Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division Second Judicial DepartmentSupreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division Second Judicial Department
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A Celebration of Black History

On February 16, 2022, a virtual ceremony was held in celebration of the Appellate Division, Second Department’s Fourth Annual Hon. William C. Thompson, Sr. Black History Month Program. The ceremony was sponsored by the Kings County Courts’ Black History Month Committee, The Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, Nathan R. Sobel American Inns of Court, The Brooklyn Bar Association and The Caribbean American Lawyers Association. The special occasion was one of many virtual celebrations across the courts in Brooklyn in honor of Black History Month and this year’s theme of Black Health & Wellness. We are entering the third year in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants which data now show have caused higher rates of hospitalization and death among Black populations.

The distinguished award recognizes those who embody the legacy of Hon. William C. Thompson, Sr., who was a New York State Supreme Court Judge, Administrative Judge and the first black Associate Justice appointed to the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. This year’s awardees were former Governor David A. Paterson, the state’s first African American Governor and the ceremony’s keynote speaker, as well as three African American justices: Hon. Valerie Brathwaite Nelson, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, 2nd Department (whose award was presented by Hon. Cheryl E. Chambers, the first black female justice on the Appellate Division, Second Department’s constitutional bench), Hon. Paul Wooten, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, 2nd Department (whose award was presented by Hon. Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix), and Hon. Michelle Weston, Associate Justice, Appellate Term, 2nd, 11th, and 13th Judicial Districts, all representing diversity on the bench, for which Justice Thompson advocated throughout his judicial career.

In her opening remarks, Hon. Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix hailed the 2021 appointments of Hon. William Ford and Hon. Deborah A. Dowling to the bench for the Appellate Division, 2nd Department. Additional remarks were made by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, Presiding Justice Hector D. LaSalle, Governor Kathy Hochul, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Kings County District Attorney Hon. Eric Gonzalez, and William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the Thompson family. A video recording of the presentation may be viewed here.