History was made in the United States on Thursday, April 7th.….….yea… that number ( 7) is the Biblical number that represents completion. The full United States Senate confirmed a Black woman to sit on the Nation’s highest court.
It is a bittersweet moment for this writer in that though I am thrilled that finally a Black woman has been elevated to the court, it is shameful that we have to be talking about firsts of this kind in the 21st century.
The number seven is especially prominent in Scripture, appearing over 700 times. From the seven days of Creation to the many “sevens” in Revelation, the number seven connotes such concepts as completion and perfection, exoneration, healing, and the fulfillment of promises and oaths.
Whether the April 7th full Senate confirmation of Ketanji Brown-Jackson is part of that Biblical completion is up to the theologians to decipher; notwithstanding, this writer believes the rubicon has been crossed with her confirmation.
In a 53 to 47vote, Ketanji Brown-Jackson was confirmed and will take her place on the court at the end of the court’s 2021 – 2022 term. Confirming supreme court justices was not supposed to be a political spectacle; neither was it supposed to be a platform for overly ambitious politicians to grandstand and make an ass of themselves, but over the last several years, that is what the process has become.
Mitch McConnell’s dishonesty in blocking Merrick Garland, President Obama’s choice to replace Antonin Scalia, from entering the high court may have poisoned the process for decades to come.
Additionally, McConnell’s corrupt practices in ramming through Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amey Coney-Barrett, three Trump appointees, have poisoned the well of advice and consent necessary to seat good justices.
Ketanji Brown-Jackson was confirmed with all (50) Democratic Senators; she would have been confirmed with a simple Democratic majority with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote if no Republican voted for her. However, though vice President Kamala Harris was in the Senate chambers, three members of the Republicans placed politics aside and cast their votes for the new justice.
Maine’s Susan Collins, Utah’s Mitt Romney & Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski voted to elevate judge Brown-Jackson to Justice Brown-Jackson.
After the vote, the white men and women of the Fascist Republican party hurried from the Senate chamber; Senator Mitt Romney stood his ground and clapped for an extended period along with Senate Democrats as the history-making significance of the moment sank into members.
Along with the white men and women who voted against confirming judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson are the two Republican Hispanics, Marco Rubio of Florida and Raphael Cruz of Texas.
These men are first-generation Americans of Cuban parents; they have taken a hard-line stance against immigrants and have pushed for laws that would have kept their parents and themselves back in Castro’s Cuba.
Additionally, they have aligned themselves 100 % behind every anti-black legislation and have gone out of their way to present themselves as white men.
So it was no surprise, at least to me, that the two would toe the party line and, worse. Raphael Cruz made a mockery of himself by asking what he thought were tough ‘gotcha’ questions of the nominee, then immediately going to his Twitter feed to see if his name was trending.
It is always important to remember that Raphael Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The newly elevated Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson is a native-born American.
Writing over the years has taught me a lot I have become more reasoned and more reflective. In the decade-long process, I have also learned that some men(gender-neutral) were born to be mere footnotes in history.
You know.…… Rosa Parks, relevant.….Bull O’Connor, footnote.
Martin Luther King, relevant, J Edgar Hoover, footnote.
And now Ketanji Brown-Jackson, relevant, Tim Scott, irrelevant footnote.
Tim Scott is the junior US Republican Senator from South Carolina; he is one of only three African-American United States Senators in the senate; the others are Corey Booker (D) New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
Nothing prevented Tim Scott from choosing the right side of history and casting a vote to elevate the first Black woman to the US Supreme court; Scott chose not to.
By deciding to oppose Brown-Jackson, Tim Scott cemented his entire career as a US Senator as inconsequential, one void of any personal beliefs, making himself a sheep and a disgrace to his race like Clarence Thomas.
Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski had a tough fight last time she was elected, she will have a thought time this go around, but she was not swayed by politics or race.…she carried out her duties as was demanded of her by the constitution.
So did Senators Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.
In typical fashion, Tim Scott cemented himself as an irrelevant tool, an empty suit, a football to be kicked around, a shameless house slave.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, a freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.