About Ketanji, Sonia and Losing Affirmative Action

The Supreme Court struck down the use of Affirmative Action in higher education, with an overwhelming vote of 6-3. There is so much to say about it, and so much rage.

The world is far from a meritocracy, and the smartest, most hard working people are people whose names we will never know. And the United States of America is a country built on the hubris of this meritocracy, while it’s also built by people who could not even build a bird house if not for the help of Black and Brown people.

Affirmative Action policies, though the people who benefit most from them are white women, existed to do a tiny part in righting the wrong. Tiny part. And even that just got snatched away. It’s devastating. Colleges now. Corporations next. Hate to see it. The fights of and for our lives continue.

And right now, I’m thinking about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor. All your life, you wanna be a part of positive change. And you work your way to the most powerful room in this land, in spite of the margins you’re on, in spite of the scars from all the glass ceilings you’ve shattered. You’ve learned to nurse those wounds and charge forward. You hold gavels now.

And you end up sitting next to Clarence Thomas, the walking empodiment of self-hate and soul rot. And Brett Kavanaugh, a raving rapist and the prototype of caucasity and mediocrity. And Amy Coney Barrett, whose picture should be next to the word “Karen” in the dictionary.

You sit there, as Ketanji and Sonia, a Black woman and a Latina woman, unable to stop your colleagues from doing lasting damage to the country you’ve worked so hard for. And you’re at the table. And you’ve done your part. Yet, this still happens. And you have to sit and breathe the same air as people who are half as smart as you, lacking all the soul and depth, and you have to work with them.

I hope Ketanji and Sonia and Elena all have boxing gloves at home. The disgust and disdain I’d have for my colleagues might eat me UP. They’re better people than me because it’d be “F U 🖕🏾” to Brett, Clarence, Amy, Samuel, John, Neil. EVERY DAY. I’d walk in there and trip them at random times.

Whew lawd.

Love and respect to all the ones who are doing their part, even as the world burns, and they know who lit the match.