From Social Worker to Judge: Joy Kennedy's Path to Justice

00:00:02 hey what’s up everybody you tuned in to another episode of strategic moves I’m your host kenal this is a place where we bring art culture politics and business all together we do it every Sunday right here on this channel all right let’s hit that one more time okay all right three two one hey what’s up everybody you tuned in to another episode of strategic moves I’m your host kenow this is a place where we bring art culture politics and business all together and we do it every week right here on this channel but when I’m not

00:00:32 shooting this podcast I am the owner of strategic resources where we specialize in political campaigns government and public relationship been doing it in this city for over 25 years and I want to make your next move a strategic move so this program gives me an opportunity to do just that I get a chance to bring on some of the people we met I get a chance we sit down we talk about some of the things that help us to be successful in our lives and hopefully it’s something out of that that will help you

00:01:00 and yours so if that sound like something that you’re interested in all I need you to do is hit that like button hit the Subscribe button and the notification Bell as well so you’ll know the next time this program coming on so without further Ado what we’re about to do is we’re gonna get started for today and so before I get this program started I want to give a special shout out and we’re GNA say w not a special shout out I’m G yeah I guess we can call it a special shout out we’re gonna just give

00:01:25 a quick shout out to DJ true our podcast producer of this program what’s happening in there DJ what’s going on Ken every day is a holiday every holiday it’s good to be back we getting started we had a long election season this year and we’re finishing it out with somebody who I told when I first met her I said you know what you gonna be a judge one day because she had the perfect name and I told her that when I first met her and this a really busy busy election season so I wanted to make sure we squeezed her

00:01:57 in before I promised we was going to do this so we we getting it right in at the very end but she’s on the program today so looking forward to that what’s up what else you got going same here you know trying to help these elect officials get in office so I’m doing my due diligence we had a good uh boots on the ground campaign so we finishing that up so everything is love beautiful beautiful well we gonna get right to it because you know we here for a short time not a long time all right well let me get that right we’re here

00:02:31 for a good time not a long time so let’s get this going and we going to get started today I’m excited to welcome magistrate Joy Kennedy a dedicated public servant and a candidate for kyoga County Common Pleas Court Joy story is not Joy story is one of professional achievement it’s a test her Testament to her commitment to Justice and rooted in Greater Cleveland and this community so joy we want to welcome you to our program thank you thank you for having welcome welcome welcome welcome man thanks for coming on man like I told

00:03:04 everybody I met Joy when she first came out of law school here we I done got old in this game man I mean straight out of law school and she didn’t even have no babies then and she had two kids everything and now she’s going off to become a judge so Joy W you tell the people because you’ve been on the campaign long enough I can give you this you down you get this down to the sign give me your two minutes spill two minutes two I’m G give you two minutes give me give oh you know two minutes a long time yeah you know was give me that

00:03:36 one minute stump speech well we’ll see how long it takes yeah there you go let’s see how long it takes I’ll get started so I am Joy Kennedy yes better known as magistrate Joy Kennedy go because I’m the magistrate in the Cleveland Municipal Court but I’m born and raised right here in Cleveland Ohio I’m a graduate of Shaw High School I went on to received my undergraduate degree from Hampton University and I have a master’s degree in social work I am a licensed independent social worker here in the state of Ohio so when I

00:04:10 graduated from law from um my master’s program I worked with families and children and working with these families the kids were in foster care I wrote their reports when they went to court I helped them when they had transitioning issues with their family whether it was their Foster family or their their biological family and then when they went to court I took them but when we got to court for whatever reason the judge didn’t want to hear from me he wanted to hear from one of the attorneys and I don’t know if it

00:04:42 was because I was a female because I was black or because I wasn’t an attorney that they didn’t want to hear from me and so the only thing that I could change was the fact that I was not an attorney so I decided to go to law school so that I could go back before those judges and get give my legal as well as therapeutic position on those families and that’s what I did I came home and went to Cleveland State’s law school the same day that I graduated from law school I was hired to be a kyoga County

00:05:15 public defender I worked in that office for 17 years I helped parents gain custody of their children I helped children who were facing delinquency matters and then I helped those adults whether they had lower level m meaners or death penalty cases I’m trained as a certified death penalty attorney in the state of Ohio I was trained to handle our mental health court and I did our drug court and veterans court so I have the experience and I want to serve with compassionate justice so that’s what I

