Every morning, after making coffee and taking my dog for a walk, I check in on the news and read my Twitter feed. The latter is always filled with stories like the ones Dana Milbank collected to demonstrate that DNC Chair Jamie Harrison was right, the GOP is built on fraud, fear and fascism. I'm not going to repeat all of the examples Milbank documented because the hate emanating from the right is one of the major contributors to the depression I've been feeling lately. It is so incredibly ugly that I, for one, become increasingly immobilized if I dwell on it.
On the other hand, we have news like the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the #BidenBoom is still soaring and this week, unemployment claims were the lowest we've seen in this country since 1968. I got a kick out of the way that White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice reacted to that news.
This is me the last time unemployment claims were this low (1968) pic.twitter.com/OtPONQfHv8
— Susan Rice (@AmbRice46) April 7, 2022
Then yesterday, this happened:
The first Black woman to serve as @VP announces the confirmation of the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. History. pic.twitter.com/bP9boVlVPe
— DJ Koessler (@DJKoessler) April 7, 2022
As Sen. Cory Booker reminded us, no one could steal our joy at that moment. I was celebrating, but didn't get tearful until I saw the picture up above. At first, I didn't know why that one got to me. But then Maya Wiley helped me understand.
THIS is what this nation should be. One that clasps hands, that sees value in one another. That charts a history-making path to a stronger democracy. And then we will all rise. #Justice looks like all of us when we decide to stand by her. pic.twitter.com/BiZ3pbfR8t
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) April 7, 2022
A couple more tweets took it to a deeper level.
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr has set the standard for what white so-called allies should be doing: use the power you have to move Black people forward.
— Bitch McConnell™ (@tiffmc1013) April 8, 2022
No, he's not a savior. Yes, he has the ability to do more than most.
Your only power may be your voice. Use it when necessary. pic.twitter.com/80SxI7fEUM
My wife and I were talking about this video and she said how it really shows @JoeBiden generosity of spirit. "There's always space for other people."
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) April 8, 2022
She's right. And I think that's my favorite quality about him. He doesn't need to take up the whole room. https://t.co/aCih1zr034
Joe Biden has served as vice president to this country's first African American president and hired the first Black and South Asian vice president. Now he's appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. But that's not all.
To date, President Biden has nominated the most demographically diverse set of judicial candidates in history, including the first LGBTQ woman to serve on a court of appeals, the first Muslim American to serve as a federal judge, and the first Black woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court. Twenty-six percent of all Black women currently serving as active judges were nominated by President Biden. Nearly 30 percent of Biden’s nominees have served as public defenders.
Moving from his judicial nominations to his cabinet, we see the most diverse group in history:
If we could manage the energy and unity to defeat the GOP in November there is no limit to the strides we could make for diversity and equity here. I hope enough people think that’s worth the work.
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) April 8, 2022
The hardest thing for me to grapple with these days isn't just the hate emanating from elected Republicans. It's that there is even a question about which direction this country wants to go. I desperately want to have faith in my fellow Americans. But it is being sorely tested right now.
"The hardest thing for me to grapple with these days isn't just the hate emanating from elected Republicans. It's that there is even a question about which direction this country wants to go. I desperately want to have faith in my fellow Americans. But it is being sorely tested right now." Well, Nancy, I have often had the same conflicting thoughts, and have had those internal and external arguments about the possibilities in them. I must say, though, your article's direction this morning is so much better than the crap that has appeared on my local newspaper and in the national media. I won't give 'airtime' to some of those airheads, but let me say that this article has overpowered the negatives that have weighed down on many of us at all levels of American society. Thanks for sharing your talents.
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