‘We (Heart) You RBG’: N.Y. salutes Ginsburg, homegrown icon
NEW YORK >> Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life is being celebrated in her native New York City with plans for a statue, landmarks lit in blue and impromptu memorials at her childhood home in Brooklyn and the high school she attended.
Ginsburg died Friday of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. A legal trailblazer and champion of women’s rights, she became the high court’s second female justice in 1993.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a commission will choose an artist and oversee the selection of a location for a statue that will serve as a physical reminder of Ginsburg’s “many contributions to the America we know today and as an inspiration for those who will continue to build on her immense body of work.”
Cuomo, a Democrat, also ordered state landmarks such as One World Trade Center, Kosciuszko Bridge and New York State Fairgrounds lit in blue — the color of justice and reportedly Ginsburg’s favorite color — for Saturday night.
Cuomo said that Ginsburg “selflessly pursued truth and justice in a world of division, giving voice to the voiceless and uplifting those who were pushed aside by forces of hate and indifference.”
Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn in 1933. Outside her childhood home in the Flatbush neighborhood, Leroy McCarthy added “RBG” to a street sign honoring slain rapper Christopher “Notorious BIG” Wallace, whose stage name inspired the late justice’s pop culture moniker: “Notorious R.B.G.”
“I just want to show that Brooklyn respect for RGB,” said McCarthy.