By Oscar H. Blayton
Now is not the time for hand wringing.
Now is not the time to surrender in the face of aggressive white supremacy bent upon establishing a new Jim Crow era to oppress Black people for the financial gain of white Americans.
Now is the time to draw a line in the sand and tell the racists “No Further. We will not give another inch in our battle for dignity and freedom.”
It is time to tell the murderous police and those who support them: “We are Done Dying!”
It is time to tell the white racists in white robes that we do not fear them, their time is over and they are Done.
It is time to tell the white racists in black robes that we will yank them from their judicial benches by impeachment, recall and the votes of citizens who will march to the polls with righteous indignation over a judicial system designed to benefit the few while damning the rest of us.
It is time to tell the politicians who enable those racist judges and cops and place them in office that we are coming for them as well. When we next exit the voting booths, we will have shot avenging arrows of justice through their hypocritical, hateful political careers.
And this should not be hyperbole. We should focus on a starting point. And this should not be any half-stepping, lukewarm attempts at reformation – slightly chipping around the edges of a conservative Republican bulwark built upon the worst impulses of greed, intolerance and hatred. We must begin by striking at the very heart of the system because two things are clear:
- Conservative Republicans have a hate-filled agenda that is destructive to Black folk.
- They will stop at nothing to achieve this goal and they do not intend to be fair, just or equitable.
And in their hellish crusade, they have found a champion in Donald Trump, a man completely void of any morals, scruples or empathy for human kind, but he is well on his way towards accomplishing the conservative Republican goal of turning the federal judiciary into a judicial cesspool of intolerance and bigotry.
If we are to drag America into an era of justice, we must repair the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only must we fight to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a fair and empathetic justice, but we must also impeach Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas.
There are few rational Americans who believe Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas did not lie during their U.S. Senate confirmation hearings. The transcripts of their hearings are matters of public record and witnesses are still available to present testimony and documentary evidence.
We should not be faint hearted. We should not shrink from doing what we know is right. Not only do most Americans know what justice looks like, we know what justice is. And justice will never be found in the Supreme Court’s halls, conference rooms or the Court Chamber itself while justices like Kavanaugh and Thomas sit on the bench. Kavanaugh and Thomas are not interested in justice. Their only interest is the conservative Republican agenda.
America is at a tipping point. We cannot make Donald Trump, or the Republican congressional toadies who enable him, back down by asking him “Have you no shame?” We know they have no shame. They have no conscience or moral compass. Their principal goal is to reshape the federal judiciary so that the courts become a hellish landscape where Blacks and other people of color will have to battle for survival. If we are to fight this evil that has enveloped America, we must get in the trenches. It is unlikely that Trump and his congressional allies will refrain from tampering with the November elections with the help of the Russians. So, it will not be an easy battle, but battle we must. We must register as many eligible voters as possible with the time remaining. Then we must flood the polls, in person or by mail. Our strength is in numbers, but we must have a purpose – a clearly stated goal.
It is time we clearly tell Donald Trump, the conservative Republicans in congress, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas that we are coming for them.
Oscar H. Blayton is a former Marine Corps combat pilot and human rights activist who practices law in Virginia.