00:05:49 want to do so that’s the stump speech joy and that was great now we got a whole idea of what Joy is so we gonna break it all down break it down we gonna break it down we G start in East Cleveland so you grew up in East Cleveland one of many sisters brothers I have one brother one brother one brother you the oldest younger oh you know I’m the oldest you’re the oldest absolutely okay okay and y’all both grew up in East Cleveland we grew up in East Cleveland I had my mom and my dad my grandparents my

00:06:20 whole family was raised in East Cleveland okay which is unique because although I was here in the city of Cleveland I didn’t travel all around Cleveland so navigating the Cleveland streets in kyoga County was a challenge from all the way to your Eastern uclid side going all the way over to North Royalton and West Lake even different sides of Cleveland never been there you know I I can relate to that because there’s even some places now you go to and you be like man I never even been over here where are we you get lost a

00:06:55 little bit sometimes so I could get that so it was you and your brother growing up in East how old is your brother he’s he’s four years younger than I am four years younger than you and um he’s about 40 so y’all never was in school together elementary elementary we’re Elementary together and by the time when I graduated from high school he was going into his ninth grade year so what was high school like for you what’ll go to high school what was high school like for you went to sha right very active um

00:07:21 involved in all kinds of activities not a master though of many of them like I play basketball okay I did softball for a few minutes and then I was in the band okay now band I played the flute okay all the way from elementary school all the way up through high school oh okay but then I wanted to be a a dance girl so let’s put that flute down and try out for the squad okay and that’s what I did I tried out for the flag team and guess what got into a fight you and if you get into a fight you’re out you’re out so

00:07:55 what you get in a fight for these boys were messing with me and you so you’re in a fight with a guy and it kicked you course I mean fighting is fighting and rules are rules right all right so now you gotta tell us what was happening what happened well I had a purse right as all girls did but you got personal stuff in your purse and the guy took my purse and I’m like give it back give it back give me my purse back it wasn’t really about the personal stuff to be completely honest it was about the

00:08:21 bottle of jail and if you drop my purse and jail gets all over everything that I have right we gon to have a problem right and so you know sometimes we get out of control and um fighting is against the rules and there are consequences so I had to face those consequences so you tried to so he took your purse he was just beating him trying to get your purse back exactly that’s what it sound like but it was a fight nonetheless so oh so you got kicked off the squad I did but I’m not a quitter right and so I still wanted to

00:08:55 do the whole flag Squad thing I played the flute but when you trans transition from high school to college you must transition for my band or my college band from the flute to the piccolo and I didn’t want to do that so I tried out for the flag Squad and I was a flag girl yes at HBCU Hampton University so let’s talk about how did you end up picking out Hampton how did hton College Tour a college tour so I was always involved in things I never went straight home after school I was involved with Upward Bound

00:09:30 program remember and I did Upward Bound and I went on college tours and one of the tours was to Hampton University okay we did Hampton Howard Virginia state maybe UVA and another school and back then I had to pay for my college applications my parents worked but you know money wasn’t always flowing so heavily that you could do whatever you wanted to do so I paid for the colleges that I wanted to apply to and Howard was $75 Hampton was $10 really I went to Hampton so it was because it was 10 wow

00:10:08 but listen it was a decision that you thought was rooted in one thing but you were really rooted grounded and given so much Opportunity by going to HBCU and I would encourage all of our children to do the same so where is Hampton Hampton is in Virginia okay right on the water we call it our home by the Sea really beautiful campus the water is right there on campus so you can sit by the water and study or meditate or talk to your friends it was a beautiful campus and again I am so grateful and no I wasn’t grateful when I

00:10:43 went after that first year I’m not going back I a going back there I want to be home I want to be with somebody in Cleveland my friends my boyfriend right all that good stuff but my mother said yeah okay get your stuff and get in the car wow cuz we’re going back wow and so the first year was a little rough first year was just rough because I was a home home my friends um my boyfriend at the time but everything happens for a reason that boyfriend wasn’t a boyfriend for the full four years just for a little while

