Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of House Resolution 1087, which honors the life of Judge Jack Ruffin. Judge Ruffin was a pioneering civil rights lawyer in his community, and his impact on the civil rights movement affects many today. He was born in Waynesboro, Georgia, where his portrait today hangs in the Burke County Courthouse. Growing up in the Deep South, his mother wanted him to be a school teacher and not a lawyer because she feared for his safety. But not to be intimidated, Judge Ruffin went to law school anyway. And despite his mother's concerns about his safety, he became a lawyer. After law school he moved to Augusta, Georgia, where he became the first African American member of the Augusta Bar Association. He argued countless cases for civil rights. In perhaps the most notable case, Acree v. Board of Education, he filed suit to desegregate the Richmond County school system, which included the City of Augusta. Litigation continued for decades before he finally obtained a Federal court order to integrate the system. From 1986 to 1994 he served as the first African American Superior Court Judge in the Augusta Judicial Circuit. In 1994, he was appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals. And in 2005, he became the first African American Chief Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals. In 2009, the Augusta-Richmond County Commission decided to name the new Richmond County judicial center in Augusta in Jack Ruffin's honor.…”