Supreme Courtroom Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson selected a judicial collar loaded with symbolism for the 2025 Inauguration.
Over her black robes, the Justice wore a collar made from cowrie shells together with a pair of matching earrings. Whereas the shell was used as forex in quite a lot of historical cultures around the globe, it was particularly prized in African cultures, the place it signified prosperity and safety. In the meantime, the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition notes that, in America, the shell is regarded as a totem used to withstand enslavement. Justice Jackson herself is a descendant of enslaved folks. The connection feels notably prescient on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which occurred to coincide with the Inauguration. (This has solely occurred as soon as earlier than, on Invoice Clinton’s 1997 Inauguration Day.)
Past its standing as a protecting talisman, the cowrie can be related to womanhood and fertility. Throughout his first time period, Trump—who was discovered chargeable for sexual abuse in Might 2023—made steady efforts to erode ladies’s rights, which included appointing Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of tried rape, to the Supreme Courtroom. Even after Trump left workplace, his insidious, anti-women agenda continued to rear its head when the conservative-leaning Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