00:11:21 until you realize no we better than that wow there’s so much more out there in the world and I was able to see it but he wasn’t at school with you no no no so he was back here in Cleveland back here trying to get me to come home trying to encourage me to be home but you know God had another plan was he doing anything here or he was bothering me nothing but to come back to him right nothing but asking me what I’m doing on campus and having me feeling self-conscious and having me in the dorm not out having a good time but

00:11:55 again everything happens for a reason so after that first year I said oh all these boys here all these people here and all these things to do let me get out and enjoy myself and I did so you actually started to take in the college experience college okay enjoy College what kind of student was you in college um I was a honor rooll maror World student I graduated with greater than a 3.0 don’t remember because it was so long ago I graduated from college 30 years ago don’t seem like it wow flies 30 years ago that’s wild college like

00:12:31 exactly I couldn’t see getting out of college I just can’t wait to get out of here right now you’re like H it wasn’t as bad as it felt that’s interesting that’s interesting now what about um so you’re saying that everything in college what was what made you I guess the question I’m G back it up what did you graduate what was your major when you left before you went to your graduate school I majored in social work so you so what made you pick social work you know I saw well first I’ll say I wanted to do

00:13:04 accounting right a business major but it was when you were adding everything up by hand and the one number off could mess up the entire book and that was very puzzling and very stressful for me so I was going in as an accounting major but I was listed as undecided okay they told me you need to do a remedial reading class who me all right I didn’t test well MH I didn’t test well because I didn’t prepare well okay and so that was a lesson that I had to learn but um my math score wasn’t as high as it should

00:13:50 have been either so I was in first level up math class but I had to go another step another step to be into the first level for that accounting class so as an undecided major I kind of wrestled with that but then I thought a lot about some of the issues that my family faced growing up um foster care not for my brother and I but for relatives alcoholism and wanting to be that peace for others wanting to help them and social work was not on the horizon but definitely a an offered major and something that really piqued my

00:14:30 attention so little public service work and whatnot so you finished up at Hampton and you decided you were going to go off and go to graduate school absolutely and where did you go there Virginia Commonwealth University VCU so you stay in Virginia state in Virginia Virginia is beautiful Virginia is a lovely place they have all four seasons but none are as harsh so you’ll get the Cleveland winter as our Cleveland winners they have winter but it’s nothing like hours got but I enjoyed it there I um received the masters in

00:15:03 social work and I had a friend who was from the DMV okay the Washington DC area and so after I graduated I moved up a little further and was it right outside of Washington DC I worked on the mall I worked in DC but I lived in Virginia in Springfield but it was on the uh train line so I was in the hustle and bustle of the city during the day and I could Retreat tog at night what was you doing there uh that’s when I started working in foster care okay and that’s when I was still in my 20s okay so they

00:15:37 connected me with the teens okay because I was the best person to relate to them because I wasn’t too far removed they would listen to me or tell me some of the things that they wouldn’t tell someone that was a little bit older so it was a great training ground to get to know kids so what exactly did you do there I was a therapist I was a case manager and I uh worked on reunification with the children unifying them back with their parents reunifying them with their parents but at the time if they

00:16:08 were in the foster home how do we make this work how do we deal with some of the issues that Johnny faces or that he won’t open up to you about but we’ll talk to me about and we can maybe make a bridge so that while he’s here in the meantime we all can survive and he can grow and develop and then be returned to his uh biological family H and how long did you stay and do that I was there for about four or five years before I and so while I was there remember that fax machine the fax machine had jobs that

00:16:40 would come across and there was a job at the public defender office here in Cleveland NOP in Washington DC and I actually transitioned over there so the job was to be a program developer okay develop the program so that when the children went to what we call their disposition hearing okay you would be able to as the lawyer say there’s a GED program here there’s a therapeutic program there we have contacted and connected with those individuals and your honor if you let this child out we will ensure that they enroll in these

00:17:13 programs and so I had to identify the programs for the attorneys okay and it was also a test can I be an attorney do I have what it takes let me talk to meet with be around some of these attorneys to see if I can do that job job and if I can then maybe I’ll go to law school so so how long was you out of school before you decided to go to law school six years at least really at least six years then you say I’m gonna go so I think I’m going to go to law school I’m going to go to law school so that that my voice can be heard because

