It's a scene familiar in the hallways of major institutions: a portrait of venerable figures seated authoritatively around the trappings of power - a wood-panelled courtroom with a national flag positioned firmly in the background.
The figures are cloaked in the official regalia of judge's robes and law enforcement brass. They sit solemnly, soberly attired and full of gravitas. They are also usually aged, white and male. It's a scene so common as to be unremarkable.
From the chief judge's thoughtful chin-in-hand thinker pose, to the police officer and lawyers seated in front of the judge's bench, every single figure in the frame is black and female.
At no other time in American history have black women been appointed to the top position in every department
Meet the power brokers of the newly created city of South Felton in America's southern state of Georgia.
editor Marshall Latimore said at no other time in American history have black women been appointed to the top position in every department in an entire city’s criminal justice system.
"This amazing first was not planned. However, it is a testament to the reason the city was founded in the first place – self-reliance and local control that properly represents the community in which they serve," Mr Latimore said in his.
It's no coincidence this photo was taken a year after the creation of the new city - Georgia's fifth largest. It's a new city creating a new history in the shadow of Jim Crow's South and these women mean business.
The picture features Sheila Rogers - the city’s first police chief and chief judge Tiffany Carter Sellers. Judge Sellers hired court administrator Lakesiya Cofield and the city’s first chief court clerk Ramona Howard. The frame also features Felton city prosecutor LaDawn Jones, and public defender Viveca Famber Powell.
We want to be an example of how to do things right.
The women are also using their position to create new approaches towards law and justice, especially as they impact African American communities, who are over-represented in the country's criminal justice system.
“However, as African American women we are sensitive to the history of criminal justice in our country. We want to be an example of how to do things right.”
In South Felton, a guaranteed access to an attorney and diversionary programs form an integral part of court processes. This includes a pre-trial program allowing offenders to keep a clean record in exchange for community service, education, and counselling.
“One of the primary purposes of laws is to protect citizens and the city,” Jones told the . “You can do that without sending everyone to jail or enforce high fees. Most people do better when they know better.”
Together they form a super-hero posse subverting and changing the landscape of power by their very presence. The optics of the picture are powerful but the cultural change the women represent is even more so.
Every girl of colour walking into the South Felton courtroom on a school tour will now never have to stretch her imagination to see beyond the aged white men to imagine the possibilities of her life.
She'll think of it as her entitlement, a fact so normal and routine as to be unremarkable. Now that is remarkable.
