Positive
Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Republican Racism on Full Display at SCOTUS hearing for Jackson

Black Girl Magic” is on full display in the supreme court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Republicans are apoplectic. The juxtaposition of Jackson’s calm, confident, professionalism with the hostile, cynical and contemptuous questioning by senators such as Texas senator Ted Cruz is an object lesson for the entire world on [b]the ongoing dynamics of systemic racism in the United States.[/b]

Rather than do their constitutional duty of engage with a prospective supreme court justice on the pressing legal issues of the day, the [b]Republican committee members have opted to throw racist red meat to their rabid white supporters who are gripped by fear of people of color[/b]. Cruz led the charge with his attacks on critical race theory, asking Jackson whether she agrees “that babies are racist” and trying to paint the judge as a dangerous person who would force white children to learn about racism.

In so doing, Cruz was working from a tried and tired playbook that seeks to dramatize anti-racist demands in ways that fuel white fears about the consequences of Black people attaining positions of power. [b]There is a long history in this country of the leaders of white people trying to force Black people to denounce anti-racist movements as a condition for entry into the highest precincts of power[/b].

[b]In 2008, the media tried to force Barack Obama to denounce his pastor Jeremiah Wright’s statements forcefully condemning white supremacy.[/b] Two decades earlier, Jesse Jackson was dogged by demands that he distance himself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. [b]The point of said attacks is to try to weaken support for the Black person one way or another. Either they distance themselves from Black leaders and movements, thereby diminishing Black enthusiasm, or they refuse to renounce anti-racist voices, and that refusal is then used to scare white people.[/b]

Cruz and his ilk gravitate to such tactics because white fears about Black people have defined politics in this country for centuries. One of the Republican questioners of Judge Jackson was South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, representative of a state that has been in the forefront of efforts to whip white people into a frenzy about the prospects of Black equality.

[b]Today’s Republicans are becoming so hysterical because people like Judge Jackson pose a revolutionary threat to the status quo in that they reveal the ubiquity of Black brilliance.[/b] Cruz, Graham and their fellow modern-day Confederates know instinctively that a[b]s the public sees how many amazing Black women there are, it becomes much harder to explain why most of the powerful positions in this country are still held by white men[/b]. In 233 years, there hasn’t been a single Black woman smart enough to sit on the supreme court? The notion is absurd. So, if it’s not lack of talent, then it must be something else. Like racism and sexism. Exposing this reality is very dangerous to a political party whose power rests on exploiting that racism and sexism (all the while denying it exists).

The very fact that Jackson’s nomination is historic and not routine is a profound indictment of the United States of America. Hour after hour, question after question, [b]Judge Jackson – secure in the knowledge that she is simply the latest talented Black woman and not the first – is calmly, confidently and politely taking a wrecking ball to the myth that America is a meritocracy.[/b] And the implications of that [b]scare the Republicans to death.[/b]
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
Diotrephes · 70-79, M
News flash! Black people have only been American citizens for 154 years come this July 9th. Therefore, there was no way in hell any Black person could have been any kind of federal judge in America before that date.

William H. Hastie became the first Black federal district court judge in 1937 but that was for the U.S Virgin Islands and not in the States. Appointed by FDR.

The first Black woman federal judge was Constance Baker Motley for the Southern District of New York, appointed by LB Johnson.

Out of 115 SCOTUS justices, only two have been Black since 1790.

There have been 15 Catholics and 8 Jews on the SCOTUS.
👍 @Diotrephes Also noteworthy.

The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution: Women's right to vote passed by congress June 4, 1919, and ratified August 18, 1920 (123 years)