In a packed courtroom at the Kings County Supreme Court last Thursday, Judge Rena Malik stepped to the podium and made it clear that her election was not the culmination of a journey but the beginning of one.

“I’m very proud to be the first judge of South Asian descent elected in Brooklyn,” she told the crowd gathered to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. “I may be the only elected Asian judge sitting in the New York City Civil Court in Brooklyn, but I know that while I might be one of the first, I won’t be the last.”

The Townsend Harris High School Lion Dance Team performs to open the courthouse celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese

The event, titled “A Legacy of Leadership and

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