Ain't I a Supreme Court Justice

PAVE Family,

233 years and one month ago, the Supreme Court of the United States was established with the passing of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Black women have long been the backbone of America.

Black women raised America’s families - Black and White. 

Black women defined our cuisine, bringing people together over the most universal of love languages, food. 

Black women have been some of our most renowned teachers and educated generations of our leaders.

Black women fought tirelessly and often invisibly for abolition and equal rights for Black people and women.

Black women stood down hoses, bus drivers, hecklers, and unconscionable violence to make sure every man, woman, and child in America had the same equal protection under the law. 

And that’s just to name a few of the contributions Black women have made that mean that without Black women, the America we all know today would not be America.

And just like America would not be America without Black women…

PAVE would not be PAVE without Black women. 

The majority of our parent leaders are Black women and they fight for every child in DC to get a great education. I, as the founder, am a Black woman and was inspired to create the organization because of the Black women before me - my mother, my grandmothers, my great-grandmothers - who fought to make sure each of their children got a great education. Our organization is for every parent in our city (that should be a state) but Black women built the base of what this work could become.

When I watched Judge Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings and saw her daughter beaming with pride as she flawlessly navigated the questions, it reminded me of every time I have watched the Black mamas, grandmamas, and aunties at PAVE testifying before the Council and answering questions of policymakers and their daughters and sons beam with pride too. What a legacy of leadership Black women leave us with as they climb!

And Black women at PAVE have done that work through the law.

At PAVE, our parent leaders focus on legislation and policy - pushing our system to give the children and youth of DC the education they have long deserved and too long not been given. As a Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge Brown Jackson will hold our laws to the principles and tenets of our founding legal document, the Constitution. 

The DC parent leaders at PAVE and DC-native Judge Brown Jackson are what make me feel good about America.

They represent the best and the brightest of what she has to offer and they are who will set us on a path to freedom not just in name but in policy and the law.

Congratulations, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson! That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

In light and service,

Maya Martin Cadogan