OBERLIN, Ohio — For the first time in history, a Black woman is serving as a judge in Lorain County.
Farah Lillian Emeka, 49, was elected to the Oberlin Municipal Court bench in November. Her swearing-in ceremony was in January.
“I was a prosecutor in the court before I was a judge, so I’m looking at the seat I sat in every day,” she said.
Emeka was a lawyer for nearly 25 years and practiced as a prosecutor in different jurisdictions.
Shortly after law school, she thought more about her path.
“I didn’t exactly know how I would get there but I always had in the back of my mind that I think I might make a good judge,” she said.
A graduate of Oberlin College, Emeka grew up in Chicago and spent time in the Pacific Northwest. Twenty years ago, she and her husband decided to move back to Oberlin. They flourished in their respective careers and raised their two sons.
Emeka's family has been supportive at every step.
“It is a very lonely space sometimes to be the only this or the only that and so you really need to be lifted up by your colleagues,” said Former Lorain County Magistrate Charlita Anderson-White, who is also a Black woman. “There’s something quite special about women lifting each other up and Black women lifting each other up, and so I was always willing to do that, and she was willing to do that for me."
Emeka considers Anderson-White a mentor.
“You can probably count on both hands the number of Black female attorneys that are practicing right now in Lorain County,” said Anderson-White. “It means so much for attorneys who want to live in Lorain County to see someone who looks like them on the bench."
While watching Emeka on the bench, I could tell what you see is what you get. Emeka believes her demeanor has made those who face her in court more receptive. She’s always been that way.
“I speak in a calm voice, I’m quite friendly and nice, and then I have a bit of a softer voice, and so I think that kind of calms people a little bit,” Emeka said.“I learned immediately that although it is an adversarial system and I’m in a role where I’m enforcing laws, I don’t necessarily have to embody that in how I interact with people.”
Emeka wants to create a specialized docket that deals with substance use, mental health or a combination of the two. During her time as a prosecutor in the court, she noticed that many crimes in the community are driven by people dealing with those issues.
The docket would get those individuals off the criminal justice track and into treatment.
