On Saturday the 13th, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead of natural causes in his room at a West Texas Ranch. His death came as a shock to us all, stirring up varying emotions and responses from people across the country. Some people chose to respectfully honor the legal genius while others found his death on the 13th day of Black History Month to be the pinnacle of irony, and the stroke of luck they had been looking for in order to get the extreme conservative out of his seat as a Supreme Court Justice.
“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” – Mark Twain #Scalia
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) February 13, 2016
The leader of the free world, President Obama had this to say about him: “He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.”
Mr. President, I agree that he will no doubt be remembered as such. As a law school graduate, I remember reading his dissents and watching some of my law professors be in awe of this highly respected but extremely conservative man. I remember how strongly he stood on the words of the constitution, how strong his faith was, and how stern his words were. I remember being a law student and understanding all of the reasons that made him a legal genius and highly respected in the eyes of those in the legal field. Yet as a woman, with a Bachelor’s degree from an HBCU, I can’t help but remember how his legal voice, opinion, and voting history made me feel devalued and inadequate.
When the news broke of his death, a dear friend who also happens to have a degree from an HBCU, Kellye Bethea, looked at me and said: “His death feels like that moment when you realize that you outlived your abuser. And the irony that this man died during the month where we celebrate the abused cannot go unnoticed.” Not knowing whether to clutch my pearls or shout amen to confirm those words, I gave her the sister girl head nod and an amen.
Justice Scalia gave not one care when it came to affirmative action. After all, this is the supreme court justice who in response to a city program requiring a percentage of contracts to go to minority contractors had the audacity to go on record as saying : “To pursue the concept of racial entitlement—even for the most admirable and benign of purposes—is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred. In the eyes of the government, we are just one race here. It is American.”
Racial entitlement? One race? American? This is about as bad as saying that black people make everything about race and that we should stop because we are all one human race, and this only causes a divide. Well, until we all share a universal human experience where all of us are getting gunned down by cops, racially profiled, coming up dead in prison cells, and raped during a random traffic stop, there is no just one race. And if this is what you call American, then put me on the first boat back to Africa.
If you thought it couldn’t get any worse when it comes to Scalia’s conservative words and thoughts regarding black folks, let’s revisit why we had to tell Abby to stay mad. During oral arguments for Fisher vs the University of Texas at Austin, Scalia once again had the audacity to tell us that we should go to slower track schools where we belong because we tend to do better there.
*Tapping on the gates of heaven (which might be hell if Jesus is a brother)*:
Justice Scalia I hope you can hear me when I say this. I have never celebrated the death of anyone. Therefore, I won’t start now. However, I will celebrate the end of an era. And no this doesn’t mean that now all of a sudden Clarence Thomas will realize his blackness never washed off, or that somehow black people will even truly be protected and respected by the Supreme Court, despite our President being black. There is still much more fighting to be done when it comes to SCOTUS. But your death brings about an end to at least one person using their power to decide what I can do with my uterus. Your death brings about an end to one person using their power to limit my experience as a black woman to one that is non-existent because we are just one race. Your death brings about an end to one person using their power to think that I would only excel if I went to a black college, despite the fact that I did go to a black college (Tennessee State University) and on to get my masters and law degree at predominantly white schools where I was one of few blacks yet every last one of us managed to excel in those classrooms where you thought we would fall behind. So my condolences to your family and those that loved you, I’m sure you were a great man—to them. And for those who are currently crying white tears and trying to quickly limit President Obama’s constitutional right to nominate another person for that seat, I say to you in the famous words of your beloved Justice Scalia when questioned about his decision in the Bush v. Gore decision, “Get Over It.”
