If you fly an airplane, are you looking for diversity or someone who won’t crash a plane?
Standards are required to become a neurosurgeon. Would you be comfortable working in a high rise if the architects were hired because of their race? If standards are required for medicine, aeronautics, and building skyscrapers, why is there a greater emphasis on diversity when picking a Supreme Court justice?
Of course many judges of color meet the same standards that white judges do. But Joe Biden’s pronouncement that he will choose a Black woman above all others isn’t good for Black people, or for America. And it’s particularly odd considering his predecessor’s approach.
When Barack Obama was president, Black women were the Democrats’ most loyal foot soldiers. Barack Obama received the gift of three vacancies on the Supreme Court. MSNBC’s Joy Reid never demanded that Obama nominate a Black woman for the highest court, and he never did. Instead, Obama chose Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and a white man, Merrick Garland, because character content was more important than skin color.
Now that a white man is a president, putting a Black woman on the Supreme Court is the top priority for the Black bourgeoisie. However, much of the Black community doesn’t want a first — but rather someone who will fix their schools, arrest criminals, and encourage parenting over promiscuity.
Biden won 87% of the Black vote in the 2020 election. Today, Biden’s approval rating among Black voters has plummeted from 83% last April to 64%. Members of Biden’s own party, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, blocked the Build Back Better spending plan and voting rights legislation.
Black progressives argue the Supreme Court doesn’t reflect America, and that selecting a Black woman brings diversity. But African Americans already have representation: Clarence Thomas. Putting another African American justice on the bench takes away a seat from an Asian, Native American, or LGBTQ person — reminiscent of signs that read, “Irish need not apply.” And 76% of Americans disagree with hiring judges based on race.
Even if he planned to appoint a Black woman, announcing he would do so from the get-go only did her a disservice, and the rest of America as well. Hiring because of past injustices doesn’t heal past wrongs, but instead creates resentment. Would the black community be happy if a Republican said the only qualified candidates are white men?
It does nothing for me if America’s new justice is Kamala Harris or Lori Lightfoot. I want an American judge, not someone that considers themselves hyphenated.