00:17:48 it was as if as as as just a social worker there was no okay behind my words yeah and and social working is is a thankless job absolutely I mean and that’s why so many people get burnt out on it and it’s the turnover is so quick because um it’s it’s a lot of hard work and it’s most people who get in it is exactly like you say they get in it for the whole fact that they really want to help uh you don’t get into social worker for the money you get in because you really want to help for the money and

00:18:20 when you do those kind of jobs you can get burnt out really quick very easily yeah that’s interesting and so where did you decide to go to law school where did you go so law school wants you your first year to cease working correct not working your first year and focusing solely on your studies which makes sense and I was living in the DC area where the cost of living is pretty high correct I was single no children not married any of those things but there was a boy who kind of had a little twinkle in my eye

00:18:56 and he was here in Cleveland so he told about Cleveland State because when I left I was done by Cleveland he said well have you considered Cleveland State no absolutely not I had considered Howard and uh George Mason or another school in Washington DC area but I hadn’t considered Cleveland until he mentioned it so he put the little bug in my ear about Cleveland State I considered it after a little MH and then I applied right but my grandmother was also here okay and I was her favorite granddaughter oh so her

00:19:34 only granddaughter I got to be her only granddau I couldn’t be her favorite you know I knew you had to be her own people are when they say that exactly exactly so I wanted to be close to her but there was still that twinkle in my eye who brought me back home to Cleveland okay and I married him I was hoping so because I like boy you be letting these dudes but so far I was like if this one you the first one you said screw I a I ain’t gonna let you exactly but this one you kind of held on I held on and we’ve been married for

00:20:07 almost 20 years yes I know because see my kids you would be for the kids exactly right I’ve been I’m I’m 26 years so yeah right is that amazing wow wow wow so married 20 years you decide to go to law school you ready to get things up and going you did your time in Cleveland State and now you decide I need to find me something in law where did you go so I went to the public defender office but that was toward the end of law school I worked at a large white um I can’t think of the name of it a large um Westside Law Firm then I

00:20:50 worked downtown at Forbes fields and Associates and then I worked at the public defenders office while I was in law school MH uh when I first came back I did check with them to see if I was going to work and go to school because Cleveland state has a part-time program okay but the pay was so low for a social worker that I said you know what I’m G to focus on my studies like they said I should so I stayed I did uh um a little bit of social work when I first came back um I Reed my license here in Ohio and provided counseling

00:21:27 throughout Law School M on an individual basis with different agencies and then I got a job with the public defender office that was that last job before I graduated and then on the day that I graduated I was hired as a full-time attorney with the public defenders office and how long was you there before you left 17 years you did 17 years there let me ask you a question with over 17 years in public defense and attorneys a a as a public defense attorney in KY hog County public defender office what is

00:21:59 the most memorable case and what did you learn from it oh we about to get serious now one of my most memorable cases wasn’t even a criminal case it was an abuse neglect independency case that is where there was a parent or actually both parents fighting for custody of their children okay that case still speaks to the social worker in me MH the mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and the father was as well MH but they were living and working in their Community with medication or assistance but what a lot of people

00:22:44 don’t understand is that when you are carrying a baby what you eat and consume goes to that child MH so the mother chose to stop taking the medication while she was car caring the children she was closly monitored but as she got toward the end of that pregnancy and when she gave birth she began to spiral showing signs of anger or aggression or symptoms of Her diagnosis and so when they came in when the children were born the social workers come in and they see her seemingly out of control they said well

00:23:24 you can’t care for any children ever and if he has the same diagnosis he can’t either which wasn’t fair to me so I get this case and I say well what’s the problem well she was angry or she was aggressive toward the doctors or or the nurses or even the husband at the time now even if you don’t have a diagnosis you might be aggressive toward that husband at the time that you’re giving birth and going through some stressful stuff but she had a diagnosis and wasn’t on her meds so my thought was let’s get

00:23:59 her back connected with her provider and her Services whether it’s medication or therapeutic services or whatever she needs before you ask for permanent custody of those children and while they were asking for permanent custody we were not and when you take a child away from a parent the bond is broken they don’t get to react to and understand and develop the relationship with their parent if you automatically remove them and don’t allow them to visit and they wouldn’t allow her to visit often so that

