On Wednesday, after all the Republicans had finished their infantile attempts to tie Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to anything and everything that they could think of to tear down her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senator Cory Booker, a Black senator from New Jersey, gave the speech that brought tears to Judge Jackson, to onlookers, and to me as I watched the video clip from his impassioned speech. Here’s what one of my favourite columnists, Eugene Robinson, had to say about it in his column in The Washington Post, followed by a short clip from Booker’s speech.
Cory Booker cut through the GOP’s ugliness to celebrate Judge Jackson
By Eugene Robinson
Columnist
24 March 2022
The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have been rife with racism, sexism, feigned outrage and general ugliness. But Wednesday’s proceedings brought one moment of such powerful eloquence that it brought Jackson, and me, to tears. Thank you, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), for speaking truth and for celebrating this historic moment as it deserves to be marked.
Booker’s turn to question Jackson came toward the end of the session. She had been badgered all day by Republicans who pretended to be outraged by the sentences she imposed in several child pornography cases when she was a U.S. district court judge. Republican Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.) had been particularly obnoxious, interrupting Jackson repeatedly and trying their best not to let her defend herself.
Booker greeted Jackson with a broad smile. “Your family and you speak to service, service, service,” he began. “And I’m telling you right now, I’m not letting anybody in the Senate steal my joy. … I just look at you, and I start getting full of emotion.”
The senator said he had been jogging that morning when an African American woman, a stranger, “practically tackled” him to explain how much it meant to her to see Jackson sitting in the witness chair.
“And you did not get there because of some left-wing agenda,” Booker said. “You didn’t get here because of some ‘dark money’ groups. You got here how every Black woman in America who’s gotten anywhere has done. By being, like Ginger Rogers said, ‘I did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards, in heels.’ And so I’m just sitting here saying nobody’s stealing my joy. Nobody is going to make me angry.”
Booker noted that he was just the fourth African American to be popularly elected to the Senate, rather than appointed to his post or elected by a state legislature. He said that during his first week at the Capitol, an older Black man who worked on the cleaning crew came up to him and began crying. “And I just hugged him, and he just kept telling me, ‘It’s so good to see you here.’”
He said Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who also is African American, understood what he meant. Booker and Scott are at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum — Booker a progressive Democrat, Scott a far-right Republican — but he credited Scott with having given “the best speech on race — I wish I could have given as good of a speech. … Talking of the challenges and indignities that are still faced. And you’re here.”
Booker recalled that during a meeting at the White House when President Biden was trying to decide whom to nominate, he and Vice President Harris exchanged the same “knowing glance” that they used to share when Harris was a senator and she sat next to Booker at Judiciary Committee hearings.
It is a glance that every successful African American is familiar with. It says: I know what you went through to get here. I know the hoops you had to jump through, the hurdles you had to surmount, the obstacles thrown into your path. I know you saw less talented White colleagues rise smoothly and steadily to the top while you had to prove your excellence time and again. I know that you could never let your bosses and colleagues see you get angry, never let them see you sweat.
Booker told Jackson that he knew she was “so much more than your race and gender” but could not look at her without seeing his mother or his cousins, “one of them who had to come here to sit behind you … to have your back.” He told Jackson that when he looked at her “I see my ancestors, and yours … Nobody’s going to steal that joy.”
The senator noted that Jackson’s parents, despite the oppressive racial discrimination of their times, “didn’t stop loving this country, even though this country didn’t love them back.” He quoted from the Langston Hughes poem, “Let America Be America Again.” He spoke of the struggles of Irish and Chinese immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community, who also loved this country and had to demand that it love them in return. He recounted the life story of Harriet Tubman and told of how she looked up at the North Star as a harbinger of hope. “Today you’re my star,” he told Jackson. “You are my harbinger of hope.”
The attacks from Republicans would continue, Booker said. “But don’t worry, my sister. Don’t worry. God has got you. And how do I know that?” Booker’s voice cracked with emotion. “Because you’re here. And I know what it’s taken for you to sit in that seat.”
Thank you, Mr. Robinson … and now a short clip from Senator Booker’s speech …
this is why I wanted Sen. Booker to be the Presidential Candidate back in 2020, and then the VP candidate. I hope he still has a desire to run – he would still be my top choice…
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I have always liked Booker, but didn’t feel he was ready in 2020 for a presidential run. Maybe in 2024 or 2028, though. I would certainly support him!
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I hope Joe does not run again, and I think Cory would have a better chance than Harris…
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Yes, I agree with that. Kamala Harris hasn’t had the opportunity to shine yet and … well … like Hillary Clinton, she has that major handicap of being … GASP … a woman! Sigh.
