President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark said in an open letter posted on the court’s website it is time for Allegheny County’s judicial system to recognize systemic racism and work to combat it.

The longtime Allegheny County prosecutor turned family court judge posted the letter to the community last week with the goal of engaging citizens and reassuring them they will be treated fairly in the court system.

“We have to start right now with acknowledging in a public way, yes, there is systemic racism, and yes, there is racial and ethnic disparity,” Clark said in an interview Monday. “I just figured enough is enough, and now is a good time to address the court’s commitment to these issues.”

In the letter, Clark, who is Black, talks about taking into account “the uneven playing field on which racial and ethnic minorities, those who do not squarely fit into traditional gender roles, other disadvantaged persons, and the poor enter the justice system. The public must see members of our local judiciary and court staff working with urgency to attain this goal in equal solidarity with them, with other justice-related institutions, and with each other.”

Clark said she believes there is a perception in the public the courts are not fair.

“What we need to do is ensure that we develop a justice system that not only promotes equality, but ensures equity,” she wrote.

Clark pointed to programs and processes she said are already in place to address racial and ethnic disparity in the justice system. They include diversionary programs in juvenile and criminal court; treatment courts for veterans and others with mental health or drug and alcohol issues; housing court to reduce evictions; the reduction of the Allegheny County Jail population; implementation of anti-discrimination and implicit bias training; and collaboration with local groups, including the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, to further address criminal justice reform.

“We have made progress, but the struggle is ongoing,” Clark wrote in her letter. “We are committed to collecting and examining the data to identify disparities throughout all divisions of the justice system and will continue to examine our processes and procedures that might contribute to racial and ethnic injustice.”

As part of that ongoing analysis, Clark is seeking the creation of a mission that will show the public the court’s commitment to equity and to ending disproportionality.

“The mission will conspicuously appear on our website to remind the public that they have a right to justice that is free of bias and that the Court is firmly committed to addressing and eradicating ethnic and racial disparity, implicit bias, and systemic racism in our system of justice,” she wrote.

Clark said she has asked a diverse group to help in that process.

David A. Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies race and the criminal justice system, applauded Clark’s willingness to address the topic.

“I think it’s a good start, but it’s time for action,” Harris said. “We want to know what the plan is to confront these issues, and if we don’t have one yet, how are we going to come up with one?”

Harris also said he was puzzled by the lack of reference to local incidents where race came into play.

“I don’t think we can simply pretend those things just didn’t happen in our front yard — in our justice system,” Harris said.

In the letter, Clark references the deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky at the hands of the police, but she does not address anything that’s occurred in Allegheny County.

There is no mention of the fatal shooting three years ago of Antwon Rose in East Pittsburgh that led to widespread protest; no mention of former Common Pleas Judge Mark V. Tranquilli, who voluntarily resigned his position on the eve of a judicial misconduct trial for referring to a Black juror as “Aunt Jemima,” and no reference to a dispute this month in which District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. forbade his office from offering plea deals to a Black defense attorney after that man called the DA’s office “systematically racist.”

Clark said she originally included Rose’s death in the letter but then removed it, which she said was a mistake she regrets. As for the Tranquilli situation, she said it did not belong.

“Judge Tranquilli is an individual, and his conduct was dealt with appropriately,” Clark said. “I think that’s sort of an outlier issue that’s not representative of the systemic racism issues. I don’t want to focus on the one judge who we know did something horrible. I think things are more subtle, and it clouds the issue.”

And referring to the dispute between Zappala and defense attorney Milt Raiford, Clark said her letter had nothing to do with that.

“This was not to be a response to that,” she said. “It was written long before that.”

Clark said that there must be a review of data at all points along the way of the court system to see where the differences are between white people and people of color.

“We have a lot of work to do,” she said. “Anybody that would say there’s not racial disparity is like an ostrich with their head in the sand.”

Society is uncomfortable discussing these issues, she said, because it can feel like an accusation. But it shouldn’t, Clark said.

“We all have implicit bias,” she said. “I’m a Black person whose formative years occurred in the ’60s and ’70s. I can’t divorce myself from that.”

Raiford said Tuesday he appreciates Clark’s letter.

“I’m glad she came out and made the statement she did,” he said. “We’ve got work to do. I’d just like to see us go forward.”

Raiford said he sees a “racial reckoning” happening across the country.

“I’m just saying what God told me to say,” he said. “We don’t want to sleep through the revolution.”

Lena Henderson, vice president of the Pittsburgh Black Lawyers Association, said she is pleased Clark has spoken out.

“I am encouraged by the words of the message and steps that have been taken so far,” Henderson said. “But I think the DA’s office needs to get in step with, first, recognizing how their policies and practices have impacted poor and marginalized communities and then doing something to change those polices and practices.

“That office is the one that has the most impact on this legal system.”

Mike Manko, a spokesman for the DA’s office, said: “The district attorney plans to have a conversation with the president judge in the near future to get more details about what her goal is relative to her letter.”

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