00:24:36 prohibits her from breastfeeding and again bonding and so we advocated we fought and we won she was able to keep her children they were initially taken from her but they were given back and we were able to get increased visitation so that she can continue to bond and continue to produce and care for her children and she ultimately got her children back but if we went with status quo and just said okay she has a diagnosis and she can’t have her children then that would have not that would have been unfair for the mom as

00:25:09 well as her Offspring wow so that and that was before that didn’t have anything to do with the public defender office that was a public defender’s office because in that role I represented parents ah parents who were seeking to keep custody of their children retain custody or receive I’m with you I’m back with you again cust of their children so we represented parents what is the biggest misconception of working in the public defenders office for people and that is a passionate answer for me the biggest misconception

00:25:44 about public defenders is that they don’t work they don’t care and that they are not real attorneys right and I am just as real as a public defender as a prosecutor is or just as real as a private attorney as a civil attorney as any other attorney if I am a public defender of course I’m not in that role anymore but public defenders are real attorneys who have real experience and who are in the courtroom every day do you believe that the public defender’s office receive as much resources as the prosecutor’s office I don’t I don’t but

00:26:21 I think that the public defenders office is doing an excellent job in getting those resources getting additional resources why is it that way why why do we spend more and and and and joy I want you to understand we pre-recording so if there’s anything I say that you like I just don’t want to say because what you got coming up I understand and just say that we’ll cut it out so I’m so I I just just question why you think it’s that way because people don’t believe in public defenders if you don’t believe in

00:26:51 a public defender or if you think that they are bad then you won’t give them the resources that they need right mhm if you don’t think they’re real attorneys why would you give them the money and the resources that they need even though they are so who who who runs I understand there’s AOS but like who’s governed by that who governs that what do you mean like we know the prosecutor is the prosecutor we know there’s a public defender a chief public a chief public defender the prosecutor kind of reports to the public I guess you can

00:27:25 say because we V him in who do the public defender to well there is a board that is responsible for that but the legislation or legislature provides for it and it has been provided for for many many years and there are those people who understand the need of representation the need to represent those who don’t have the means to rep to hire representation for themselves so again it’s the public perception that is so important do you believe that that position should be in the elected position no no why not um we don’t need to I I

00:28:07 just don’t think it that it needs to be an elected position but I think that is why the prosecutors have um more presence in the community and and maybe that’s why I’m believing that it should be an elected position because I believe that the you should have a a right to make sure that you’re getting free representation on both sides and the way we’re set up now I don’t believe it’s fair I I believe that um you have the um prosecutor who is elected by the people which means that he makes a lot of

00:28:41 political decisions on how he does his thing and moving forward and how he reports back to the people the prosecutors uh or or the U public defender office doesn’t have that and it doesn’t get the resource it doesn’t get all the necessary things it needs because that I isn’t publicized out there in that regards it’s sort of like oh you got a public defender you didn’t go get a lawy but that’s the kind of way they wanted it seem like I seem like if you made it out there you’ll get better results right I think if you made it out

00:29:12 there you could get better results but making it out there doesn’t mean that it has to be an elected position doesn’t mean that and I think that if it’s an elected position then it may change the work or the way that the work is done for the people that’s simply my position or opinion but isn’t it elected in other places though I don’t know no I think it is in like New York and other places I think they do elect their public defender okay yeah so let’s move on now that you’re running for judge what fresh

00:29:42 perspective do you aim to what did you bring that you would like to bring to the bench um when you become judge fresh perspective a fresh perspective man you know now you running I know you got some fresh respect anything you’ve been saying like you know when I get there I think I would really like to do the first thought is my background right um trained as a mediator okay trained as a therapist trained in conflict resolution that’s what I bring with me and I think that’s different than what others bring

00:30:14 I um have practiced in this field for 20 years so having practiced in the field and having had a career prior to this I think those two Fields together will make for a dynamic judicial officer and will allow that compassion that I have to come out in the courtroom I also believe that we are facing a mental health crisis right now there’s so much trauma that not only have the individuals from my community experienced but in general we are almost considered trauma ridden and you want someone in front or you want to

