By Calvin Hill
I did not believe Susan Collins. In defense of Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in a soft spoken sincerity of her belief in Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s assault, the Maine Senator may as well have called her a liar. For Collins to posit a belief that Dr. Ford was sexually assaulted, but not by Kavanaugh, when the two were teenagers, was the height of hubris, beneath all dignity, and highly insulting. I would posit that Susan Collins, as well as every female Senator who voted to confirm Kavanaugh, remembers the name of the first elementary school boy who sent them home in tears. That goes, as well, for all the mothers who defended Kavanaugh under the precept that their son could be falsely accused. But remarkably without concern about the expense and reputation of their daughters. And though her vote was regrettable, Collins’ statement was truly shameful.
Growing up in public housing on the Lower East Side of New York in the 1950s, I remember the name of the short, Italian man who came into my building to book numbers and, to this day, I could point out his picture in a photo array. And nothing about his visits had the trauma suffered by sexual assault victims. I remember the name of an elementary school classmate whose mother I had disparaged, unaware that she was deceased. It still gives me a sense of shame and regret whenever I think of it.
While we are two and a half years into the current President of the United States and his frank admission of forcibly kissing women and grabbing their vaginas without permission, and having more than a dozen of his alleged victims credibly corroborating his sexual assaults, the Commonwealth of Virginia is embroiled in a panoply of racial and sexual contretemps, each more serious than the last. On the medical yearbook page of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, is a person in KKK regalia and another person wearing blackface – something commonly and stupidly seen in newspapers and on social media every year, carried out by “fun loving” police and fire departments, and the occasional corporate bacchanal when a Nazi uniform was unavailable.
There are times when fun is not funny. Virginia’s Lt. Gov., Justin Fairfax, has been alleged to have raped and assaulted two women – Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Ms. Meredith Watson. Even Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has admitted to wearing blackface in a show in which he claimed to do an imitation of rapper Kurtis Blow. All three are Democrats wherein, in the era of #MeToo, there is zero tolerance for sexual assaults, sexual harassment, and racial stupidity.
However, their refusals to resign in the face of the Party’s zero tolerance policy and Democratic calls for them to leave, is uniquely Republican. Denials in the face of credible accusations has become a Republican art form in the era of Donald Trump. In 1974, when integrity had a place in the GOP, it was Republicans, led by Civil Rights opponent, Senator Barry Goldwater, who told their president, Richard M. Nixon, pardon my unintended pun, that the jig was up. In fact, it was not that long ago that integrity still mattered to Republicans. Former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott was ousted as Senate Majority Leader over his innocuous statement of praise for 100 year old Strom Thurmond that was alleged to agree with Thurmond’s segregationist past and 1948 run for President of the United States. Now, a photo has recently been uncovered with present Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, proudly receiving some sort of accolade in full presence of a Confederate flag – speech and statements not included.
In recent years we have discovered that a blind eye has been turned to the existence of a pimp culture among staff and administrators at American universities. Michigan State University team doctor, Larry Nassar, has been criminally convicted after years of sexual abuse of US Olympic gymnasts, tainting the reputation of the school, its coaches, athletic directors and top administrators. Convicted child abuser, Jerry Sandusky’s exploits took down American icon and legendary Penn State football coach, the late Joe Paterno. And, as this is being written, over 100 former Ohio State students have alleged sexual abuse and molestation by deceased team doctor Richard Strauss, and more than a dozen former athletes have claimed then wrestling coach, Jim Jordan, current Ohio Congressman, knew of the abuse and was directly told by some of Strauss’ victims. Anyone that has witnessed Rep. Jordan in shirtsleeves, in television interviews and during hearings, pontificating on Hillary Clinton’s emails or FISA warrants, displaying amazing feats of rhetorical bombast will find the fearful, halting, timidity of his response during his initial denial to be totally uncharacteristic, unbelievable, and his inability to put straight sentences together without multiple uhs and ums, to be highly suspicious. The calls for the Democratic Virginia 3 to follow the fates of Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers have totally ignored the necessity for the former Ohio State athletes to testify, under oath, before the House Ethics Committee. If Jim Jordan sent injured athletes to Dr. Strauss, after having been told of sexual abuse, he is guilty of aiding and abetting the pimp culture and his constituents, colleagues and the American people deserve to know.
A recently Tweeted trope of a Jewish stereotype by newly sworn Rep. Ilhan Omar has necessitated calls by the Democratic leadership to apologize. However, many Republicans in leadership are seeking a punishment much harsher than the apology she rendered. President Trump has called for her resignation and, failing that, her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Recall that this is the same president who has yet to apologize to the McCain family, an American judge, two American Gold Star families, the country of Haiti and their citizens, the countries in Africa and their peoples, Ted Cruz’s father, Ted Cruz’s wife, the indigenous tribes in America, or Barack Obama. Unfortunately, his fellow Republicans see no need to demand, nor any need, to compel a sense of decency from their party leader. After an avowed anti-Semite massacred Jewish Americans in their Pittsburgh synagogue, the very least the Republican Party should already have done, is demand that the President of the United States repeal and replace his statement that some of the neo-Nazis were “very fine people” who marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
I am probably not alone in saying that I have never heard of anyone not accused of being a shoplifter being banned from a mall. Gone are the days when you could walk into your local post office and peruse a bulletin board featuring posters of the FBI’s MOST WANTED. However, it is not too difficult to imagine the bulletin board in the security office of an Alabama mall replete with photos of individuals labeled “Shoplifter,” and one decidedly different photo of former Senate candidate Roy Moore, with the caption, Banned – Suspected Pedophile. Apparently, having high school administrators corroborate that then, District Attorney Moore, called their high school to speak with and attempt to secure a date with an underaged student was not enough of a red flag waving moment for the Republican Party. And though the hypocrisy in their acceptance of the racism, sexual assaults, and pimp culture by the Republican Party is disturbing enough, their abject silence on the exploitation of children should be unacceptable – and it is not. Citizen Trump has publicly revealed his admiration for the “beauty” of the naked bodies of underaged teenaged girls that he deliberately walked in on knowing they were in various stages of undress. Yet, imprisoned for child pornography and forever labeled as sex offenders, are men who had photos on their computers of the very, live action, thing that Donald Trump brags that he was “able to get away with.”
The Op-Ed Alternative 