Justice Should Be Blind

On Friday, July 23 the Supreme Court, for the second time in recent months, sided with a Governor's pandemic safety order over the objection of a church.  In this case a Nevada church was asking to be allowed to have 90 worshipers at a time to conduct services instead of being limited to 50 at a time.  This restriction is much stricter than that of casinos who can operate at a higher rate of capacity.  This case follows another court decisions weeks ago where a southern California church challenged a shut down orders that would not allow in-person services at houses of worshipers.  Now in the California case the suit brought was nonsense, at the height of a pandemic there are broad powers to stop mass gatherings and of course there were other ways the or church to serve the congregants.  The Nevada case was trickier because, on its face, the discrimination against Houses of Worship seemed more clear.  In the decent, Justice Gorsuch called into question the ability of a theater with 10 screens to house 500 people, but a church that is large and can distance and use masks can't have more than 50 worshipers at a time.  Beyond that the casinos can be fairly packed and people gathering close by many without masks.  But the decisions of the court not to change a lower court's ruling on this said that those industries are highly regulated and easier to totally shutdown and punish over Houses of Worship.  In both these cases Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the so-called liberal wing of the court.  

Now for me I think the Nevada case could have gone either way and I would have been fine with the ruling.  While a general shutdown of large gatherings is something I think I am comfortable with in crisis situations, the idea that we make separate rules for Houses of Worship and other businesses needs to be carefully watched.  However, it appears the court has decided to give a good deal of power to local officials on public health and keep the court out of it.  Now if the church itself was forced to his number while synagogues or mosques were allowed more worshipers I would assume the court would have ruled 9-0 in favor of the church. I hope that as a culture we never get to that.  But what was amazing was the reaction not only of the right wing noise machine and the ignorant masses, but of elected officials to Robert's vote.

Senator Ted Cruz, once thought of as a potential Supreme Court Justice, tweeted that Roberts was a traitor.  When asked to what he didn't respond.  But that message was echoed around the internet and escalated to calling for his impeachment and that he must be a Democrat or part of the Deep State or some Q-Anon fever dream or such.  It is a terrible thing to see this.  There have always been people who don't understand how government works, recent calls to impeach Nancy Pelosi are a sign of that.  (you don't impeach a member of the House of Representatives).   But this kind of talk about a traitor on the court begs the question of a traitor to what?  The Constitution?  Certainly not in this case, a well reasoned argument shows that there is no infringement on worship and that in fact it protects the church in this case from a much more severe situation if they were to become an epicenter of spread.  So one can only assume that the conservative voices calling the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a traitor meant that he was a traitor to their ideology.  That is a dangerous thing for the average person to think, SCOTUS (The Supreme Court of the United States) should never be partisan.  But when it comes from elected officials, including the President, that is in fact bordering on a Constitutional crisis. 

The Right Wing has tried and recently have succeeded at creating a Federal court system that is highly partisan.  Senator McConnell held up many appointees of President Obama including maybe the most qualified person in the country to serve on SCOTUS, Merrick Garland.  Then when President Trump was in office pushed through many nominees, including some so woefully unqualified that in a few cases it was laughable even for Republican members of the Senate.  For them they want to have their conservative positions validated beyond what the Constitution says or even implies.  Members of Congress or the Executive challenging the faithfulness of a Justice is just not what we value in this country.  It is scary.  But in recent years these kinds of things have become so common that not a lot is said about it.  

Throughout the history of the court SCOTUS members have voted in favor of the Constitution even if it goes against the ideology of the person who appointed them.  In fact if they never did that would be a clear sign that they might not have been the best pick for the country.  Even the most conservative Justice of my lifetime, the late Anton Scalia, was criticized by some on the right for following his vision of the Constitution which sometimes butted up against the right wing desires.  

The normal structure of American government is crumbling and we don't have the time to focus on every thing that is in trouble.  Today the Attorney General will be questioned in a Congressional Committee about his role in the administration and his influence on various investigations into people close to the President and circumventing justice in cases that have already been to court.  The President went on a Twitter rampage last night attacking the one person the country trusts on Covid.  The President has lied about simple things and big things.  We are easily distracted.  But we must keep an eye on the courts and those who want to twist it toward their political positions instead of the Constitution.  This is where the battle will continue even after President Trump leaves office, even after the Republicans lose their Senate majority, even after most of the government returns to normal.  Call this out.  Remember the one thing that can keep us a Democratic-Republic is a fair and free judiciary.  Keep your eyes open. 