00:30:56 be in front of someone who understands the trauma and understand what it means to work through that everybody doesn’t need to go to prison but some people do some people do and you want someone with the temperament and the ability to make that sound decision and I think I have that do um as a judge would you be a um have the ability to create made programs or anything like that did you think it would be able work pulling on your experience that you think like I know they always have like these drug courts

00:31:25 and all these special different courts mental health courts and all of that is that something you’re interested in well we absolutely have Mental Health Corp already in place so of course I want to be a part of that um of course being a part of that will mean that much more when you have someone who’s done it before and who kind of understands and has the ability to navigate the system or has done so in the past the other piece is I find myself willing to listen to some of the programs that are out there

00:32:01 because I was always looking for them some officers of the Court are unfamiliar with the programs and don’t know what it is that’s available that can be used in lie of incarceration and I’m open to hear and listen to those programs and see what kind of funny they have and whether or not you can meet the needs of a person that is in front of me so that we don’t have to use incarceration as a first option but more so as a last option do you H how do you believe uh as a public figure how do you plan to engage with the community to

00:32:37 ensure that their voices are heard so let’s expound a little bit on what you just was talking about so one of the things that I found is that when or while running I’m everywhere if you’ve been out in the community at any event and I hope you can say you have seen me I I’m out there because I want to hear what is going on in the community not from someone else but because I am present and available and I want to continue to be that way continue going to the different programs I’ve gone to a number of programs that have kind

00:33:12 of opened my eyes to what is happening how it’s impacting those who are family members of individuals involved with the court but how it’s impacting those who are involved with our system so let me ask you as it relates to um going into this new thing and going into court is there any particular kind of cases you really think you I I I can see that Family Court might be family court is something different than where you’re going you’re going to be straight so everything yours is GNA be a lot of

00:33:43 capital murders and that kind of thing right it can be from misdemeanors all the way up to felonies of the first degree and that does include capital and you got some experience with capital I was certified to handle our death penalty case here in Ohio um I’ve handled those while a public defender I’ve handled cases on our mental health docket our drug court are veteran docket so the good thing about my experience is that it’s Broad and that the cases that come before this court are the very cases that I handled

00:34:15 on a daily basis what you think is the best quality you have of being a for going for this job one of the best qualities what makes you what you think that you know what this quality I have is why I think is what makes me the best person for this job I want to say my temperament but that’s not enough you know and when I say temperament um it is the ability to hear and see a lot of things going on and not respond irrationally but with some thought purpose and reason behind it and I think I can do that I one of

00:34:57 the things that I pride myself on is being thorough in my decisions even now on the bench as a magistrate but also being very thorough when I handled my cases there wasn’t anything that you could tell me about my case unless you were the case and I think that will hold true when I handle those cases in front of me because I want to be able to justify my decision if I send you to jail for 100 years there’s going to be reason behind that not just I’m mad or or or something other than you deserving

00:35:35 it so I believe in a a a Statewide database that they’ve talked about in the past that we don’t have yet but what I intend to do if elected is to start my own database and what that means is you know sometimes people will come and they say well Johnny had a F5 and she had an F5 and you let her go well here’s why I want to be able to not explain it to you but to understand within me why I’m making those decisions so that way you know that you’re not being biased in the decisions that you make I’ve seen it I’ve seen the

00:36:14 treatment the um unfair or biased treatment by the judges in the courthouse I’ve seen judges treat me some kind of way that you’re like huh wow even attorneys get treated like that so so some are equal opportunity uh jurists who treat everybody in a way that could be considered or deemed unfair but I don’t want to be that type of person I want to rule with fairness Fair judge we gonna do our speed round questions for you uh oh if you can name one person you can place this is it we’re going through Speed Run

00:36:54 okay okay if you can name one person you want to have lunch or if you could trade places with for one day who would it be I would have had somebody else but um we got to come back to that one really okay what’s your guilty pleasure potato chips what kind all of them all of them I love potato chips I’ve been on this potato chip crazy you know what I’ve been eating a lot of for what’s that Ruffles M they didn’t came back baby I don’t know why I’ve been the regular Ruffles just plain Ruffles man I

