Diversity Counts: My Experience as a Black Prosecutor

When I was in law school, I wanted to be a prosecutor. It was my dream. My passion. I’ll never forget my mother feeling confused at my decision. “You want to persecute people?” she pondered. But I viewed it as a tremendous opportunity to do the work I loved, trial work.

When I began at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in 2000 as an Assistant District Attorney, at least half of my incoming class, of about 75 attorneys, were women. We also had a strong representation of African American, Latinx, Muslim, and Asian attorneys. We truly reflected the communities we served. It was a vibrant, diverse group. I realized that our varied backgrounds would allow us to view our caseloads with a more practical and fair perspective….