The Swastika on the Ball Field

A few weeks ago there was a post on a neighborhood social media board that a swastika was drawn in the dirt of the baseball field near my house.  It was likely kids who were out being mischievous that morning (including vandalizing some sprinkler heads).  I don't know if they were caught for either offense.  What was interesting is that there was a great deal of discussion about this that didn't center on the fact it was a symbol of hate.  One person posted a long and factual statement about the history of the symbol which was used in many cultures and still used today.  Before the Nazis corrupted it was a symbol of hope, joy and other positive messages in India, the Middle East and among Native people in North America.  You will see it adorning old churches and even synagogues going back centuries and when I was a kid the Frederic Remington Art Memorial  has Remington's studio recreated in the building.  The museum was in my home town and we visited often on school trips.  I will never forget seeing the set of silverware that include the swastika with other symbols prominently displayed.  I asked about them and heard the story of items, but the symbol still felt uncomfortable.  Other people thought we need to teach more about the Holocaust.  But there were some who wrote it off as ignorance, as no big deal.  Saying they probably didn't understand what they were doing.  

That attitude of allowing ignorance being an excuse for hateful gestures is problematic.  In recent weeks we have seen football players and a national television host promote virulent anti-Semitic diatribes in public forums.  Ignorance was of course was the excuse.  One football player, DeSean Jackson, met with a Holocaust survivor and has accepted and invitation to travel to Auschwitz to learn.  He offered a sincere apology and maybe just maybe with better understand the history he so easily diminished and that the tropes that rolled off his tongue without hesitation were wrong.  Maybe.  

There are those who see that there are members of the African American community have a blind spot to the history of other oppressed groups and that Jews have been a target of resentment by Black America, especially among Black Nationalist leaders and Black Muslim leaders, like Louis Farrakhan.  Jemele Hill, a former ESPN commentator and a staff writer for The Atlantic writing about Jackson says: 

"Regardless of what happens with Jackson, the unfortunate truth is that some Black Americans have shown a certain cultural blindspot about Jews. Stereotypical and hurtful tropes about Jews are widely accepted in the African American community," Hill wrote. "As a kid, I heard elders in my family say in passing that Jewish people were consumed with making money, and that they 'owned everything.' My relatives never dwelled on the subject, and nothing about their tone indicated that they thought anything they were saying was anti-Semitic—not that a lack of awareness would be any excuse. This also doesn’t mean that my family—or other African Americans—are more or less anti-Semitic than others in America, but experiencing the pain of discrimination and stereotyping didn’t prevent them from spreading harmful stereotypes about another group."

Hill herself had a moment of antisemitism when she used the idea of Hitler in a joke about the Celtics when at ESPN.  She, like Jackson, took the time during the response to not get defensive, writing in the same Op-Ed that she now cringes at the thought of the lack of empathy for the Jews because it wasn't her and notes that if someone made a joke about slavery then she would have similar reaction.  

Since Jackson's words because public we have also seen another black celebrity, Nick Cannon, say similar things.  He has since apologized, such that it was, and I hope he too will take time to learn or more importantly unlearn what he thinks he knows about Jews.  Too often what is taught both informally within a culture and sometimes in formal settings can be quite hateful.  Not that Jews are the only victims but more often then not, like the Swastika in the ball field, when Jews are attacked it is more easily forgiven.  Nick Cannon will still keep his job.  Jackson is seen as a role model for admitting ignorance and so many others, well, their message doesn't make the news.  This week on Rachel Maddow's television show, Mary Trump, niece of the President and writer of a family secrets book, revealed the President comfortably used antisemitic and racist language among friends and family.  (It is not in the book this was in response to a question).  There are already voices saying that it was common in his generation.  

And that is the problem.  The normalcy of certain types of language and thinking makes it harder to confront.  When Mel Gibson has is epic meltdown so many years ago that was an antisemitic rant, well within the line of who he is as a person by all accounts, he was vilified.  He is now seen again as a top actor and director in Hollywood (that he ironically said was run by the Jews).  We cannot and should not accept this in our diverse culture.  Allowing a pass to people because Jews currently aren't as oppressed as other minority groups in this country is dangerous and we know this because synagogue around the country have to post guards for security.  In Poway and Pittsburgh people repeating the same tropes that Jackson and Cannon expressed shot Jews at worship.  I know, because as a Jewish professional I have to read reports of what is going on around the world when Jews are attacked.  I know because I get phone calls from colleagues asking me how to discuss the graffiti spray painted on the gravestones in the Jewish cemetery.  

