black women
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President Joe Biden has named 40 Black women to become federal judges, shattering records and creating a new legacy on the bench.
In the final days of his administration, President Joe Biden is following through on one of his campaign promises to make the federal judiciary more diverse, appointing 40 Black women to the bench. That mark was reached when the United States Senate confirmed Tiffany Johnson on Monday (Dec. 9), to replace U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in the Northern District of Georgia.
The appointment means that Biden has named more Black women to the federal judiciary in history, more than the 26 confirmed during the two terms of President Obama. This also includes his nomination of Ketanji Brown-Jackson, the first-ever Black woman named to the Supreme Court. During President Donald Trump’s administration, there were only two Black women who were among the 234 judicial appointees confirmed, making it seven Black people overall. The numbers are highly significant as Trump is making his return to the White House in January, determined to dismantle government agencies such as the Department of Education and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Having Black women judges means that “there is a different kind of voice that can come from the Black female from the bench,” said John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor-emeritus Delores Jones-Brown.
Having this many Black judges on the federal level is also highly important due to their “cultural presence” in places such as the South. “There are still courts in the Southern states that still don’t look like … the people they serve because Republican senators have blocked all kinds of diverse nominees, or any nominee from the Democratic president,” said Alliance For Justice Vice President of Communications Carolyn Leary Bobb. The confirmation of Johnson makes her the fifth federal judge in the state of Georgia.
Among the 40 Black women federal judges, there is also the first openly LGBTQ judge, Melissa R. DuBose, who will serve the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, and Cristal C. Brisco who will be the first Black judge to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. “Those very district court judges are usually the first ones to hear cases, and they hear many, many, many more than our circuit courts,” said legal scholar Lena Zwarensteyn, who noted that even their dissenting opinions carry so much weight.
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Ryan Clark made his career as a hard-hitting safety in the NFL before moving into the analyst and podcasting space. In the wake of the comments made by comedian Andrew Schulz towards ShxtsNGigs hosts James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu regarding Black women, Ryan Clark issued a statement in their defense but some Black men online are calling him “soft” for his stance.
Duncan and Dawodu were guests in Schulz’s Flagrant podcast in July with Schulz bringing up the “Black girlfriend effect” trend from social media. In essence, the trend notes that when a white man has a Black woman as a romantic partner, his entire image changes for the better. However, Schulz used the mostly harmless trend to frame the instance as Black women pressuring their partners and using violence to get them in line. Schulz, which is par the course for the program, leaned into other topics including speaking about Nigerians, and other shots at Black women.
It should be noted that the ShxtsNGigs hosts did not offer any pushback or critique of Schulz’s jabs, which some online said were done under the guise of comedy and loose chatter. However, clips from the episode have since gone viral and the massive fanbase of Black women that Duncan and Dawodu enjoyed have largely defected. The pair issued an apology but many feel it is a case of too little too late.
Ryan Clark, via his The Pivot podcast with Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, spoke at length about what he experienced from his mother and later his wife as his reference to the value Black women have in his life. He also said that because so many Black men don’t respect Black women, some have allowed white people to get, in his words, “comfortable” in disrespecting them.
More from X:
I’m not sure what black woman experience @andrewschulz has had, but it hasn’t been the real “black girlfriend effect”. To insult black women and described them as complainers & abusive isn’t just untrue. It’s disrespectful. Even worse, James Duncan & Fuhad Dawodu allowing him to say it is more insulting.
Andrew Schultz spoke that way in front of two black men because they allowed him to. They made him comfortable enough to disrespect black women because they didn’t force him to respect them.
My experience is that black women are powerful, beautiful, strong, and supportive. They prioritize black family, community, & culture. They take steps back to push their men, and families forward. So, no Andrew the “black girlfriend effect” is nothing like what you described. I’m just upset that you don’t have enough solid black men around you to tell you differently!
With the clip of Clark’s response going wide on X, some men referred to him as soft for not being able to take a joke. Below is one such exchange.
“I hate how soft nggas are now man. Smh. All these sad ass think pieces over jokes. As one of the dirtiest players in NFL history, someone who played with reckless abandon, someone who intentionally tried to injure other humans for sport, I thought you’d be a little tougher bro,” wrote @MulhollandL0ver.
Clark wrote in response, “More than welcome to try me to see how tough good brother, but jokes are only funny if the subject believes so. Same as my joke about Tua last year. I thought it was funny, other players thought it was funny, my colleagues thought it was funny. He and his people didn’t.”
Keep scrolling to see comments from X regarding Ryan Clark’s comments.
I’m not sure what black woman experience @andrewschulz has had, but it hasn’t been the real “black girlfriend effect”. To insult black women and described them as complainers & abusive isn’t just untrue. It’s disrespectful. Even worse, James Duncan & Fuhad Dawodu allowing him to… pic.twitter.com/2gQQRPSCYd
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) September 19, 2024
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Photo: Getty
1. For a bit of context.
4. How the two compares is beyond comprehension.
5. Racist tropes aren’t funny.
7. Mans losing his mind right here.
8. Pretty much.
9. Perspective.
10. Their whole wave got smashed over some “jokes.”
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Sexyy Red and her current rise in the Hip-Hop ranks has divided some fans of the music and culture who feel that her music and topic matter is over the top. Sexyy Red, no stranger to these kinds of attacks online, checked a fan via social media who suggested that she is misguiding Black women.
To get an idea of who Sexyy Red is as an artist, a listener could check out her hit tracks “Poundtown” and “SkeeYee” which are burning up the charts and playlists. Further, a recent talk with Interview magazine was also revealing and her upcoming lineup of lip gloss has some rather interesting names. We’ll let you find out that information on your own. We did discover in that interview that Red is a teetotaler, a person who doesn’t drink.
On the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, user @bossedup_tre posted a message writing, “Sexyy Red was really put out to misguide our blk women, And ITS WORKING,” with others replying under the missive that Black men in the rap game have done the same amount of damage, if not worse.
Catching wind of the message, Sexxy Red replied via quote writing, “Makin y’all shake ass misguiding y’all?” and there are following comments under her message displaying that very act that will not be fit for these pages.
Speaking of “SkeeYee,” it is currently sitting at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts after just two weeks and currently rising. Expect to hear a lot more Sexxy Red in the near future.
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Photo: ANGELA WEISS / Getty
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