Letter From the President
Dear Members, Colleagues, Friends, Supporters, and Distinguished Guests,
Welcome to the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey’s (”HBA-NJ”) Installation and Swearing-in Ceremony of Officers and Trustees — our 30th annual. Given the significance of this milestone, I believe that this evening’s theme is most appropriate.
“Dare to Dream!”
It is my honor and privilege to greet you this evening as your new president. I extend a warm thank you to our Immediate Past President, George Rios, and the 2008-09 Board of Trustees. What a fabulous year for the HBA-NJ! Despite the economic downturn, this past year the HBA-NJ soared to new heights and to unprecedented visibility, thanks in part to the vision and leadership of Mr. Rios. We are all grateful for his guidance.
As we embark on a new term, it is with a tremendous sense of humility and purpose that I assume the helm of this great Association. I am sure that in 1970, when my parents made that fateful journey to the United States, they never envisioned that I would one day become a partner at one of New Jersey’s most prestigious law firms. Nor could they have envisioned that tonight I would become your 30th president. Although they could not join us tonight, I want to thank my parents. I thank them because, like many of your parents, they dared to dream. Tonight is as special for all of our parents, as it is for all of us. For thirty years now, the HBA-NJ has served as the voice of New Jersey’s Hispanic legal community. We have certainly come a long way from our humble beginnings in 1980. At the time, the HBA-NJ consisted of only a small group of Hispanic lawyers. That small group, meeting in a member’s home, elected our first president, Margarita Echevarria.
Today, our ranks have grown significantly. Our members include federal, state, and municipal court judges, public and private sector lawyers, solo practitioners, law professors, and law students. Today, our meetings require larger venues, such as the W Hotel in Hoboken! Indeed, we have come a long way.
Through robust programming and passionate advocacy on critical issues, we have advanced our Association’s objectives and in the process have improved the legal profession. Through strategic partnerships with corporate and law firm sponsors, we have increased both the number and amount of scholarships to worthy law students. In doing so, we have ensured that the pipeline of Hispanic legal talent remains vibrant and rich.
Through collaborations with other bar associations and community organizations, we have championed causes of interest to all New Jersey citizens, while helping to create opportunities for Hispanic lawyers. Due to the efforts of a visionary set of dreamers, this Association has been a vital force in the positive transformation of this great state. We have changed its face.
Tonight, we celebrate those accomplishments and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Equally important, tonight we make a promise to all of you, our members, our friends, our supporters, our sponsors, and our colleagues in the struggle. We promise never to waver in our commitment to serve as a resource to you and to our community.
We promise to “Dare to Dream.”
We also promise to temper those dreams with sound vision and deliberate action. We promise to continue to let the voice of this Association — your voice — resound throughout the State of New Jersey. Going forward it will resound even louder than it has for the last 30 years, so that the words - si, se puede - continue to ring true.
Make no mistake; we have had some remarkable successes. This past year alone, under the leadership of Mr. Rios and the Board, we watched as our past president, Camelia M. Valdes, the Passaic County Prosecutor, was sworn in as the first female Hispanic to serve as a county prosecutor in the State of New Jersey. Recently, we also watched as Judges Pedro Jimenez (another past president), Liliana Silebi, and Lisa Perez-Friscia, took positions on the state court bench.
Each of these individuals dared to dream! Each had the foresight to pursue their dreams, with the HBA-NJ pushing and advocating for them every step of the way. Even as these events unfolded in New Jersey, there were also historical developments on the national level. This year we witnessed the first African-American president, Barack Obama, and the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, become manifestations of dreams, long deferred. Nevertheless, against this backdrop, we stop to reflect on all the work that remains to be done. We reflect on all the dreams that remain unfulfilled and unrealized. As I consider what lies ahead, I stop to ponder the query posited long ago by the legendary Langston Hughes, one of my favorite poets. He wrote,
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. . .
In my view, a dream deferred does not vanish or become any less real. Instead, at the HBA-NJ, and as Hispanics, we understand that a dream deferred is not a dream denied! To us a dream deferred does not sag or become a heavy load. Rather, we believe that a dream deferred fuels a more intense desire to breathe life into that dream. A dream deferred inspires us and fuels a passion to do what it takes to make it come alive.
As we go into a new term, the HBA-NJ will continue to advocate and continue to create opportunities so that your dreams can see the light of day. We will labor with you so that your dreams have an opportunity to become a reality. That is the legacy of this great Association; a legacy of making things happen. Tonight, we will celebrate. Tomorrow, we are going to embrace our legacy. We are going to use it to propel us forward to meet tomorrow’s challenges, tomorrow’s opportunities.
Notably, there remains a glaring lack of diversity on our state and federal judiciary. Other issues, such as immigration reform and other public policy concerns, will also demand our attention. Undoubtedly, we will continue to grapple with the effects of the economic downturn, including a growing number of law students that cannot find jobs due to the economy. We promise to recommit ourselves to these and other causes that may arise. We promise to stand with you.
To help us make good on our promises, I am pleased to announce that the HBA-NJ is poised to appoint its first executive director. We anticipate that the new position will become a tremendous asset to the HBA-NJ Board of Trustees, to our members, and to the community that we serve. We are looking forward to welcoming the executive director in the coming weeks and are looking forward to the executive director’s contributions.
In closing, I believe that we should all be excited about what lies ahead. We thank you for your support in the past and we look forward to collaborating with all of you in the future. In particular, I am excited about the opportunity to work with the new Board of Trustees, some of the most talented and dedicated men and women that I know. Once again, on behalf of my colleagues, I welcome and encourage you to enjoy the evening. As the sounds of The Juilliard Jazz Ensemble fill the evening, use this as an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones. Here’s to another great year!
Thank you.
Saludos,
Miguel Alexander Pozo
30th President
Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey
