m not sure if I would be able to go through what she’s going through now but what I can say is what we are experiencing is the strength of a woman and definitely resilience in real time.
Watching Judge Jackson makes me proud to be a woman. Especially, a woman of color. We are witnessing what we will face when we decide to go after our dreams. We see how our dreams will take dedication, sacrifice, and discipline. We also see that there’s always going to be some adversity to try to stop us from going to next level. Lastly, we see that if we want true change, we have to go first. We have to be the example and it’s not going to be easy.
If you need some motivation, watch Judge Ketanji in action. She’s the great example of a Phenomenal Woman.