Family Picture

 

 

Haiti

Amy has 7 children, and 2 of them where born in Haiti and adopted by Amy and her husband Jesse, a former federal prosecutor.

Vivian, who is 16 years old and John Peter, who is 13 years old.

 

Discussions

George Floyd

Chicago Sun-Times

Amy Coney Barrett on George Floyd: With two Black children, ‘that was very, very personal for my family’

Link

Durbin asked Barrett if she saw the Floyd video and what impact it had on her.

Barrett replied: “Senator, as you might imagine, given that I have two Black children, that was very, very personal for my family.

“Jesse was with the boys on a camping trip out in South Dakota, so I was there, and my 17-year-old daughter Vivian, who was adopted from Haiti, all of this was erupting. It was very difficult for her. We wept together in my room. And then it was also difficult for Juliet, who is 10. I had to try to explain some of this to them.

“My children, to this point in their lives, have had the benefit of growing up in a cocoon where they have not yet experienced hatred or violence.

“And for Vivian, to understand that there would be a risk to her brother or the sons she might have one day, of that kind of brutality, has been an ongoing conversation. It’s a difficult one for us, like it is for Americans all over the country.”

Durbin then asked: “As an originalist who obviously has a passion for history – I can’t imagine that you could separate the two – to reflect on the history of this country. Where are we today, when it comes to the issue of race?”

Barrett replied “Racism persists in our country.”

She snapped back into being guarded.

What to do to “make things better” are, she said, “policy questions. They’re hotly contested policy questions that have been in the news and discussed all summer.”

While she was “happy to discuss that the reaction our family had to the George Floyd video,” giving “broader statements” or “broader diagnoses about the problem of racism is kind of beyond what I’m capable of doing as a judge.”

“I would doubt that,” Durbin said. New ground plowed, he moved on.

Work

 

God, let us continue to put in the work.

Give us a love for hard work.

The temperament for it.

Grace through adversity.

Though it be easy at times to build on others’ labor, trust us on dry & unwatered ground, as well.

 

 

Referenced Material

1. Chicago Sun-Times
   • Amy Coney Barrett on George Floyd: With two Black children, ‘that was very, very personal for my family’
     Link