CUTLER BAY, Fla. – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered a speech describing a street naming ceremony in her honor on Monday in south Miami-Dade County as a “community celebration.”
The Miami Palmetto Senior High School 1988 graduate thanked her mentor Fran Berger, who served as the debate coach at Palmetto from 1981 to 1998, for teaching her “how to reason and to write.”
Jackson delivered her speech after an introduction by Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins who spearheaded the effort to rename Southwest 184 Street, better known as Eureka Drive, between Old Cutler Road and Caribbean Boulevard.
“I hope that people who are driving by might have a moment of reflection about what it means that a person from this neighborhood, and someone with my background, could take what this place has to offer and be well-equipped enough to then go out into the world and do what it takes to not only become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States but also the first former public defender and the first ... associate justice who is from the great state of Florida,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s parents also attended the ceremony that Jackson also described as “surprisingly emotional” and “a very special honor.” Commissioners hosted it at the Dennis C. Moss Cultural Arts Center, at 10950 SW 211 St., in Cutler Bay.
“I really do believe there is an important connection between my experience growing up in this area and my current position,” Jackson said.
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and while she was raised in Miami-Dade, her father, Johnny Brown, started his service as an attorney for the Miami-Dade County School Board in 1983. Her mother, Ellery Brown, was a teacher.
“I learned how to lean in despite obstacles, to work hard, to be resilient, to strive for excellence, and to believe in myself and what I could do if given the opportunity, so I really do love this place,” Jackson said.
Her father retired as chief attorney for the Miami-Dade school board in 2005. Her mother also served as the school principal at the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami from 1993 until her retirement in 2007.
President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to become the 116th Justice of the United States Supreme Court on Feb. 25, 2022, and after the Senate confirmed her, she was sworn in on June 30, 2022.
“I am so proud that I grew up here in this South Florida community, which thanks to all of you, now has a prominent street that bears my name,” Jackson said. “My experience confirms what we all know to be true, which is that this is a wonderful place to grow up, and I think it also means that people from here as elsewhere, really can follow their dreams.”
Miami-Dade commissioners, who approved the street naming ceremony in October, Miami-Dade Chief Judge Nushin G Sayfie, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava were also in attendance.
Related link: Read Miami-Dade’s legislative text
Related reports
- June 30, 2022: Jackson sworn in, becomes 1st Black woman on Supreme Court