The first year Calvin Johnson wore the robes, his father came to watch. He sat in the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, listening as his son — newly elected and the first Black judge to reach a state bench in Louisiana without a gubernatorial appointment — presided over cases.
Afterward, the elder Johnson didn’t offer praise.
“He didn’t think I was doing jack,” Johnson said.
Instead, “he told me that I needed to be doing more than what I was doing,” Johnson said. “That was 35 years ago. My father would be 123 years old today. And I’m still trying to do more.”…