Spectrum

In 2012, Gayle Williams Byers was elected to become the first black judge for the South Euclid Municipal Court in Northeastern Ohio. She came to the job with a wealth of experience after being a Congressional staffer on Capitol Hill and after spending nearly a decade as an Assistant Prosecutor in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland-area). However, despite her election win, her experience and the honor of being the first female black judge in her court, she confronted forms of overt and covert racism from the start. Over the past eight years, it has been one racial insult or slight after another being generated by the white power establishment in her community. Repeated efforts have been made to intimidate her, question her character, and to minimize her powerful position. “If I, as judge, get treated in a racist manner, I can only imagine what happens to the average black person in the streets,” Judge Byers says. “We need to have a real and meaningful conversation about race as it permeates all aspects of society.