Jewel Scott breaks legal and racial barriers in Georgia
Published:Sunday | June 28, 2020 | 12:26 AMKaryl Walker - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Former Jamaican honorary consul to Atlanta, Jewel Scott, recently created history by becoming the first Caribbean national to be elected to the Superior Court of Clayton County in the southern US state of Georgia.
Scott defeated incumbent Katherine ‘Katie’ Powers – who was appointed by state governor Nathan Deal in 2016. She is not only the first Caribbean national but also the first person of African descent to be elected to any Superior Court post in the entire state of Georgia.
Scott’s election in a state that has its foundation firmly rooted in the Confederacy and overt racism is not lost on her. As a former district attorney and legal practitioner for more than 30 years, she has come face to face with the struggles of persons of colour who get entangled in the state’s legal web.
Race relations are sour in the US at present, with the recent killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and other African Americans at the hands of the police. The latest spate of homicides has sparked prolonged ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests and has forced the racially divided country to do deep introspection.
“That is what the Black Lives Matter movement is about. The system is definitely skewed against persons of colour. A disproportionate number of blacks have been imprisoned and executed in the United States,” Scott shared with The Sunday Gleaner.
But she is committed to challenging her new assignment with equity and fairness without regard to race.
“I will dispense justice fairly and impartially,” she said.
CLOSE TO ROOTS
Scott has remained close to her roots. Born in the central Jamaica parish of Manchester before living most of her formative years in Hopewell, Hanover, Scott is one of six children born to parents the Reverend Seymour Hanson and his wife Lurline. She attended the Montego Bay and Manchester High schools, before achieving her law degree at The University of the West Indies.
She then moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands for a year before migrating to New York, where she lived for 10 years.
Scott was full of praise for her Jamaican roots and proudly speaks of home.
“I love Jamaica. The warmth of the people, their tenacity. Everywhere that they go in the world they are going to conquer their space and make an indelible mark. We are a small nation but we are big everywhere we go. With all the problems that Jamaica people think they have, we are a small nation but we are big all over the world,” Scott beamed.
Jamaica recently reopened its borders to visitors after closing its ports for three months as part of measures to curtail the effect of COVID-19, which has taken close to half a million lives and infected some 10 million persons worldwide. Scott is proud of the way the country is handling the containment of the virus and urged further caution.
“Jamaica has been doing well; however, we cannot get too relaxed and throw caution to the wind. This is a very serious pandemic which might last a while longer so we have to be cautious even while we recognise that life cannot come to a standstill. All Jamaicans must realise how serious this thing is and keep our low rates of deaths down by practising safe measures,” she said.
GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS
Jewel Scott has a long list of achievements under her legal belt.
She is also Georgia’s first black female attorney general, a post she held before unseating Powers. With over 30 years of legal experience in the United States, Scott is credited with starting the first Deferred Prosecution Programme in Clayton County. The programme allows non-violent offenders who qualify to participate in educational and vocational initiatives as an alternative to incarceration.
She is responsible for using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act to rid Clayton County of all massage parlours, effectively wiping out prostitution.
Scott also started the Clayton Chapter of a ‘Boys to Men’ programme, which zooms in on young men who do not have positive male role models. She has done extensive work with the Association of Battered Women of Clayton County and was a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the county’s Child Abuse Review Board.