The alarmed reactions to Joe Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Courts reveal a lot about the conservative psyche and the pervasive siege mentality on the Right: To a reactionary white patriarchal movement, a Black woman rising is a threat.
My new column:
My new column:
https://twitter.com/GdnUSopinion/status/1488836354708365313
Conservatives feel threatened by Biden’s announcement because they understand it symbolizes the recognition that having white men dominate the powerful institutions of American life is a problem that needs to be rectified.
Conservatives see Biden’s announcement as an indication of how powerful the forces of liberalism, “wokeism,” and multiculturalism – those radically “Un-American” ideas that are threatening “real” (read: white Christian patriarchal) America – have already become.
The fact that a reactionary majority will dominate the Supreme Court for a generation doesn’t do much to alleviate these fears. Conservatives realize that their vision for American society has come under pressure, and not just politically, but even more so culturally.
It is not just political power the Right seeks, but cultural domination and affirmation. And in the cultural sphere, the shift in power away from white conservatives has been more pronounced, leading to the recurring rightwing moral panics of recent years.
It has traditionally been the prerogative of a white male elite to determine what is and what is not acceptable in U.S. society. That prerogative has come under fire, and it’s not something the judiciary can fully restore.
Conservatives understand Biden’s announcement as evidence that the dreaded forces responsible for the general assault on white male rule keep ascending within America’s institutions. Whether or not it has any immediate effect on the Court’s decisions, that’s a threat.
Biden’s public pledge represents an affirmation of multiracial pluralism. That’s why it matters. It’s an acknowledgment that the traditional dominance of white men was never the result of meritocratic structures, but of a discriminatory system that needs to be dismantled.
A Black woman on the Court will help redefine what the American political, social, and cultural elite looks like – reshaping ideas in the collective imaginary of the nation of who gets to be at the top. As multiracial, pluralistic democracy is under assault, that matters a lot.
https://twitter.com/gdnusopinion/status/1488836354708365313
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