When Black excellence trumps white mediocrity

The Friday Flashpoints!

Nobody asked me but…

***As a life-long (and unashamed) “Momma’s Boy,” the now viral photo of Leila Jackson staring proudly at her mother, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (KBJ), has made my entire year!

***I have spent the better part of this week analyzing Judge KBJ's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and as the week draws to a close, with a nod to the pending Oscar Awards that will be produced by Florida A&M University alumnus (and my old friend) Will Packer, the "Drama Queen of the Week” award goes to: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)!

His/Her shrill voice, apple red face, and decision to stand and click her high heels towards the door during the middle of Judge KBJ's questioning was reminiscent of a petulant toddler girl who is upset that she can't watch My Little Pony after finishing her supper and preparing for bed. In fact, I strongly suspect that half of Graham's real issues stem from allegations that he/she is unable to be who he/she wants to be because of conservative opposition to LGBTQ rights.

Still, Missy Graham's histrionics this week gave her the slight edge over Gelding Ted "Please stop calling my wife ugly" Cruz, and Josh “Crypt Keeper" Hawley!

***Speaking of Republican Senate hearings drama about Judge KBJ's sentencing of child porn possesors, so that the record is crystal clear, Republican Senators Hawley, Graham, Cotton, and Cruz each has voted in recent years to confirm judges nominated to appellate court positions by Donald Trump who had records similar or even more lenient than KBJ on child porn cases!

Surprised? I surely am not, as I reminded in yesterday's blog that eight out of 10 child porn possesors are white males, many of whom are well off, well established, politically conservative, and have the complexion for the protection from long sentences for their criminal misconduct.  

Of particular note was the 2017 Trump nomination of Judge Ralph R. Erickson to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Erickson was confirmed by a 95-to-1 vote, which included "yay" votes from Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cruz and Missy Graham (Nota Bene: Mr. Hawley had not yet been elected to the Senate from Missouri). Judge Erickson, like Judge KBJ and other Federal District judges, imposed sentences shorter than the prosecutor’s recommendations in NINE cases involving child porn from 2009 to 2017, with his average sentence being 19 percent lower than what government prosecutors recommended!

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has already gone on record in opposition of Judge KBJ's nomination…

But again, Republicans joined Democrats in confirming Erickson because they all understood, as Missy Graham and Gelding Ted kept Judge KBJ from explaining, that these cases typically involve an explosion of images that occur not always because the offender has clicked on thousands of individual images of child porn, but because the nature of the "dark web" is that when someone clicks on one, hundreds (if not thousands) of images are flooded due to no individual act by the viewer. Which in legal jargon is often called "cumulative," which means that the offender must be sentenced for the offense (looking at child porn), but that enhancing the sentence based on the “cumulative” number of pictures makes little sense in some cases. To finish this analysis, such is separate from those who produce child porn, where the number of photos often means a higher number of children that have been harmed. 

Now, Judge KBJ got some of this analysis out when she wasn't being cut off, but the faux outrage from her conservative tormentors was meant for their followers on Fox News—not those who are interested to know that these same conservatives haven't had ANY problems before with these matters until Judge KBJ sat before them this week!

***Speaking of children and the miscarriage of justice, on this day, March 25, 1931, nine Black boys, ranging in age from 13-19, were falsely accused of raping  two white women who were riding in a train box car with them near Scottsboro, Alabama.

While the soon to be named “Scottsboro Boys” avoided being lynched (per racist custom of that era), their subsequent court cases became an international cause celebre as each was wrongfully convicted and served six years—and longer—despite zero evidence to establish their guilt!

Lest we forget their struggle in a modern era when conservatives across America wish to suppress the teaching of the myriad racist white atrocities that were perpetrated against people of color!

***Speaking of information suppression, Sen. Ted Cruz made an absolute fool of himself this week when he raised the book, The Anti-Racist Baby, during Judge KBJ's hearings—and blasted it as the latest literary bogeyman in the conservative fight against Critical Race Theory, one that's on the curriculum of the Georgetown Day School where KBJ serves on the Board of Trustees.

To my delight and humor, after Gelding Ted raged about the text, the book, written by a Florida A&M University educated historian named Dr. Ibram Kendi, shot to #1 on Amazon's best seller list!

Humorous perspective

But what makes little sense to me is why old Gelding Ted, or any person who claims to not be a racist, would have a problem with a book that focuses on teaching parents how to raise a child that respects racial diversity? 

I've lived long enough to know that the cliche, "history runs in cycles," is absolutely true because from my point of vantage, Gelding Ted is sounding a whole lot like Joe McCarthy, the self-styled anti-Communist Senator from Wisconsin whose shameful hearings in the 1950's smeared many great Americans—and cost them their jobs, reputations, and lives over a bunch on utter non-sense. 

***I could only shake my head in disgust as evidence was released yesterday proving that  Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the second wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent former President Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows a litany of text messages after the 2020 election urging him to overturn the results! These messages came after over 160 courts across America, including the Supreme Court, had ruled that Trump's legal cases had no merit or standing to be litigated.

Clarence and Ginni Thomas

Mrs. Thomas’s most ominous message of all, one that could lead to impeachment proceedings against Justice Thomas due to his refusal to recuse himself from the January 6th Riot litigation that directly involves his wife, was, “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!" 

Echoing what my Frat Brother, Carlton Charles, wrote on Facebook this morning, none of us should be all that surprised by Ginni Thomas's crazy text messages because she showed us that she was rather touched in the head a little over a decade ago when she started drunk dialing Anita Hill, the law professor who accused Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her while in his employ in the 1980’s.

The Thomas clan and Professor Hill

One message that Ginni Thomas left on Professor Hill's answering machine in 2010 was: “Good morning, Anita Hill. Its Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray on this, and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.”

Even now, I almost lost my breath when laughing at how dumb and crazy Ginni Thomas's message sounded. But her role in the January 6th Riots is no laughing matter, nor is her husband's poor judgment in not removing himself from considering that series of cases. 

Stay tuned...

Final Hobbservation: Just as a reminder, please note that Covid isn't over! Yes, the infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are down, but in the past 10 days, former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and current White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have all tested positive for the disease. These facts should remind us all to still exercise sound judgment regarding mask wearing, hand washing, and yes, social distancing!

Have a wonderful weekend!