By WMBD TV
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — From the early age of 16, Carla Barnes-Wheeler was essentially on her own, having to navigate the world through her family’s adversity.
“I didn’t come from privilege. I came from perseverance,” said Carla Barnes-Wheeler, this week’s CI Hero and the Circuit Court Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit in McLean County. “I was raised by a single mother who, with the help of my grandmother, raised four children.”
“They were sharecroppers who migrated from Mississippi to Chicago Heights, Illinois. I bounced around quite a bit after my grandmother died because my mother was ill.
Even through a tough childhood, Barnes-Wheeler found some people who stood by her side and supported her no matter what.
“Miss Linda Foster is one of those who is our president of the local NAACP. She was here early on with me throughout my career, and she was always extremely encouraging of me. She always believed in me and told me, if you want to be chief public defender, one day you’re going to be chief public defender,” Barnes-Wheeler said.
Even when she felt like she couldn’t, she stood on the shoulders of giants to help her find her way.
“It was because we saw it in her. We really did. And what we saw in her, we could see in ourselves the possibilities that you can be this, come from this, and still be this, and give back, and encourage and motivate. She was motivating us. She thought we were doing her, but she was doing us,” said Linda Foster, president of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP chapter.
Now, she is the Circuit Court Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit in McLean County, after serving as a public defender for many years. Barnes-Wheeler now follows in the footsteps of those who supported her, supporting people where she can.
“I was getting ready to be separated, and she helped me with that. She helped encourage me to be a stronger woman, a stronger individual, not just in the home capacity with family, but also as an independent woman to be independent and rely on myself, and taught me what it was to be stronger,” said Sandi Smith, Barnes-Wheelers Judicial Assistant.
She impacted people all over the Twin Cities, including helping her clients with professional clothing, starting a scholarship for single mothers and underprivileged students and working hand in hand with the NAACP. She reflected on how it feels to be honored as a CI Hero.
“It’s one of the highlights of my life. It really is. I talked to my husband and my children last night, and I told them, and my daughter said, mom, you are so deserving because you’re my hero. For other people to recognize that it means so much to my family,” Barnes-Wheeler said.
None of these would’ve happened without the support she was given by people who believed in her. Now she is the supporter, being an example of that no matter where you come from, you can still make your dreams come true.
This story was originally reported by WMBD-TV and published on CIProud.com.
