It will take more than a "moderate" on the Supreme Court Bench to reverse the reactionary direction of American society under Donald Trump's authoritarian rule - not that such appointment is practicable. The ideological chemistry of the court will not change with Justice Kennedy's replacement; Trump's selection is expected to render dissenting opinion null and void. We can't rely on remedy from within the system that codified Islamophobia into law.
The "good old days" of the Reagan administration that fostered a program of white supremacy, misogyny, and xenophobia were anything but; it was the court of public opinion that stymied some of the grossest threats to women's autonomy and gay rights. And we can learn much from civil disobedience tactics employed in the historic struggle for racial justice. But social advancements of the period prove tenuous at best.
Old forms of discrimination have been recast. Barack Obama's election was celebrated as a "triumph over race." President Trump's first Supreme Court appointee (Neil Gorsuch) wasted no time in challenging the benefits associated with same-sex marriage, and joined Justice Kennedy's recent ruling in favor of the Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Families seeking asylum from the ravages of U.S. imperialism are torn asunder in the home of The New Colossus ("Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"). Asian Americans know instinctively what is at stake, says independent journalist Emil Guillermo, and how Trump's travel ban "went right to the core of the basic freedoms we hold dear in a democracy, like the freedom of speech and religion. The travel ban prejudges groups of innocent people from specific countries and makes them enemies of America.... It's the same way that America justified the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II."
"Millions of us hate what is being done," writes Revolution Newspaper contributor Sunsara Taylor. "We must stop squandering our power, our voices, and our ability to change history - we must get out of our comfort zones, out of dead-ends of official politics, and into the streets."
On July 7th: Join with Refuse Fascism, mobilize your organization or your friends and neighbors and take to the streets across the country to raise the demand: This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!
