Similar to any college student, I have changed my major three times from Theatre Arts with an emphasis in acting to Undeclared to Journalism. It wasn’t until my recent last semester that I decided to declare a minor in Political Science with the revelation that I wanted to go into law and politics. I grew up watching Law and Order as I sat on the couch with my Great Grandma who literally had the show on every day. I remember watching Legally Blonde, starring Reese Witherspoon, and I thought Elle Woods was iconic as the not average student at Harvard Law School. I liked how she proved everyone wrong that she wasn’t a “dumb blonde” and that she could be a good lawyer. Though these depictions are not entirely realistic, they are the few representations I have seen of lawyers on TV.
That is not the reason I chose to into law though. I am choosing to go into law for the many social injustices I see on a daily basis that have impacted me and the people around me. Early this year, I sat down with my Pre-Law advisor and he told me there is one question he always asks a student interested in law. He asked me, “Why do you want to become a lawyer?” I said, “Because I want to help those who can’t help themselves.” I know it sounds cliché, but there is a lot more meaning for me behind that simple saying. It wasn’t until I started keeping up-to-date with the news as a journalism student that I started to see the social injustices going on in the world. My inspiration to go to law school came from being biracial and being a woman.
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Women, in general, and women of color are still fighting for social justice, in the case of reproductive rights, the wage gap, etc. Women are especially underrepresented in politics and law. According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), there are 19.4 percent (104 out of 535 seats) of women in the U.S. Congress in 2016. There are 31.7 percent (33 out of 104 seats) of women of color in the U.S. Congress. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the U.S. ranks as the 83rd country in the representation of women in government, while Rwanda ranks as the 1st country with about over 60 percent of women in government. I ask myself: Why are women not wanting to go into politics or law? This is what influenced me to run for my school’s Student Government Association, in which I was elected as a representative for my school’s House.
It is even social justice within my own racial community that I continue to fight for that influences me. After seeing cases like Trayvon Martin in 2012, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice in 2014, and Sandra Bland and Freddie Gray in 2015, I realized how much I wanted to make a stand. It wasn’t just incidences of violence that influenced me; it was also incarceration rates, education, and the lack of resources provided to marginalized communities of color. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), African Americans “constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.” Based on a data snapshot done by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, only 57 percent of African American high school students have access to the full range of courses for math and science compared to 81 percent for Asian American high school students and 71 percent of white high school students. Based on statistics by Teaching Tolerance, which is “a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” food deserts which are neighborhoods that have lack of access to affordable and healthy food are more prevalent in low-income communities of color. Studies have shown that “8 percent of African Americans live in a census tract with a supermarket, compared to 31 percent of whites.” These are a few reasons along with many more why I am choosing to go to law school.
My grandma always said I had the ability to go into law, especially with my ability to never keep my mouth shut. I encourage more women to go into law and I hope more women will be inspired to study law. I certainly do have a long road ahead of me, but I can’t wait to see where studying law will lead me.
