The Notorious RBG
The passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg is heartbreaking. We all knew it could happen at any time, but I think we all thought “She’s made it this far. She can make it to January.” She was a pioneer, the hardest worker, a woman dedicated to her principles and family, and an inspiration to so many. She will be sorely missed, and I can’t help but think it is immensely appropriate that she passed on the same day that Kiwi women celebrate being the first women in the world to gain the right to vote back in 1893.
And OMFG I am glad to be in New Zealand.
So here’s where I tell you how the Supreme Court helped shaped our decision to move to New Zealand. When we came over in June of 2018, we were originally planning on staying for 90 days during the kids’ summer break. We figured taking advantage of subsidized early childhood education was a great way to spend our summer and a great way to get some of our visa days knocked out. So off we went to enjoy a relatively stress-free few months in Auckland.
The one dark cloud that lingered was my news notifications I woke up to every morning. Because of the time difference, each morning my phone would have news highlights pushed by The New York Times and NPR. I have a tech addiction and check my phone first thing, even before getting out of bed. It was a jolt each morning to see what catastrophic events were taking place in the U.S. I began to feel that dreading panic again as the Supreme Court released decisions at the end of the summer term. We were already deeply disturbed by the ruling earlier in the month in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. We saw this as a significant attack on the progression of LBGT rights. At the end of June, the Supreme Court ruled on National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, which we saw as another infringement on a woman’s right to choose. It was appalling that the Court was allowing non-medical facilities to essentially lie to women about what their medical options are. Then there was the decision in Trump v. Hawaii that upheld Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries, essentially legalizing a religious bias in the U.S. These Supreme Court decisions, in my mind, demonstrated how the extreme right’s plan to influence policy in the United States was finally coming to fruition. There was little hope for progressive policies to be successfully implemented with such a conservative court ruling on issues I believe make America great. Rolling back labor protections, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and all of the other items on the docket that were sure to follow was disheartening and depressing. The U.S. was no longer[1] a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. And the worst part was that this would not change at the midterm elections or even the next presidential election. The lifetime appointments of these judges meant this conservative court was here to stay well beyond the Trump administration.
Then a terrible shock. Justice Kennedy announced his retirement at the end of July, giving Trump another Supreme Court seat to fill with an undoubtedly conservative judge. Kennedy, the swing vote that often saved progressive social issues, was a surprise, a terrible, terrible surprise. Jon and I weren’t quite sure how to process this development, and I know he was thinking about it just as much as I was. A new justice would cement a conservative hold on the court for what? Another thirty years? Forty? How many rights that we took for granted would be denied our children? In particular, I was worried about my daughter. I wanted her to have access to birth control. I wanted to make sure she could get access to truthful information if she even felt compelled to go to a clinic without me. I hoped she would never have to do that, but one never knows. I stewed in my thoughts, trying to process what this meant to me.
That was the day we decided not to go back to the US.
So now the the Notorious RBG is gone and Mitch McConnell has promised to bring a nominee up for a vote in the senate despite his 2016 schiestiness with Merrick Garland, there is a feeling of rapidly approaching a cliff that we won’t be able to come back from. Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose situation. Either the republicans steal another seat, cementing their ability to push forward a conservative agenda for decades to come, or the democrats sink to new lows previously unearthed by the right in order to level the playing field. Either way, the biggest loser is the remaining tatters of American democracy.
Let us take time to mourn the loss of a woman who accomplished so much in her lifetime. Then let’s mourn for the USA. This is going to be another gaping wound that won’t heal any time soon.
And here’s a little post script. In my What to Bring post, #6 is US history books for kids. Today is one of those days I’m so glad we have a pile to choose from. For story time, I was able to pull out this gem and spend some time explaining the significance of RGB and why I was so sad that she died. It was a wonderful family moment, and I’m thankful to have kid-friendly tools to help explain her legacy.
The painting I used for The Notorious RBG art at the top is by Ashley Longshore.
[1] Let’s be honest here. The U.S. never was a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. The history taught in school is so incredibly whitewashed that we barely even acknowledge how much pain and suffering our intolerance has caused. I’ve been forced to look at our history critically, and we’ve successfully told a lie that the U.S. is a wonderful place that welcomes the world’s “tired, sick, and poor.” But we don’t and we never have. Look at the plight of Native Americans, Africans brought as slaves, and un-landed white migrants. The deck has always been stacked against them.
