A judge in the greater Dallas area is making headlines for her style both in and outside of the courtroom.
Recently, Judge Amber Givens-Davis has been at the center of local and national media attention for her involvement in a number of highly publicized cases. Most recently, Givens-Davis presided over the Wesley Mathews trial in which a father was tried and convicted for his role in the death of his young daughter. While most were focused on the trial at hand, others were focused on the judge's hairdo.
During the trial, Givens-Davis sported a hairstyle in which both sides were shaved with the top long. The Dallas judge told Fox 4 reporters that "she received a lot of emails about it during the trial." While most of the feedback was positive, there was more than enough of negativity paid towards her hair as well.
Nevertheless, Givens-Davis was not deterred in anyway about any of the negativity surrounding her hairstyle. She used the incident as a teaching moment for young girls in the area. Givens-Davis invited a group of young adults to Concord Church to speak about the importance of self expression and individuality.
"I don’t separate my person from my job," she said. "But it just so happens that my person is being highlighted because of the audacity that I have to be myself. But my job is very serious. I take it very seriously."
"People immediately want to come in and identify the defendant because they think there’s a look. So then I talk about myself. It’s weird that this has all kind of come full circle," she continued. "I talk about the fact that if you looked at me in my dress outside the courtroom you would never assume that I was the presiding judge because assumptions fail us all the time."
Now, THIS is sisterhood ????! Judges and sorority women from AKA and ΔΣΘ create a program to defeat the prison pipeline in Dallas0. https://t.co/ySWdfJUd14
pic.twitter.com/8wyb9u4CGD— Blavity News (@Blavity) January 19, 2018
Using this moment to connect and enrich her community is not a new trend for the Dallas judge. One quick Google or Twitter search will show that she's been connecting and mentoring members of her community for a long time. She has been involved in local empowerment programs, hosted discussions to educate local residents about the criminal justice system and is currently working to end the school to prison pipeline.
Going forward, Fox 4 reports that Givens-Davis plans to hold more discussions about self-expression and individuality.