People talk about the horror of cancel culture which I am not sure exists.  Antisemitic ideology is no longer seen as disgusting but as a political position both on the right and the left.  American Nazis comfortable march in communities (as is their right) often preaching violence as they march.  Leftist groups verbally attack Jewish organizations who would be allies and some leaders like Farrakhan continue to avoid criticism from political leaders when they should be shunned.  

 As culture when we let any kind of hate and ignorant be written off we let the disease fester.  We will be better if we not only shine a light on this but totally purge it.  It might take a lot of education, there may be some who will never learn, but we must try.  We must stand up.  As I write this the country mourns the death John Lewis and C T Vivian, two icons of the Civil Rights movement who did just that.  They stood up to hate and ignorance their whole lives.  If you posted something this weekend to mourn their loss then it is up to you to make sure the Good Trouble you choose to engage in includes everyone.  Let's cut out the disease of hate.  

Freddie Mercury, No Pants and Wear the Mask

I had would could be the silliest discussion this week about wearing a mask to continue to slow the spread of Covid-19.  The person who said we shouldn't wear one kept harping on the fact that a typical cloth mask has a weave that allows the tiny virus particles to get through and since there is evidence that the particles can be airborne a mask is useless.  People keep using the analogy of trying to stop a mosquito with a  chain link fence.  But that is not a good analogy because while it is true that some virus will get through the mask and may become airborne in those cases, a large quantity of the virus is in spittle and other expectorants that are stopped by a mask, even a simple cloth mask and do not spread as much.  Think about it like a shower curtain.  The shower curtain, when utilized properly, will keep the water from splashing out onto the floor of the bathroom.  Is it perfect, no, especially when someone turns into Freddie Mercury in the shower doing the entire song with  movement, using a Trader Joe's shampoo bottle for a microphone (best kind of bottle so I am told) and swinging your arms around sending waves of water over the top of the curtain.  It also allows the steam to float out and condense on the mirror that you have to rub away to truly see what all God gave you....okay back to masks.  

Without the shower curtain, the bathroom would become a swamp in due time because regardless of your actions in the shower it will block a significant amount of moisture from getting through but not all.  That doesn't mean it is ineffective, the argument that because masks don't stop all virus it is useless is illogical on its face.  People are looking for any excuse to attack mask instructions because of politics.  Someone wrote that it was one step closer to being put in cattle cars and taken to the ovens.  While remarkably offensive it also makes no sense because if wearing a mask for public health is a way to begin a Holocaust why didn't we see it when laws were passed that required shoes and shirts in many public indoor spaces for health reasons?  

One thing we have learned during this pandemic is that a surprising number of people don't like to wear pants.  I don't just mean the remarkable and subversive nature of women's workout apparel becoming office and even formal wear, I mean going completely without pants.  When co-workers only see you from the chest up in a little box who knows what is going on down there.  That is unless your child coming running into the room and asks why you aren't wearing pants or worse cut themselves and you get up to  help showing that the print on the underwear you chose that day has faded.   But here is the thing, we expect to wear pants in many situations.  It is not tyranny to require you to do that and it may not even be public health at stake but it is an agreed upon norm that we embrace.  Masks, like shirts, shoes and pants are not a fascist mile marker, they are one club in the bag to help keep this virus at bay until we can better destroy or live with it.  Masks save lives.  We have research to prove it.  It is time we start acting like adults who until very recently didn't think about all the times during the day there were cultural norms and rules we follow unquestioned or at least most of us try to follow.  

Masks will be part of who we are for the time being.  Wear them when you are around others who you might infect.  Wear them when you go to the grocery or get take out.  Wear them when you really need to talk up close with a neighbor or friend you don't share living quarters with.  Wear them for the sake of those who will not survive the virus.  Wear them because it is the right thing to do.  

Oh and when you are dancing in the shower singing Freddie's part think about the words......

Turned away from it all like a blind man

Sat on a fence but it don't work

Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn

Why, why, why?

Love, love, love, love, love

Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking

Can't we give ourselves one more chance?

Why can't we give love that one more chance?

Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love

Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?

Let's make sure we give love a chance, love calls us to wear the mask.