Withering (In)Justice
“Thank you again. Thank you again. I won’t forget.”
Those words, spoken to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by the evil currently occupying the White House – The People’s House not an Emperor’s nor a King’s – should terrify everyone that believes in democracy. This democracy. Chief Justice John Roberts, the highest jurist in the country – the one that is supposed to be completely apolitical, completely impartial – has been eroding democracy for his tenure. His abettor has been the Republican Congress, which has watched, stood impotent, and abdicated its oath to the Constitution as this amoral, unethical administration runs roughshod over the Constitution – breaking federal laws, committing war crimes, and disregarding international order. We cannot let the pure evil behind those words above ever succeed. It will consume everything in its path if it is left unchecked.
When the Supreme Court of the United States handed down the Louisiana v. Callais decision on April 29, 2026, my stomach fell. I was instantly aware of the terrible consequences – unleashed by the ruling – to come. Even though the levity of the situation hit me right away, the depth of the anger welling inside took a couple of days to rise on the surface. From Citizens United to Dobbs to Trump immunity to, now, Callais, the slow unravelling of democracy has been accelerated by people who are attempting to return this country to the era before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In other words, a racist, hateful collective.
A little less than two decades ago we elected a black president. We were filled with hope – the catchphrase of Barack Obama’s campaign. Hope is an idea. Hope is not action. Today I hear the sentiment of hope (“I hope when all this is over…..”) but no action to back it up. It is time to face the truth that this will not be over when the government changes. Roughly thirty-five percent of Americans believe in the hate that is the ethos of this administration. It took a person so devoid of any feeling or actual substance, so horribly evil to expose, to the world, just what this country truly is. Regardless of who one voted for, the world sees one country. And, we the people, American citizens of all stripes, voted not just once but twice for racism and hate. And hence, we the people are responsible for the world being held hostage by a lunatic and his sycophants. It is going to take a lot more than hope to fix this. It is going to take hard work, which is more than showing up to protest at a rally or event. It is going to take the kind of work that the Civil Rights icons did decades ago. I hope, we the people are ready for this challenge.
I heard Civil Rights icon and professor emeritus Leslie McLemore on NPR last week. He said the Callais decision was “bewildering” in its implications for Black political representation in the South. He also said that our democracy really began in 1965 after the Voting Rights Act. I agree with that assessment. I highly encourage you to spend the short amount of time it will take to listen to the segment. (Listen here.) We cannot, we will not let the hard won rights be turned back. We the people have the power. And that power is rooted in righteousness, honesty, veracity, and hard work. Hate has no chance against those simple truths, morals, and ethics.
What we must do – today and everyday – is constantly talk about how wrong these times are. For if we stop talking, apathy sets in, and I can already feel it setting in. “There’s nothing I can do” or “it’ll all be over soon” doesn’t cut it. Their goal is apathy, compliance, servitude. Democracy dies, and authoritarianism takes hold with apathy. The mainstream media and legacy news aren’t portraying how wrong, how bad, how evil these times are. In that regard, they have abdicated their duty to democracy and the truth. We the people must take it up. If you see someone still sleepwalking through these times, shake them, wake them. We must strengthen our voices. I may just be one small voice, but dammit, you’re gonna keep hearing it. I’m going to create a little harder. I’m going to dig a little deeper. We the people have strength in numbers as the No Kings marches have shown. They are already trying to suppress the vote because that is their only path to victory. We need the strength of the No Kings marches tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold come November. Look at the good people of Hungary. It took fifteen years for them to rise up. We can do that now. We must do that now. I believe we will overcome if we want it bad enough – if democracy means that much to each and every one of us. If we pour our collective energies in the collective good, we will succeed. It is that simple.
My playlist for Saturday, May 2, 2026 on WICN 90.5fm in Worcester, Massachusetts, and globally at wicn.org:
Frank Stokes “Downtown Blues”
Johnny Brown “Snake Hips”
The ‘5’ Royales “Think”
King Curtis “Soul Serenade”
Barbara Lynn “You’ll Lose a Good Thing”
Barbara Lynn “Can’t Buy My Love”
B.B. King “Slidin’ and Glidin’”
Tony Joe White “Rainy Night in Georgia”
Freddie North “Rainy Night in Georgia”
Freddie North “She’s All I Got”
Johnny Paycheck “She’s All I Got”
Swamp Dogg “She’s All I Got”
Charlie Rich “Who Will the Next Fool Be”
Charlie Rich “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water”
Charlie Rich “You Can Have Her”
Charlie Rich “Why, Oh Why”
Charlie Rich “Mohair Sam”
Charlie Rich “Feel Like Going Home”