I feel like I’m on sensory overload; there is so much
happening at the same time that it’s nearly impossible to digest and process it
all. There’s Paula Deen and George Zimmerman, Aaron Hernandez, Dark Girls, A-Rod and then the Supreme
Court has started the week on a roll. Not to mention, new Jay-Z next week and
another Dwight Howard saga set to begin Monday. Yeah, there’s bigger issues in
the world I know, but first I gotta deal with the world I know. The fact of it all is history’s being made (for better or
worse) and I believe many of us are missing it because our attention is either
spread too thin or we’re just worried about the wrong things.
While you were debating if Paula Deen or any of us for that
matter should be able to say the dreaded “N-Word”, the Supreme Court decided an
appeals court misinterpreted the justices' precedent when reviewing the
University of Texas at Austin's affirmative action policy and told the 5th
Circuit U.S. Appeals Court to take another look. In their effort to create a
more diverse student body, the University of Texas – Austin instituted a policy
that automatically accepted students who graduated in the top 10% of their high
school class, limiting the general acceptance pool and pissing Fisher and her
parents off to the point of taking the case to the highest courts.
So let’s see, an institution responds because affirmative
action is damn near obliterated in the state (1996) and someone on the outside
looking in sees this as unfair, then drains resources, energy and time because
a few Black and Brown faces are guaranteed seats that were once promised to the
good ol’ boys? In the aftermath of it all, the world’s favorite Negro Clarence
Thomas, found another way to reject affirmative action in spite of the high probability
it was the cause of his acceptance to Yale Law. He even went as far as to liken
the practices at the University of Texas to segregationist policies of the Jim
Crow Era.
Really dude?
While some of us were tuned in to Headline News watching the
George Zimmerman trial, the Supreme Court was getting busy on the Voting Rights
Act of 1965, saying part of it was no longer in concert with the climate of the
country. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Our country has changed. While any
racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the
legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.”
What country does he live in? Wasn’t it just seven or eight months ago voter suppression
laws were being fought right up against the Presidential Election? I suppose a
Black president speaks to the contrary of actions of states looking to put
policy in place that intimidates, frustrates and ultimately alienates mostly
minority (read: Black and Hispanic) voters. That is, until the GOP finds a way
to bring those populations into the fold or totally wipe them away…whichever
comes first.
That sound you heard was the Confederacy giggling its ass off!
Before I left for work I received a text that Aaron
Hernandez had been arrested, but the charges not announced. Before I could get
into a proper discussion about that, the Supreme Court was back at it! This
time, they supported gay marriage, rejecting parts of the Defense of Marriage
Act (DOMA) and chilling on Prop 8, allowing a lower court’s ruling that found
the ban unconstitutional. To sum it up, the language that says marriage is
between a man and woman was removed and now the federal government must
recognize same-sex couples in states where it’s legal and also reaffirmed that
each state has the power to rule on gay marriage the way they see fit. It’s a
step forward to marriage equality and undoubtedly will ramp up the efforts of
gay rights advocates to put pressure on the remaining 37 states to realize the
definition of marriage should be between love and love. Good luck in Texas,
they don’t want half of their residents to vote and want to decide what a woman
does with her reproductive system.
Oh yeah, Hernandez was charged with murder.
The 24-hour news cycle has given way to the three-minute commercial
break as we tried to show love for Michael Jackson and keep an eye on George Zimmerman
in court, but our priorities consume us and apathy seemingly governs over us. We
stayed up to obscene hours to download the MagnaCartaHolyGrail app and wonder
if Dwight Howard would really leave the Lakers, while other engaged in
discussions based in self-image, self-hate that had nothing to do with Kanye
and Paula Deen hired the real Olivia Pope (Judy Smith) on the low. Then Stevie J.
got back with Joseline and Shay acted a fool outside of a plate glass window
and Bobby “Blue” Bland died.
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