Your Black Excellencies! Your Female Excellencies!
Justice Ketanji Brown: The Floor is Yours
Old white plantation autocrats have just seen their ghosts.
The Black Woman who is the United States Ambassador for United States, Linda Thomas Greenfield, gave as powerful and composed and competent a speech today in front of the UN Security Council about the Ukrainian invasion by Russia as I’ve seen from anyone ever in the Trump administration during his dismal years. She herself — bravely — just returned from the border countries where the war is, Romania and Moldavia. She met personally with refugees who fled the war. She flew that night back to the United Nations and delivered some of those first-hand accounts she heard directly from women.
Here was dignity on display of an American black woman of experience and oflearning on the world stage, allowed to speak, and not being screamed at and ridiculed by silly racist dog whistles of GOP senators showing off pictures of antiracist baby kids’ books. And in the absence of those demeaning antics, I could not help but think here is the full dignity of a black American on display of what Ketanji Brown Jackson will give America. Like the white male UN Russian Ambassador listening to her steady criticism and withering under it, I can’t help but think of what some Republicans fear when they see the full judgement of a black woman against a lying white man on display.
“Filtration Camps are chilling, and we cannot look away.” She says she does not need to remind us of what that means. But does she? Was it not just the holocaust concentration camps under Hitler or could it have been the prisoner slave ships and plantations in America’s own history? I like that she didn’t answer the question so I couldn’t resist seeing a lingering reference haunting the space where the answer should be.
She next asked for immediate suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council. This is a fearless action, make no mistake about it. And rallies the world around her, needing two-third majority to kick the Russians off the UN Council. She goes on to note that there is plenty of rape and murder of civilians, women, and children.
In a masterful moment she undercuts the Russian speaker in advance. Before he is given his turn, she closed her speech by saying his response will be more propaganda that will be used on the record during future investigations.
Next, she turned it over the Albanian ambassador, who also used his time to morally skewer Russia. The day the top U.S. Ambassador who is black sides with an Albanian from a country trying hard to dig itself out of the deepest corruption in Europe is unique. Another black female followed him for some more stark principled lashings, the ambassador on the Security Council to the UN from Gabon morally flaying the Russian diplomat and Putin open.
The world is rising.
This is how it feels to watch the big picture now where the UN ambassadors are so different from the dominant white males who created it after World War II. The minorities and small countries were clearly speaking out against aggressive bullies for what feels like the first time in history. The Cold War balancing act was over. The kid gloves were off, and the educated class is now implanted at the top of many countries, speaking out.
And no doubt under the protection of the US, led by a black woman. The next two key partners countries of the Security Council, France, and the UK, also led by women, who also admonished Russia and its false claims of Nazi invasions with an unambiguous tone that reprimanded him, one that made clear they would not stand for his lies and propaganda. These were professional women, not stern mothers.
This is the fear Republicans face: The unspeakable moral sensibility of a levelheaded black woman standing to wait in ultimate judgement of the white nationalist hatred spewing daily forth from the mouths of extremists in their party. Those nonsense made-up accusations are similar to the open ridiculousness of the Russian UN Ambassador’s claims in front of the world that Ukraine is crawling with Nazis who openly walk around with Nazi “tattoos”, insignia, and clothing on. Like former Attorney General Barr, Mark Meadows, Secretary of State Pompeo (etc.), he was only speaking to an audience of one.
His ridiculous claims are scrutinized globally, just like those are nationally of Mr. Cruz with his anti-racist baby, Marjorie Greene with her absurdist mouth, Mr. Gaetz with his female trafficking, Mr. Trump with his sexual abuses, rapes, and his still racist dog whistling. That scrutiny came full on from histories repressed to their white male repressor to his face, if not to Putin himself: The immoral lies of human degradation shall not persist.
This was the same day the aforementioned female trafficker, Mr. Gaetz, tried to use GOP nonsense propaganda to try to skewer the black defense Secretary Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd was growing frustrated with his inquisitor, but Gaetz un-masterfully used his “time” to bully and interrupt Lloyd, not even allowing for a real comment. The Secretary was not allowed time for an uninterrupted response; if so, Lloyd was just going to spank this petulant child — which more a moment I felt would happen. Gaetz seemed to sense a fatherly rebuke from a black man coming as Lloyd tried to speak, so Gaetz kept interrupting in a tense display until his time expired.
That’s what we need to see though: uninterrupted moral and measured responses from minorities, like UN Ambassador Greenfield, speaking clearly against dog whistles, racist and misogynist responses. She clearly said, I will not stand for it sir! I will not tolerate your lies and propaganda! But in a measured tone, slowly decisively, and with my exclamation mark only indicating a stark finality that would broach no reproach.
That uninterrupted rebuke to ludicrous questions is what is needed in all these Congress hearings where little is said but much is performed.
This description of the horrors from many UN members in their speeches, led by the US Ambassador who spoke after President Zelensky’s impassioned account, was harrowing even without the video of the dead civilians’ bodies shown for a full minute and a half close up, killed and assassinated in the streets of Bucha. Those descriptions were of someone executed with a bullet in the neck, mass graves overflowing with corpses, rape, injury of children, children forced to watch their mothers raped.
This is the horror the far-right fears sitting on a black Supreme Court Justice staring over them, waiting for her verdict from on high: The open graveyard of slavery’s ghosts rising back up for judgement.
