I’ve seen significant legislative accomplishments that bettered the lives of ordinary Americans happen only twice. Before my time, Social Security was introduced and workers given jobs to relieve the Great Depression during the FDR administration. The modern right-wing conservative movement took hold immediately to reverse the gains. The commitment to excise benefits for the poorest continues to this day in the spirit of Florida Sen. Scott’s Republican agenda to be implemented when that party next seizes federal power. From the 1930’s to the present, it’s a prolonged form of backlash.
The next window of progress was open for only a couple of years — during the post-Kennedy assassination during the LBJ administration when I was still a kid. The Texan Johnson, born in the racist deep south, had early life experiences in a multicultural school that seems to have left him more compassionate and politically liberal than geography alone would have predicted. Thanks to tremendous pressure from the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950’s and 1960’s, in addition to the then Supreme Court striking down the concept of separate but equal, he pushed Congressional opponents to pass meaningful nondiscrimination federal laws — in housing, employment and voting rights — and Medicare. LBJ was an opportunist who used Kennedy’s death and the police-led horrors of the Selma march and televised fire hosing of Black people to compel the southern racist Democrats to pass good laws. He acted to help the disadvantaged when he had the chance. I paraphrase LBJ’s famous statement about consequences of those laws: that Democrats in the south would be lost for a generation. Turns out the south has been lost now going for over 60 years to date with no end in sight. Forces opposed to equality and social justice mounted a backlash. It was less visible, lurking beneath the surface of public life until Trump made it fashionable again to be overtly, proudly racist.
The spirit of Charlottesville’s 2017 white supremacy rally itself mirrored the south’s backlash against Reconstruction. It was 1877 repeated. Post-Civil War Reconstruction, fueled by three amendments to the Constitution which enshrined equality among all Americans was shut down by whites passing southern state laws that contradicted federal rules (the “Jim Crow” era). The KKK grew, lynchings were common and Black participation in politics was eliminated. It seems this backlash is current.
Hell, the very Supreme Court KBJ joins in October is about to strip away women’s rights by repealing Roe v. Wade. Anticipating that vote, southern states , and other backwards-thinking states, southern in spirit, but not necessarily geographically southern, have been stripping women of rights in unfathomable and cruel ways. Backlash to abortion rights had involved murder and harassment of patients seeking care for decades. It morphed into codifying the hatred into laws. Also consider how hard fought LBGTQ rights were won only to have the same cadre of states enact exclusionary laws. States are steadily tearing apart the social fabric of our multi-cultural nation.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Which brings me to KBJ. The displays of overt racism at her Senate confirmation hearing were disgusting and have been commented on thoroughly. The point is that no white man would have been subjected to such infantile mistreatment. In fact, it was the white guy who fired back aggressively at the panel of Senators when his history of sexual aggression was raised. He pouted like a baby. Had Judge Jackson done the same, she would have been branded the Angry Black Woman. She had more class than to react in proportional ways that could have been justified. It’s noteworthy that the right wing chose to portray Kavanaugh as confirmation hearing victim, ignoring his rant.
People of good nature and decency rightly celebrate the unique accomplishment of KBJ’s ascent to the Supreme Court. The nomination and confirmation are undeniably positive. It’s one of those rare steps toward inclusion and progress in America. Yea! Progress, once again, feels inevitable.
But we’ve been here before. Let’s move forward with eyes open. History tells us that opponents will find ways to block subsequent advances by Black women. I want very much to be proven wrong. I want progress forward to be steady and unwavering. It’s best for my country.
The American pattern is clear. Move an inch forward. Then the backlash pushes us back to a dark place. I hope that we learn to exorcise our demons, the antithesis of our “better angels,” and beat back the backlash sure to come. Let’s not timidly accept going backwards as acceptable.
