Why mediocre white journalists attack Black Excellence...
The Thursday Thoughts!
At this stage in my life I have to say that any time a talented Black man or woman accomplishes some historic goal, that I fully expect loud cries from racist "journalists" and their equally racist followers to besmirch the Black excellence that's on full display.
That's why when Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer last week, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before her name, her hairstyle, and even her complexion would be caricatured by racists—and that her intelligence and humanity would be questioned by racists who lack intellect or the ability to be humane.
Last night, Tucker Carlson, the wealthiest and most influential so-called "journalist" on the Fox News network, continued his nearly month long tirade against Mr. Biden's promise to name the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court; more on the specifics of Carlson's comments later in today's blog.
But I must begin by lamenting the fact that within my lifetime, I have watched as racists no longer use "dog whistles" to rile their ideological kindred spirits, but now use trumpet blasts to sound their fury at their displeasure that Blacks and browns, in many instances, are far exceeding their own feeble minds and limited professional accomplishments.
When I was in 4th grade back in 1981, Republican political strategist Lee Atwater, a then 38-year old "rising star" in conservative circles, sat down for an interview with Alexander Lamis, a political scientist at Case Western Reserve University, where he discussed the shift of racist white Southern Democrats to the Republican Party in the 1960's and 70's. For those unaware, that shift, known as the "Southern Strategy," occurred en masse when President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texas Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Fair Housing Act of 1968 into law—thus, formally ending Jim Crow segregation. Southern white Democrats felt that LBJ had "sold them out," and they flocked to the GOP amd continued their anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-everything that wasn't of White Anglo-Saxon, Southern Baptist vintage crusades.
During the interview, Atwater was asked about whether then President Ronald Reagan would have been elected in 1980 if he had not attracted Southen white racists by attacking food stamps, social services, and "Welfare Queens?" Atwater's infamous reply: "You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, Blacks get hurt worse than whites...(Saying) 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
Well, in the forty plus years since Atwater praised such abstract Republican racism, some modern day Republicans no longer care to conceal their thoughts on air, via Tweets, or through their oratory!
Circling back to Tucker Carlson, in the span of one week he has said that Judge Brown-Jackson's ascent to the Supreme Court would "make the U.S. look like Rwanda." Carlson, in a totally condescending manner, demanded that Biden reveal Brown-Jackson's Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores so that he could determine whether she is as intelligent as the president lauded during his introductory press conference last Friday.
While my initial reaction was to wonder who in the Hell does Carlson think he is to make such a demand, I already know the answer—he is a mediocre, talent deficient white man whose rise in journalism is not because he graduated with high honors from one of the leading PWI journalism schools like Columbia, Missouri, or Northwestern, but because he is well connected, loud mouth racist who excites other racists—many of whom are high school dropouts, not Mensa candidates or honors graduates of any school of higher learning.
But the problem is that Carlson and his ilk are loud and vote in droves, and because they vote in droves for people endorsed by Carlson and other college dropouts like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and the late Rush Limbaugh, there are about 50 or so GOP senators who fear being called out by these right wing pundits—and losing their holds on power!
Still, there is something quite perverse for men and women who have never even sat in the parking lot of a law school, let alone sat through a lecture, a three or four hour exam, or competed for a coveted seat on the law review, to ever question the credentials of any of us who did some or all of the above!
For the record, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson graduated Magna Cum Laude (with great praise) from Harvard University, Cum Laude (with praise) from Harvard Law, and was president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review! For the uninitiated, a seat on the law review is not "given" due to any racial or gender factors, but either by: 1. The highest grades (law school grading is "blind," meaning that students are assigned a number so that professors have no idea whose tests they are grading), or 2. A writing competition that's also blind, so as to avoid bias. Thus, when you read that Brown-Jackson was Harvard Law Review editor, similar to Harvard Law Review's president Barack Obama before her, those of us who graduated from law school know fully well that both are intellectually brilliant—whether you like their politics or not!
The truth, however, is stranger than fiction for racists, as the same have routinely dismissed Black intellectual achievements because to put is simply, they are jealous. Carlson belongs to my generation, Generation X, the first one in which whites and Blacks attended school together and competed in scholastic and sporting pursuits.
Carlson graduated from Trinity College with a B.A. in 1992 and applied for a position with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), but was rejected for service. According to Carlson, his father Dick, a media executive, then told him: “You should consider journalism—they’ll take anybody.”
Papa Carslon was right, to our chagrin…
Now to be clear, I knew many brilliant white kids while growing up, and from what I’ve read in biographical articles, Carlson is a bright man, even if he is limited in his own academic credentials (and deliberately choosing to use racism to fuel his rise). But I also knew way more mediocre to ignorant white kids that weren't qualified to participate in the classes and academic competitions that I and many of my brilliant Black friends did back in the 80's and 90's. I write this not to be cruel, but to push back against Carlson and his ilk's notion that Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson and other Blacks in high places arrived there due to special treatment—not due to special intellectual talents and hard work.
I also write to push back against Carlson and his ilk because neither he nor they questioned the intellectual abilities or academic credentials of Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, or Amy Coney Barrett, three white justices appointed by former President Donald Trump. Which proves racism because as a fellow journalist, while I definitely analyzed past allegations of rapes by Kavanaugh, as well as Coney-Barrett's writings about abortion, at no time did I ever assume that they lacked the intellect or credentials to serve on the Supreme Court!
Sadly, racists do not give the same deference to brilliant Black folks like Judge Brown-Jackson, ones that can run complete intellectual circles around their ignorant insouciance, and ones who continue to rise in spite of the hate they receive from the right.
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a great Thursday!
And Judge Brown-Jackson is definitely more qualified than the last two judges on the SC. Her CV is sterling. You would be hard-pressed to find a more qualified judge.
I despise that doughy, dog-whistling beyatch. He’s got the most punchable face on TV.