A Modern Profile in Courage

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has demonstrated supernatural grace under pressure

As the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation proceedings involving Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson continue, the public is once again reminded of the ease in which Black people and women are mistreated.

The banally malicious questions.

The casually caustic racism and sexism.

The gross hypocrisy.

They tell a story that ends with America being the land not of the free and the brave, but of the racist and misogynist.

That she is being attacked for having empathy, as if it is a standing prerequisite for a judge to be cold, dispassionate, and uncaring in their decisions.

Judge Jackson has been questioned as if she is a covert Critical Race Theory advocate, asked to define what constitutes a woman, and has been tacitly accused of being permissive on crime, even child pornography.

All the while, she responds with dignity and restraint, her only visible reaction being giving the “honey, please” look instantly recognizable to Black brothers, husbands, and children.

She has refused to be baited and lured into impassioned, intemperate rejoinders.

She has avoided being drawn into arguments with Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton, two senators who by rights should be in federal prison for their part in the January 6 insurrection rather than questioning her legal bona fides.

She did not parry with Ted Cruz, who is as feeble and small of a human being as one can find in American corridors of power.

She remains calm and collected.

She is serene and implacable.

There are many reasons why she has such reservoirs of fortitude and strength. Some of them come from having strong character and a great upbringing.

But the other reasons are too familiar to People of Color, to women, and those who are both.

We are, they are, used to being maligned and despised.

We are, they are, used to having our intelligence insulted and our character impugned.

We are, they are, acquainted with being marginalized, belittled, and besmirched. 

We are, they are assaulted daily with racism and misogyny to the extent that it is as expected as breathing oxygen and eating our daily bread.

But we and they are here, and we and they aren’t going anywhere.

We and they will continue to move forward with all of the grace and resolve that God sees fit to grant us.

And given all that we’ve done so far, despite all that has been done to us,

That’s a whole heck of a lot.