Tell them to persevere.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faced some of the most ridiculous questioning this week from mediocre white men. Instead of appreciation for this historical moment, we got baseless smears, constant interruptions, and angry yelling.

Judge Jackson is the most qualified, most experienced, first nominated public defender, first nominated Black women. Meanwhile, there are currently two Supreme Court justices who are accused sexual predators. That is significantly more than the total number of Black women serving on the court .

If you wanted to know what racism looks like in real time, this hearing is “a glaring body of evidence”. It’s no wonder Black women are exhausted.

And yet Judge Jackson was the embodiment of grace. She said, when asked what she would say to young people who want to follow in her footsteps, persevere.

“I would tell them to persevere”.

Kerri (she/her)

Art by @VotoLatino

1. “I believe Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is highly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, but I’m also tired of celebrating long overdue firsts.” The inescapable exhaustion of being the “first” Black woman. [click to tweet]

2. What if we had housing, access to healthy food and clean water, healthcare, healing, education, childcare, parks and community services. Here’s how to really talk about defunding the police. [click to tweet]

3. With little to attack SCOTUS nominee, Republicans are going full hypocrisy and painting Jackson as a tool of “dark money” groups looking to pack the Supreme Court with radical leftists. [click to tweet]

4. How Long Should It Take to Grieve? Psychiatry Has Come Up With an Answer. The latest edition of the DSM-5 includes a controversial new diagnosis: prolonged grief disorder. [click to tweet]

5. Many of us are still operating as if things were normal. We continue to be hard on ourselves for failing to be productive. It’s still the apocalypse, let’s give ourselves and one another some grace. [click to tweet]

To have a Black woman in the highest court in the land who is pro-worker, has advanced experience in racial and economic justice and who has stood up for those in need is exactly what we need. Let’s confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson!

CALL YOUR SENATORS: Tell your Senators that you want Judge Brown to have a swift confirmation to serve on the US Supreme Court: 1-833-304-2629

VOTE RACISTS OUT OF OFFICE: Instead of just applauding Judge Jackson, white people can get out in front and vote racism out of our legislative bodies so that future Black women won’t have to ever endure this treatment again. Start here.

Art by @sistascotus

How do we find hope in hard times? This article explores how “alongside trauma and particularly in times of pandemics throughout history, hope can take the form of stories about resilience. And for Indigenous people in particular, who have disproportionately experienced the effects of the pandemic, what better way to find hope than to turn to Indigenous survivors in post-apocalyptic narratives?” In “Turning to Indigenous Knowledge” Métis author Cherie Dimaline asks “who do we want to be in the moment of our survival? Her many books explore the importance of indigenous storytelling through tales of post-apocalyptic survival in showing us who we can be for the future.

Join us TONIGHT (Thursday March 24th) for a free CTZN Meet Up with street poet Frank Escamillo as we explore sacred storytelling. Register here!

Ruby Sales wrote a “meditation on losing our minds in the age of speed, digitization, robots and artificial intelligence. We cannot make freedom movements if we cannot focus”. You can subscribe to Ruby’s blog “From My Front Porch” here.

Art @rachel_e_lettering

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