00:37:32 I I’ve been so I can I can understand that know why pot chip I’ve been into those all of them really can’t uh what’s the best compliment you ever got best compliment is that you’re nice and I’ll take it really yeah I’ll take it that’s the best compliment somebody say you were nice you were really nice uhhuh thank you all I got and I got you I’m fine with that okay because that could be a whole lot of other things to people at least they could say that but I’ll take it if you think I’m nice you’re right I am that’s

00:38:07 beautiful all right all right something you wish you was better at singing really yes I love to sing and I you say you wanted to be a rapper right yeah yeah I was a rapper too I mean I did it all I told you I did everything just rapping okay what’s the worst piece of advice you ever got the worst piece of advice that you can ever receive is when a person says all you got to do is and then you fill in the blank because it’s never that simple and I listen for that all you got to do is you got do is I

00:38:40 ain’t doing it uh what never cease to make you smile what you think about all the time when you kind of down or whatever you kind of think about it next it could be a first date it could be anything what’s the thing that makes you smile every time you think about it um my friends in college joke about how when I had enough in class I would just get up and leave but I would do it methodically fold up my paper and you preparing put in the bag step over everything bye y’all and I just laugh because you know a lot of times people a

00:39:22 lot of people may not have believed in me but I believed in myself and so um it’s like you didn’t think I you didn’t think I was smart or you thought I couldn’t and that I wouldn’t and I won’t but I did wow I’m here hello so we’re going back to number one you could trade places trade places trade you know I’m gonna give you either trade places or if you can sit down with anybody for one day to talk with you know what it would probably be my grandmother my grandmother was an amazing woman and remember I was her

00:40:01 favorite Grand your favorite too right so because I was her favorite there’s some questions that I want to ask her now that I didn’t have then because I asked her everything I wanted to when she was here but now that I’ve gotten older I have more questions like well whatever happened to well how did you get through what happened when which were thoughts I didn’t have back then that’s great answer that’s a really great answer well joy we want to thank you for coming on our program you did an excellent job and you stayed right

00:40:32 within our time we got one minute to hey I got a question hold on I I got a question go can I get a let me get let me get my can I get a question off please question in sir I was just TR to tell her we got one minute to spare and I was gonna let DJ true you forgot about I was this brother he forgot about let DJ true ask you a question but I was goingon to let you know that after he ask you question that this camera right here belongs to you so I wanted you to get prepared because you get the closes

00:41:04 out so you get to say whatever you want to say to the camera whatever you want make sure people know how to reach your campaign for the last go around and make sure um how they can donate to your campaign and all of that and um and anything else you got on your heart but true what’s your question for our guest today all right um my question is why do you think people are so skeptical about the legal system and as a judge how would you correct that or make people feel less skeptical about the legal

00:41:40 system good question DJ true I think that people are skeptical of the unknown they are afraid when they go into a courtroom that something bad is going to happen to them you ain’t coming out and they not coming out right and it doesn’t matter what it is quite frankly I remember sitting down with the head of the public defender office after having been there for a number of years because I was stopped for a traffic violation and I was shaking in my boots and I’m like I’ve been an attorney for a long

00:42:16 time but I don’t know how to handle a traffic case how do you have me working here and our office handles these kind of cases M but I don’t know what to do and I am scared right if people don’t understand the system then they’re going to fear the worst that’s correct and so a way to change that is to educate those people but it’s hard to educate people who don’t want to be educated so for those who want to learn and who open up their minds it is a way for them to learn and the public defender office has

00:42:54 established a new Outreach brand so that they can be seen in the community people can ask them questions just like the prosecutors are in the community and they’re able to do this without being elected this allows you to say hey I got a problem now what do I do about blah blah blah and they can at least point you in the right direction or they can ask you a question related to what’s going on with their type of case okay so I think that that is a very valuable tool but I think that people are afraid and that I am willing to

00:43:28 speak to the community because I know how valuable it is to hear from someone who is inside the system I think that Fear Factor is real just like you say I mean the very first time I ever had a case everybody you get that first ticket you go to court you like you say you walk in there and most you be like most people be like you gonna get away you know you gonna get a fine but you sitting up there like no I just what I just saw him put her in jail for less than that exactly you know that kind of

00:43:55 thing and that that bugs you out yeah when I got that ticket I had a friend who was a prosecutor I’m like what do I do what do I do are you going to come with me now I want my prosecutor friend to come with me to be prosecuted that didn’t make a whole lot of sense and I was a whole attorney right so that changed the way that the office actually dealt with uh rotation of the attorneys and giving us access to the different levels of learning EXC so that we wouldn’t how your own attorney going to be scared

