times. “My ex-husband, every uncle, every man I know has had the talk with my children,” she says, fighting tears. “Don’t get arrogant, don’t be incensed, just do what the officer asks you to do, very politely. Even if the officer is being unduly nasty, inappropriate, mean, condescending, awful, and beating you, slapping you in the face, do not engage. They have a gun and they will kill you. That’s a very tough conversation.”
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Because of the way our system is set up, you have to hit them in the pocket,” she says. “Otherwise there will be no change. The reason the marches and protests are so poignant, and I think are making a difference, is because it’s an interruption of business as we know it—it’s an interruption of our society, it’s imposing a change of discomfort.”
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s CK notes, Canada also has its issues with race. But in her view, “Canada is an infinitely more open and global country than the United States. So the racial incidents that we encountered did not compare to the U.S. Because Canada really is a melting pot, where in the U.S. we play a big melting pot and we’re not. You have much more cultural diversity than we do.” She did encounter some racism at Smith, where she studied international relations and languages (she speaks French, Spanish and Portuguese). It was her first experience living year-round in the U.S., beyond her holidays in Buffalo. In class one day, she recalls, she was praised by one of her professors. “There was a girl in the dorm from the South, and she said, ‘It sounds like you’re really smart, and I just didn’t know Black people could perform that well.’ And that wasn’t so long ago—1980!” she says with a laugh. CK went on to become a lawyer, intent on carving out an international practice in Washington, D.C. For some time, she did, working as a lobbyist for various foreign governments. That’s how she met Jesse Jackson. In 1988, as a leading activist, preacher and former presidential candidate, he was invited on an official visit to French-speaking Gabon in central Africa. Gabon was one of CK’s clients, so as a French speaker she handled all the legal issues involved, travelled with Jackson and his team, and ended up taking over interpreting and speechwriting as well. “So after that, there were other projects that I
worked on with Reverend Jackson and his organizations,” she says. “What I thought would be a one-time assignment became a 32-year journey. It’s been one of the greatest honours of my career.” She also accompanied Jackson on eyeopening trips to apartheid South Africa to support Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress—“our cars had to be swiped for bombs. And right behind the government sweepers were the ANC, checking again!” In 2019, CK became chair of the board of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which Jackson, now 79, has long led as president and CEO. Although CK loved the international life, marriage and becoming a mother for the first time at age 40 led her to take on more domestic challenges. As a trial lawyer, she has won judgments or settlements totalling over US$800 million in cases that include civil rights, medical malpractice, commercial litigation and wrongful death. Earlier this year, she began a major suit against Amazon.com on behalf of workers in New York state who complained they were not supplied with the right equipment to protect against COVID-19. Recently, too, she became president of the 95-year-old National Bar Association, a largely Black,
66,000-member counterpart to the American Bar Association, where she is also a member. She has been showered with awards during her career, including “Woman of the Year” for 2011-2012 by the National Association of Professional Women. Her fundamental drive, CK says, is to get major corporations and governments to “do right by the people.” It is here that her legal and racial views seem to merge. “Because of the way our system is set up, you have to hit them in the pocket,” she says. “Otherwise there will be no change. The reason the marches and protests are so poignant, and I think are making a difference, is because it’s an interruption of business as we know it—it’s an interruption of our society, it’s imposing a change of discomfort.” She notes she is not talking about violent demonstrations, which she does not condone. But she is optimistic that the peaceful movement is bringing progress. “So I’m glad that we’ve been having the protests,” she says. “This is our right.” It’s an awareness CK has had since she was a schoolgirl. R Berton Woodward is a Toronto-based writer, editor and communications consultant.
The READ Fall 2020
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