racial triumphs in Virginia cause examination of principles

Although I hate affirmative action, I have yet to come up with a better solution. It’s hard… Although I hate affirmative action, I have yet to come up with a better solution. It’s hard for me to admit that sometimes race needs to be an issue, but ignoring bias doesn’t eliminate it.

When Virginia leaders began patting themselves on the back last week for swearing in Leroy Hassell, the first black chief justice for the Virginia Supreme Court, I felt guilty appreciating the triumph.

Judges should be blind to race, politics and any other factor that could create bias. I should feel outraged when judges are appointed for political goals – however noble – but I find myself enjoying the fact that a black judge has made a racial leap and been appointed to a powerful position.

Virginia has come a long way – mostly because its leaders have worked hard to shed the state’s historical philosophy without burying its rich history.

Virginia leaders can’t hide from the commonwealth’s history, while Virginia residents can’t seem to get over it. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Virginia produced many of the high-ranking officers who fought for the South, including Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and Commanding General Robert E. Lee.

Today, Richmond offers a strange mix of progressive development and historical reminders. A city with a 57-percent black population, according to the 2000 census report, some of Richmond’s most beautiful streets are lined with monuments to Confederate generals. The city housed the nation’s first black governor, L. Douglas Wilder, in 1990 – in a capital building a few blocks from the old White House of the Confederacy.

When he was sworn in, Hassell addressed Virginia’s history of slavery. He emphasized that he did not want the position because of his race, but because he was a “Virginian by birth who has a strong affection and love” for the commonwealth.

I’d like to think that Hassell was elected purely by his merit – as a graduate of Harvard Law School who has completed 12 years of service for Virginia’s Supreme Court, Hassell is a strong candidate regardless of race. Hassell is also the first, under a new law, to win the position of chief justice through election by the justices instead of merit or seniority.

But other leaders have made it clear that, at least in their opinions, Hassell’s race was one of his winning qualities.

Former governor Gerald Baliles, who appointed Hassell to the bench in 1989 to replace Virginia’s first black justice, said that Hasssell’s ascension was “a wonderful combination of content of character and color.”

While I think Baliles meant well, I’m disappointed he couldn’t congratulate Hassell without making race an issue – it seems to degrade Hassell’s accomplishment.

Sometimes we need to consider race when choosing among candidates. No matter how fair or sensitive I try to be, I can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be black. That’s why we need blacks, women and other minorities in positions of leadership – when you’re electing someone to represent you, the person with similar experiences will probably do it best.

But judicial positions aren’t supposed to function like political offices. The line between right and wrong should be objective, regardless of personal experience or perspective.

Anyone who thinks such an ideal holds true in reality, though, has never had to distinguish between right and wrong in a subjective situation.

So here I’m stuck. I don’t believe race, gender or anything other than the ability to understand and objectively interpret the law should affect the selection of judges.

And I still feel happy, against all my egalitarian logic and principles, that Virginia leaders have appointed their first black chief justice.

I guess sometimes I have to look beyond my ideals to understand reality and appreciate something that needed to be done.

Columnist J. Elizabeth Strohm hopes Hassell will leave a mark for his effective time in office and that his race will just slip by as a footnote. Reach her at jstrohm@pittnews.com.