Mourners gathered on the steps of the Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in Downtown Long Beach Saturday evening to pay their respects to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
About 100 people participated in the candlelit vigil in remembrance of Ginsburg, who died Friday at 87.
Marie Cartier, professor of women and gender studies at California State University Northridge, came to participate in Long Beach’s vigil to pay tribute to one of her heroes.
“I’m out here because I believe in America, I believe in the American experiment and I feel like it’s in danger,” Cartier said. “Without her, without Hillary Clinton and the entire feminist movement…[we] don’t get to be here, the way we are, right now.”
The group began the vigil with a prayer, known as a Kaddish in Hebrew, for Ginsburg.
Mourners are gathered outside the Gov. George Deukmejian courthouse in downtown Long Beach to pay their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. pic.twitter.com/d0cXu6tj8H
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Naida Tushnet, mother of a former Ginsburg staffer, said that without the justice, her grandchildren wouldn’t have been born. Tushnet said that her daughter and son-in-law both worked for Ginsburg and that the justice encouraged them to get together.
“When I see my grandkids, I want this world for them because she would want this world for them,” Tushnet said.
“When I see my grandkids, I want this world for them because she would want this world for them,” Tushnet said.
Mourners took turns expressing what Ginsburg meant to them and how her legacy impacted their lives.
James Dowding, teacher of global logistics and entrepreneurship at Cabrillo High School, called for those in attendance to “take action,” just as he tells his students everyday, he said.
“This is what I tell these 13 year olds when I see their faces, they need to be part of the future,” Dowding said. “Take what you’re hearing, spread it to the people that you know. Let’s take some action.”
Finally able to marry after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, Michele Patterson and Constance Jackson recalled when they were able to meet the Justice Ginsburg and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, both proponents of equality.
“I felt honored that I got to be in her presence,” Patterson said about Ginsburg. “She will be missed, but she did what we needed her to do. Now she’s passing the baton to all of us.”
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