President’s Perspective

For 110 years, the Cook County Bar Association and its membership have been advocates for economic, social, political and racial justice for Black communities in the Chicagoland area.  Over the course of this rich history, the CCBA and its members have worked to diversify our profession and advocated for legislation leading to one of the most diverse judiciaries in the country.  If anyone knows the power of collective collaboration, it is the luminaries of this illustrious organization.

This year’s theme, “Stronger, Together” is meant to be both a reminder and a call to action.  Our nation’s politics and attitudes have transformed, leading us to operate as individuals, at times abandoning justice and its broad forms.  Our success has us divided not only by race and class, but at times within race and class along the lines of gender, sex, sexuality and more.  The common goal of justice for all is lost, with a focus on justice for some, or worse, justice for one.

Over time, the idea that “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: if one falls down, his friend can help him up” has been lost. Yet every major victory in the experience of Blacks in America has come by and through collective action, not simply among the Black community, but with its allies. Justice cannot be achieved in a silo. The protection of our democracy and ensuring voting rights for all cannot be achieved by any one singular group. Ensuring the right to choose and bodily autonomy is not a problem for one group to solve. Achieving repair and restoration for those Africans in America who suffered through bondage, sharecropping, Jim Crow, and more will not be achieved in this lifetime by a handful of advocates. If we are to achieve real justice, it will take all of us. Because we are stronger, together.