{"id":219745,"date":"2026-05-04T21:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219745\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:03:15","slug":"brooklyn-judiciary-reflects-on-mlks-american-dream-for-law-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219745\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn judiciary reflects on MLK\u2019s \u2018American dream\u2019 for Law Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recognition of Brooklyn<\/a> Supreme Court\u2019s Law Day, New York Chief Judge Rowan Wilson<\/a> asked the county\u2019s judiciary to reflect on the wisdom of an lesser-known 1963 speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

King gave the speech, titled \u201cThe American Dream,\u201d at the historic Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. It served as a precursor to his famous \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech delivered later that year in Washington D.C., but in Wilson\u2019s estimation, the Brooklyn speech connected King\u2019s ideology to the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln\u2019s belief that the United States\u2019 form of government could serve as a model for the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American dream was not for any of them, merely an aspiration for Americans,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cIt was an aspiration by Americans for the entire world, rather than the belief that a government deriving its legitimacy from the government and treasuring the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness resonate powerfully around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state court system\u2019s Law Day theme this year, \u201cThe Rule of Law and the American Dream,\u201d centers on the role of the nation\u2019s legal system in supporting the founders\u2019 vision of life, liberty, and property. <\/p>\n

Wilson was joined in making remarks by Presiding Justice 2nd Department Wavny Toussaint, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the New York City Courts Adam Silvera, Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and its former chair Frank Seddio.<\/p>\n

Toussaint, who was chosen to speak as this year\u2019s honorary speaker, focused on the role that immigration played in the founders\u2019 conception of the American Dream.<\/p>\n

Toussaint said that she is the daughter of \u201cdouble immigrants.\u201d Her Panamanian-born mother emigrated to Trinidad with her family; her Grenadian-born father emigrated to Trinidad to join the South Caribbean forces. Her parents eventually moved her and her three siblings to the United States of America in pursuit of the American dream, she said.<\/p>\n

To connect our country\u2019s current turmoil over immigration to the founding of the country, she read out a passage from the founders\u2019 grievances against Great Britain in the declaration of independence was King George\u2019s resistance to immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Toussaint also emphasized that of the 56 signers of the declaration; eight were immigrants, and 10 were the sons of immigrants, with one or both parents born overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe signers of the declaration had set a precedent and established principles by which succeeding generations could expand their idea of the body over time to include women, African Americans, and indigenous people as well as the property-less,\u201d Toussant said. \u201cIt has not been an easy or steady process. \u201cBut it is a direction that still remains open for us and one hopes for our descendants.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his speech, Seddio, who over his career has had a major influence on the party\u2019s nomination of judicial candidates in Brooklyn, emphasized the role that diversity has played in judicial nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say that in my experience, in many years in the fine borough of Brooklyn\u2026 We have worked hard to make a diverse bench, and that can be seen today,\u201d Seddio said.<\/p>\n

In closing his speech, Wilson said that it was a different troubled chapter in our nation\u2019s history, when King believed Brooklyn was the right place to deliver a message about teaching the world about the American dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we gather to celebrate Law Day in Brooklyn 63 years later, let me ask you this: Did he pick right?\u201d he asked.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Max Parrott \"\"New York Chief Judge Rowan WilsonPhoto by Max Parrott \"\"From left, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, Second Department, Wavny Toussaint; Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn; former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Frank Seddio.Photo by Max Parrott \"\"Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, Second Department, Wavny ToussaintPhoto by Max Parrott \"\"Former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Frank SeddioPhoto by Max Parrot \"\"Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the New York City Courts Adam SilveraPhoto by Max Parrott \"\"Brooklyn County Clerk Nancy SunshinePhoto by Max Parrott \"\"The Brooklyn state judiciary listens to the Kings County Law Day program.Photo by Max Parrott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recognition of Brooklyn Supreme Court\u2019s Law Day, New York Chief Judge Rowan Wilson asked the county\u2019s judiciary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[86542,98,100,99,10916,23837,86543,22954,86544,86545,62840,25710,9,24,86546,45631,63,86547,86548,85562,86549],"class_list":["post-219745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-american-dream-speech","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-supreme-court","tag-brooklyn-politics","tag-civil-rights-history","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-immigration-and-founding-fathers","tag-judicial-diversity","tag-law-day","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-court-system","tag-new-york-judiciary","tag-nyc","tag-plymouth-church-brooklyn-heights","tag-rowan-wilson","tag-rule-of-law","tag-wavny-toussaint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}