THE MONTHLY GLEANER | APRIL 7 -30, 2022 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 2 Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed as first black female high court justice WASHINGTON (AP): THE UNITED States Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first black female justice and giving President Joe Biden a bipartisan endorsement for his effort to diversify the court. Jackson, a 51 year-old appeals court judge with nine years experience on the federal bench, was confirmed 53-47, mostly along party lines but with three Republican votes. Presiding was Vice President Kamala Harris, also the first Black woman to reach that high office. Jackson will take her seat when Justice Stephen Breyer retires this summer, solidifying the liberal wing of the 6-3 conservative-dominated court. She joined Biden at theWhite House to watch the vote, embracing as it came in. During the four days of Senate hearings last month, Jackson spoke of her parents’ struggles through racial segregation and said her “path was clearer” than theirs as a black American after the enactment of civil rights laws. She attended Harvard University, served as a public defender, worked at a private law firm and was appointed as a member of the US Sentencing Commission. Jackson will be just the third black justice, after ThurgoodMarshall and Clarence Thomas, and the sixth woman. She will join three other women, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan Amy Coney Barrett – meaning that four of the nine justices will be women for the first time in history. Advocates welcome termination of policy denying refugees right to seek asylum NEW YORK (CMC): CARIBBEAN AMERICAN Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) have welcomed the Biden administration’s termination of a Trump-era coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic policy that denied refugees the right to seek asylum. Critics said the policy – known as Title 42, which was introduced by former US President Donald J. Trump – was blatantly discriminatory. “As the daughter of immigrants and a lifelong advocate for their fair chance and access to the American dream, the Biden administration’s decision to lift the harmful, malicious and discriminatory policy that is Title 42, is a welcome blessing and one that I have long awaited,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “While this policy endured, countless hopeful migrants suffered under its authority, as we circumvented our obligations under international and domestic law. This harmful policy disproportionately affected black migrants and created life-threatening conditions for immigrants seeking refuge at our borders. “Untold unaccompanied children, families, asylum seekers; none were spared the denial of due process entitled to them by law,” said Clarke. NYIC’s Executive Director, Murad Awawdeh, told CMC that “America’s immigration system has been broken for far too long, which is why the Biden administration’s long-overdue decision to end Title 42 is an encouraging first step on the road to creating a much more humane asylum system”. “However, the termination of the policy does not come soon enough for the thousands of asylum seekers who were expelled under Title 42 and remain in harm’s way,” added Awawdeh, whose organisation is an umbrella policy and advocacy group for more than 200 immigration groups in New York state. NEWS BRIEFS Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington. AP Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Alsion Wilson, presents Irwine Clare, CEO of Team Jamaica Bickle, with a letter detailing a donation of US$5,000 towards their fundraising efforts. The amount was made by Greg Fisher, managing director of Jeffries LLC. In addition, the consul general presented seven travel certificates from JetBlue Airways. CONTRIBUTED NEW YORK: PRIME MINISTER AndrewHolness will for the first time attend the annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia, April 28 to 30, having accepted the invitation of the University of Pennsylvania and the Consulate General of Jamaica, New York. While in Philadelphia, the prime minister will also be meeting various business and community leaders before travelling to New York where he will participate in the launch of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary celebrations in the region. The announcement of Prime Minister Holness’ visit was made by consul general AlsionWilson, at the launch of Team Jamaica Bickle’s Penn Relays 2022 initiative on Friday. The prime minister will be accompanied to Penn Relays by Minister of Gender, Culture, Entertainment and Sport Olivia ‘Babsy’Grange and Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill. Among the highlights of the prime minister’s activities will be his participation in an investment forum with potential investors. The forum, coordinated by JAMPRO along with the consulate general of Jamaica, New York and the Jamaica’s honorary consul in Philadelphia, will seek to identify potential investors while solidifying the interests of others seeking to commence business. Holness will conclude his visit in NewYork where he will launch the region’s activities for Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of independence. The launch will present activities that are being planned by consulate general Jamaica, New York, along with various stakeholders to commemorate this diamond jubilee of independence. PM Holness to visit Penn Relays 1962: EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Dwight Anderson of Kingston College and 16-year-old Georgian Errol Huie write two new and blazing chapters in local schoolboy athletics with record 440 yards runs that brought down the curtain on an exciting 1962 Inter-Schools Track & Field meet. Anderson won the epic Class I in 49.5 second, the first-time a schoolboy had ever gone below the “50” barrier in the Championship. Huie ran a magnificent race to take Class 2 in 50.7 secs. 1970: Percival James Patterson is sworn in as a Member of Parliament, as he attends his first meeting of the House of Representatives since his election. 1970: The House of Representatives pass a bill entitled “An Act to Amend the law with respect to civil proceedings between husband and wife.” In moving the motion, the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Victor Grant, states that a rule had always existed in the common law that husband and wife cannot sue each other for civil wrongs of the kind known as torts and that the Married Women’s Property Law which was passed in 1870 enabled a wife to sue her husband for torts affecting her own property, but that was as far as legislation had taken the matter in Jamaica. In other parts of the Commonwealth the rule had been abrogated. ’We know We are shining as suns. In our land We will find glory.’ From: ’History Makers’ by George Campbell This Day In Our Past: April 7 1963: Robin Thompson of Jamaica College heaves the shot putt 47”’, 10½” on the final day of the Inter-Secondary Track Games at the National Stadium in April. FILE
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