Episode 06: Justice Adrienne Nelson

Justice Adrienne C. Nelson | Interviewed by Rashad Floyd

Since I was a child, what has always been important to me was being a truth-teller. I cannot tell you something that I don't believe deep in my heart, and I expect the same from others, because if someone is coming from a place of honesty, I feel we can reach any solution.

My name is Adrienne C. Nelson, and I am the first black person to sit on the Oregon Supreme Court, or any appellate court in our state.

I am from Gurdon, Arkansas, a small town of about 2,700 people. Like small-town America, those small towns have gotten even smaller now. I am the product of a public education. I graduated from Gurdon High School, and I was the first black valedictorian since integration. I then attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where I graduated with a double major; English and Criminal Justice. I then went to the University of Texas School of Law and received my doctorate of jurisprudence. I then moved to Oregon and I began practicing law.

My first job was as a public defender. Then I went into private practice. I left private practice and I ran a law office for students at Portland State University. And from there, I was appointed to the trial court bench, where I was there for almost 12 years before my appointment to the Oregon Supreme Court.

When I came to Oregon, I was not surprised by the homogeneity. Well, let me say this; When I came to Oregon, I was surprised that people didn't always see what I saw. I saw the divides. I saw the gentrification. But when I asked questions of people who were multiple generations, longstanding members of this state, they seemed surprised that I raised the question, which made me wonder, do people really want to change?

So, I began to contemplate, was Oregon the place for me to raise my child? And after meeting a number of people who acknowledged that I was seeing clearly and wanting to try and make a different place in Oregon, but didn't know how to start, we began to work together toward creating the Oregon that we all wanted to see. I have taken much pride in watching Michelle Obama become the first lady of the United States. I know there will be other women that will take that role, but she will forever be my first lady. So when she wrote Becoming, I could not wait to read it. I bought the audiobook, I bought my tickets for her tour. I read this book, and there was a particular passage that stuck with me, because I feel that it is describing my life and the phase that I find myself in. "Because all that I have achieved, I still feel that I am becoming. For me, becoming isn't arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to continually reach toward a better self. The journey doesn't end. It's all a process. Steps among a path. Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor. Becoming is never giving up on the idea there's more growing to be done."

I want to be remembered as someone who did her best, learned from her mistakes, tried to make everyone feel their light shine through themselves. I hope that people know that I stood in my truth, and I spoke love, and that I always wanted the best for everyone that I met, no matter how they came to me.

Having the newest school in the North Clackamas School District named after me, the Adrienne C. Nelson High School makes me extremely proud. I also feel like somehow someone, as Maya Angelou said, put a rainbow in my clouds because education has always been important to me, but my high school experience clouded my joy. And the naming of this school put the rainbow in the clouds.

I had the opportunity to meet with some of the students who are going to be  attending the Adrienne C. Nelson High School this fall, and the experience was a  gift. It made my heart skip a beat because I am overjoyed that the students are just  as excited about attending the school as I am for them to attend the school. And  they all embrace the possibilities. I saw these young women open their hearts and  share their pain, I realized that there was much work to be done. But I was also  grateful for them willing to be vulnerable in this moment, to show where we can  reach out and connect with one another to build those bridges that we need to move  forward. Because often, it's not what you do when things go well, it's how you  show up when things go wrong and how you choose to fix them. 

Greg Harris, the first Principal of Adrienne C. Nelson high school, is also someone  I hold dear to my heart. From the moment that I met him, I knew that North Clackamas School District had chosen someone very special. Every interaction  we've had has only confirmed that feeling and opinion. He is the epitome of  embracing students, helping them live their best lives, providing them with a safe  space to learn where they can embrace who they are while embracing others. We're  all much more alike than we are different. I cannot imagine a better Principal for  this high school than Principal Greg Harris, and I look forward to seeing him build  upon his vision for this School. 

Sade DuBoise is creating a mural for the school. She is an incredible artist and I’m grateful that when I suggested the idea, she immediately embraced it. I'm ever grateful that when Principal Greg Harris and I would talk with her, she not only had embraced what we were hoping, she went beyond and was able to meet us where we were, and take us to a new level. I love how she incorporates nature into everything that she does so that we'll have a mural in this school that is representative of the nature around us. That the students can go to the Hidden Falls  Park if they so choose. That they can know that this mural was created by someone who is not that much older than them. And hopefully, they can see themselves in her with their creativity.  

I've always loved art. And it's very special to me that Jeremy Okai Davis had chosen me to be in his art piece that is displayed in the new Multnomah County Circuit Court Building. Before I even knew who he was, in terms of the person, I  saw his artwork, and I was struck by it. His ability to shape issues through his pieces, his eye for color, his ability to create pieces that engender deep thought and conversations, makes me proud that he felt that I was an image he wanted to include in his growing collection of art. 

In addition to loving art, I also love to dance. I love music. It is hard to not move  when you hear the sound that then becomes part of your body, and that rhythm  moves through you. Before I know it, I'm dancing in my chair, I'm standing up, I'm  moving around. I see it as my form of exercise; an expression of joy.  

My name is Adrienne C. Nelson. I am an Oregon Supreme Court Justice. I am an  engaged community member. I'm a mom. I'm a sister. I'm a daughter. I'm a friend. I  am a black woman.