An Act of Racial Justice

From New York Times, Jan. 1, 2021.

Judge Orders Portraits Removed
from VA Courtroom

Virginia Judge Won’t Try Black Man in Courtroom Lined With White Portraits

David Bernhard, a circuit court judge, wrote in his decision that the display of portraits of white judges “is based on a non-racial principle, yet yields a racial result.”

David Bernhard, a circuit court judge, wrote in his decision that the display of portraits of white judges “is based on a non-racial principle, yet yields a racial result.”

By Derrick Bryson Taylor

• Jan. 1, 2021, 8:00 a.m. ET

When a Black man appears in a Virginia courtroom this month to stand trial on charges of eluding the police, assaulting an officer and other crimes, he will face a scene that defendants in that room have not experienced in decades: The portraits of white judges will no longer line the walls.