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I am still processing the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade; the constitutional guarantee that a woman has a right to a medically safe abortion.
I’ve read a few Twitter threads and a couple of of the comment threads attached to diaries here.
People are blaming Hillary Clinton. People are blaming Bernie Sanders. Jill Stein, the Russians, Mitch McConnell. Centrists and Progressives. White women. AOC. Manchin and Sinema; the lists goes on and on and on.
I’m not insensitive to “the blame game”; I blame a host of people as well.
I’m also tired of the blame game, already.
It’s not as if we didn’t that this day would come, given the series of cascading events over the years.
My own personal way of processing the Supreme Court decision announced today is to take a look at some relevant history.
One of the favorite things that I read here was by Kossack mallyroyal when he said that when people refer to the Civil Right Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, they are referring to the end of the movement and not the beginning.
My only disagreement with the comment is that the CRM remains ongoing but the point that mallyroyal is making is a huge one: Black people didn’t start fighting for civil rights in 1955; really it goes back to the colonial period. We’ve won some battles and lost some battles.
I mean, many aspects of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were codified in Reconstruction including, for example, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 1883; by then, of course, Reconstruction was ended and the white backlash was on.
It took two world wars, the founding of many Black civil rights organizations (many of which no longer exist although the NAACP, founded in 1909, remains...and they remain fighting) and a series of small, minuscule advances, frequently followed by backlashes to get to the CRM of 1964 (and if I’m honest, I’ll admit that we’re still fighting a backlash against that).
“Bold, progressive change” doesn’t happen overnight; it can take decades.
Bold, regressive change doesn’t happen overnight either, for that matter. It, too, can take decades.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade has been in the making since the case was originally decided.
Working for and attaining rights is not a one and done; the battle, once rights are attained, is to maintain and expand those rights in the face of backlash and complacency.
To be in it for the long haul.
Comments below the fold.
TOP COMMENTS
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From Reader Ray (with an assist by tampaedski):
On this dark day for our nation, Fired Up in CA posts an essential truth, in Laura Clawson’s front page post on Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion.
From Another Progressive:
This comment by BareKnuckleBrawler is a brilliant analogy, in Pakalolo’s post on environmental degradation of the world’s oceans.
From Captain Frogbert:
Toro Blanco's comment, this morning's APR (by Greg Dworkin) is a good comment overall, but the last line is totally top comment worthy.
If the Republicans smother the life out of our ailing Republic, it’ll be in part because our feckless news media happily handed them the pillow and watched in the name of “fairness”.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, Thursday, June 23, 2022, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
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