An important part of the Black story in California has to do with the criminal justice system. Juries, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, public defenders- they have a say in how a case turns out. And when those people look like you, sometimes the outcomes can change.
In 1982, then Governor Jerry Brown appointed Northern California’s first Black woman judge- LaDoris Cordell. At the time, she says, she was surrounded by white male judges, but this wasn’t foreign to her. She was the only Black woman in her Stanford Law school class, she was the first Black Superior Court judge in Santa Clara County, she’s been ‘the only’ alot of the time. She spent her career in California courtrooms, and today, she’s retired, but has a lot to say about how our judicial systems can better serve everyone.
Judge Cordell has written a book- part memoir, part California history called “Her Honor.” Hana spoke to her and first asked her to recall her first day as a judge.