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someone just mentioned how much he likes Tammy Duckworth, but I do not know much about her…
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I don’t know too much about her, either, but what I’ve read has all given me a positive vibe. I’ll look into her a bit more.
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if you learn anything about her, please let me know!
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I sure will!!!
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👍
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It’s getting a bit obvious isn’t it?
Cruz and Co are fortunate The Ukraine crisis arose otherwise the world press would be all over them.
Maybe that’s another reason why they are all so fired up….An African American Woman up for the Supreme Court is bad enough but their buddy Putin getting his butt kicked???
Oh-The-Humanity!!
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You’re so right … they would be getting far more condemnation than they are, but in the grand scheme of things, they are relatively irrelevant today. Except, of course, to their rabid base who neither know nor care where Ukraine is.
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‘You blocks. You stones. You worse than senseless things’
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‘O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome [U.S.]’
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If around today Shakespeare would have enough material for at least one trilogy.
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Heck yes! He’d have permanent blisters on his hands from writing so much … or, d’you think he’d have bought himself a computer by now?
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Oh fer sure…..
He’d have to steer clear of Word.
It hates verse and lyrical turns of phrase.
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Indeed it does … multiple times a day I find myself yelling “It’s MY STYLE, ya stupid computer!!!”
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Me too, only with lotsa bad words
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I throw those in, too! 🤭
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Reblogged this on Michael Seidel, writer and commented:
A great read about Booker’s speech at Jackson’s confirmation hearing.
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Many thanks for the reblog, dear friend!
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followed the whole speech on YT – fantastic! BRAVO
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I agree … it was fantastic! Good to see you, Kiki! Wondered where you had been!
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Pingback: THE BRIGHT STAR OF THE CONFIRMATION HEARING. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal
I hope she hangs in, 👍🏻
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Oh, I’m pretty sure she will!
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I just deleted a conversation on racism. It was pertinent, but not really productive. Instead, I will thank Senator Booker for his heart-warming, sensitive, life-affirming speech. I am sure Ms Jackson appreciated it. Maybe even Senator Scott was affected by it. However, this event is only about the Senate, no one else. I doubt it did anything much for the Grand Old Party boys and girls, because they were not listening. They don’t care about the struggles of Black People. They care only about maintaining the comforts supplied to them by their white privilege. Part of the privilege is not caring about anyone but themselves.
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You’re right that this particular speech had a limited audience, but it will have been heard by most in Congress, applauded by some and mocked by others. It won’t change anybody’s minds, but it made a strong statement and was most welcome from where I stand. And yes, KBJ had tears in her eyes through most of the speech, as did I.
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Jill, I have always held Booker in high regard. I know he is not perfect, as no one is. And, he may not be progressive enough for some, but he has always been someone the Democrats should be looking to for a presidential candidate. Keith
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Me too, Keith. No, he’s not perfect, but who is? I hadn’t thought about him in terms of the Oval Office, but … maybe in a few years … just maybe.
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Pingback: The Bright Star Of The Confirmation Hearing | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News
Thanks, Ned!!!
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I hope Tim Scott was easy on her in his turn .She’s been a bright star in every position she’s held and more than most has earned her spot on the Supreme Court which none of the last 3 Republican placements have, especially Kavanaugh.
Cwtch
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How he votes on Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court will tell us all we need to know about who Tim Scott really is. The same, perhaps to a lesser extent , with Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney. Beyond those four and possibly one or two more, I think the GOP will “hold the line” against Judge Jackson.
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I worry about Manchin and Simena (sp)…and will that cause her to not be confirmed.
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I just heard “Breaking News” that Manchin has announced that he WILL vote for Jackson. This all but assures her nomination will be successful.
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YES!!!!! 👍👍
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I hope we will not change his mind, again. Being a politician, I don’t feel I can trust him, not yet. I will only believe him when, during the voting process, he states “I confirm Ms Jackson!” or whatever words it is he has to speak in the affirmative.
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He has indicated all along that he would likely support Jackson … it was only reported that Republicans were trying to talk him out of it. They likely thought since they had convinced him to side with them on other issues, such as voting rights, the filibuster, etc., that he might be willing to do so on this, too. I don’t think he will jump ship on Judge Jackson’s confirmation.
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My fingers are crossed.
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I think they will both vote to confirm, after what Mr. Muse wrote. And that, my friend, pretty much seals it.
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I agree. They all voted against the two voting rights bills, at which point I gave up hope on them ever finding their consciences.
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Scott isn’t on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but he did meet privately with her in mid-March. I would like to see him vote to confirm her, but I’m not holding my breath — Tim Scott often reminds me of Ben Carson — a BINO.
Cwtch
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What an amazing speech.
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It brought a tear to my eye!
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Mine too
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