00:44:28 right exactly you good true yeah and I just found two states that have elected public defenders one is California and one is Florida I thought it was two out there we’ll see that Google works that Google works T back there working well thank you oh thank you so Joy like I said you get a chance to look right in this camera take your time you don’t have to rush please take your time make sure you get all your information out to the people and we let them know what’s on your heart and how they can reach out

00:44:57 to your campaign well thank you so much for having me I appreciate you after all these years I finally made it to the table finally got to the table I am finally few days away from this election and I’m grateful thank you I am grateful for all the work that everyone has put in to get me to the position that I am in right now and opening the door for the opportunity for me to serve with compassionate Justice I share with every one my background and my experience the fact that I’m a social worker and trained in

00:45:33 mediation and conflict resolution and uh behavioral therapy modalities will help me as trauma comes before the court I look forward to being able to serve on the bench a bench where there has very been very limited access to minorities like me since 1850 174 years there have been 13 African-Americans elected to the general division bench I’ve done the research I’ve done the research because there’s no way you can tell me that there haven’t been qualified individuals there’s no way you can tell me that we

00:46:20 don’t have the ability to serve in a court where more than 85% of the people who come to that Court look just like me as a licensed independent social worker and an attorney for 20 years it is my goal to not only bring joy to the bench but to make sure that anyone who comes in that courtroom receives fair and just treatment you can reach me on Facebook and Instagram at Joy Kennedy for judge and you can reach me in my website at Joy Kennedy for judge.com Joy Kennedy finally made it here on our show and she’s gonna finally be a judge

00:47:07 guys I remember the day I told her that we was in McDonald’s over 152nd and St Clair going to one of our bill meeting and she walked in and we said Joy you gonna be a judge and Joy to the World because Joy is going to be a judge y’all and it’s just in a few more days we few days out so please anything you can do to help her on her campaign please go to website and go donate to her campaign because she can use it all to help move this thing forward and um go to her website and make sure if there’s

00:47:35 anything you like to do that maybe help out on the campaign you can do that as well so till next week thanks for watching our program we’ll see you then peace good job Joy thank you good job good job good job good job so we gonna go on I’m G do you tonight and so we gonna start sending out shorts you be going up I gotta get you going right away thank you so I I I’m I’m gonna run maybe two or three shows this week because I got everybody back to back okay I wish I knew how to do the Googles and the Instagrams and called me up

00:48:09 asked me me and her both trying to walk her I just learned it myself said Jo I just learned it last week I don’t know how put Stu there do I need to move and before you came in I just ran in the back with my son with my computer like show me how to post on Instagram again get you by your side so when you serve I mean send stuff I don’t know how to do it no that’s I I used to tag you on that stuff but then I thought about I said Jo don’t know what I’m doing stop tagging I’m like I want to but a no big

00:48:45 I just don’t know a no big at all when you become judge you’ll stop you know the lights ain’t working on that for some reason hit that light though L that on there a little bit get little light on her there we go that’s what put your hand on it like that make sure my clothes fix you nice you know boys don’t tell you when you no you fine I will told you [Music] look you know you always going to your cute mode anyway here stay there right like jump on the other side come on now there we go St and I’m G get a picture on your phone

00:49:54 so you can take it okay here try I turn your phone off let me get a picture of you all right let me get one of her for her there there you go thank you oh thank you listen you guys continue doing the good work work oh yeah but I need to learn how to share some of this stuff you need to get you who you got who’s Bing for you I’m gonna have to do the interviews um after I get elected really because you should see how many people are rushing down to my office from the from and within from within the

00:50:49 court I’m like hold on what’s your name so nobody worked on your campaign that full time like that so you know those days seem to be gone I think they are I think they are they seem to be gone it used to be a they say hey I work on your campaign I want to be B y’all work hand in hand and get it done it seemed like like you said days AG amazing people help out with the campaign but there hasn’t been like anyone like steady the whole time um the one girl is my what you call it a financial person um initially she was

00:51:26 the person that was going to do it but she got a good degree in education and she