D&I Changemakers:
Hon. Troy Webber and Hon. Richard Rivera
By John Caher
Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications
Judges Troy Webber and Richard Rivera — proud products of the South Bronx — were inspired to become lawyers, judges and co-chairs of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission by injustices that they witnessed as children.
Embedded in Judge Rivera’s memory is the image of a little girl who suffered a severe and potentially life-threatening injury, and the police officer nearby who couldn’t be bothered to help.
“[The police officer] did absolutely nothing,” recalled Judge Rivera, who is the Supervising Family Court Judge in the Third Judicial District. “He wouldn't even call the ambulance, and this little girl was dying. And I remember thinking, that's the unfairness, that's the injustice that I see from law enforcement. And that sort of spurred me to become a judge.”
Justice Webber, who sits on the Appellate Division, First Department, remains haunted by a story closer to home, when her recently-widowed mother was sued, and lacked the experience or resources to respond.
“I was like, I have to do something to help my mother and to help others in this situation,” she said. “I wanted to help individuals such as her who really didn't have the financial wherewithal to deal with these issues. And so that was why I ultimately became a lawyer.”
Both judges bring their lived experiences to the bench, and to the Williams Commission, at a time when the Commission is better staffed, better funded and more engaged than ever before – thanks in part to the Special Adviser on Equal Justice (Jeh Johnson) report.
Neither Justice Webber nor Judge Rivera was remotely surprised by the damning report, and note that it echoed the original study started by Ambassador Williams some 30 years earlier.
“If you just tear the first page off of Franklin Williams's report (from 1991), you could just paste on ‘Jeh Johnson’ and it would be the same report,” Justice Webber said. “But I will say that what happened with that report by Secretary Johnson, who I absolutely love, is that it … gave us greater visibility and as a result of it, we're able to hire staff and we're able to do more things.”
Judge Rivera said he wasn’t at all surprised that that the 2020 report of Secretary Johnson in many ways mirrored the 1991 report of the Williams Commission.
“It wasn't shocking to me that nothing had changed. We're judges in the court system. So, we live it,” Judge Rivera said.
In a new Diversity Dialogue interview, Justice Webber and Judge Rivera discuss their backgrounds as well as the present and future of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission.
The full interview with Judge Webber and Judge Rivera can be found at:
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