The Real Horror Show
No Me Digas. Op-Ed: Keith Price
Well, it has happened. The suction pull of the 1950’s Time Warp is upon us, and no, it will not be anywhere near as fun as the Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Supreme Court has been overtaken by partisan shenanigans with its latest rush job of the confirmation of one of Justice Scalia’s clerks, Amy Coney Barrett. There is now a 6-3 Conservative majority in the Judiciary branch. Almost every moment of progress this country has made in the last 50 years will be undermined in a matter of months because of this development. Millions are potentially about to lose their healthcare. Women, along with the help of all of us men, are going to fight like hell for the right to regulate their own bodies. Queer Rights are going to be challenged at every level. Civil Rights are going to be swatted like an unwanted bug at a June picnic.
How pissed are you? I know that I am furious, but you know what made me angrier? The hypocritical, s**t-eating grins of Sen. Myrtle the Turtle and Lady G throughout this process infuriates me to my core. Not only did they block President Obama’s SCOTUS pick, but did you know that a large number of those 200+ judicial appointments in the lower court that they gleefully filled, belonged to Pres. Obama, as well? As much noise that was being made about the SCOTUS appointment, I had no idea that there were that many vacancies waiting to be filled in the lower courts.
I cannot begin to express the rage that I feel toward the Democratic leadership that did not present the entire picture of what was really happening with the judiciary appointments. I am mad at myself for not paying closer attention to the situation, too. While the leadership of the DNC spent time and energy defending emails while trying to break glass ceilings and make history with the election, they glossed over, emphasizing all that really was at stake. There certainly should have been a move to at least bargain the lower courts for the SCOTUS seat. I wish the Dems would have made a bigger ruckus, but doing nothing and playing nice are among the complaints that many have about our Democratic leadership.
After the 2008 election, many would argue that President Obama did not use the full power of his presidency with both the House and Senate to move his agenda forward. He chose to not be the “angry Black man” in his first term. He spent time trying to work with the other side of the aisle. He subsequently lost his grip in 2010 and spent the remainder of his term in a tug of war with Mitch McConnell. We saw that the other side clearly does not care about working across the aisle.
With the hopes of a blue tsunami from the top to the bottom, and with the privilege of a cisgender, white man, I hope Vice-President and soon to be President Biden pushes forward to do whatever needs to be done to redirect this country away from this 1950 time warp. His “TO DO” list is going to be a long one, but the idea that there is a Sistah at his side that we know does not suffer fools, makes me happy. He does not have to worry about looking like an angry black man, so any static from across the aisle will be heard, but respectfully ignored.
Wear a mask. Wash Your Hands. Vote.
