Six Black Philadelphia judges sat down for an interview with CBS Philly to talk about their common denominator: Hampton University, one of the most renowned HBCUs in the country.

Judges Roxanne Covington, Jonathan Irvine, Kai Scott, Mark Moore, Sharon Williams Losier and Lillian Harris Ransom, expressed their gratitude for HBCUs and emphasized the need for more diversity in courtrooms.

"When I come out from the back, you’ll see people’s faces change when they see you,” Irvine told the news station of being a Black judge in the city. “I don’t know whether that’s good or bad. You need to see diversity. Sometimes, you need to see people who look like you.”

Scott said it's not only important for the court to have diversity in race, but also in terms of gender and socioeconomic background.

“It’s important that the bench represents the entire community,” she told the station.

Williams described her decision to attend an HBCU as one of the best choices she ever made. Her colleagues share the same sentiment.

"It’s that kind of connectedness that you get at an HBCU that sometimes you don’t get at other institutions,” Ransom said.

According a report from the Thurgood Marshall College, HBCUs have produced 80% of the Black judges in the country.

"The need for HBCUs today is just as great as it ever was,” Moore said.

The judges also discussed the challenge of navigating the courtroom during the pandemic.

"We did spend a lot of time doing virtual hearings, but the courthouses are moving forward because it’s so important,” Covington said. “Because it’s so important the wheels of justice cannot stop turning.”

In Missouri, Judge Robin Ransom made history on Monday when she was appointed to the state’s Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to take the position, as Blavity previously reported.

“As the daughter of a fireman who worked and lived in a segregated engine house when he worked for the fire department, this is a very happy day for my mom, myself and my entire family,” Robin Ransom said.

In New York, a 2020 report found that nearly 70% of the state's judges have identified themselves as white.

“To me, the judiciary does not adequately reflect the communities in which it serves,” Erika Edwards, who sits on the New York Supreme Court as one of the few Black judges in the state, told Gothamist. “It presents the lack of trust in the court system, lack of access, people don't feel comfortable sometimes using the courts…They just feel like maybe the deck is stacked against them.”

Roxanne Covington

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