THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR: RUTH BADER GINSBURG

THE NOTORIOUS RBG

What lesson did we learn from Madam Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Men and, more so, women will not be the benefactors of equality until the power of necessity leads the struggle to achieve it. Freedom is by necessity and is never gifted but taken through intervention. It will not come by waiting for it to walk through your door. Ruth Ginsburg brought six landmark decisions on behalf of women’s equality. She showed an appreciation for the civil rights of American women and a developing democracy.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminds us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. She reminded us that heroism does not require extraordinary physical strength. Heroism sat on the United States Supreme Court.

We must honor her service as an advocate for human rights by continuing to tread the path that will lead all Americans to eliminate the places where past injustices have not been sufficiently addressed. These unresolved injustices will only be given sufficient national attention by waiting for the election of a new president who respected Madam Justice’s principles. In cases involving civil liberties and rights, we cannot deny that our legal compass from August 10, 1993, to September 18, 2020, has been notably steered by her unmistakable impartial impressions of Constitutional law.

There is no more powerful force for social class rigidity than Donald Trump’s natural selection process. A person’s position in society cannot be determined by an ancestor’s status, but by the value of accomplishments and contributions. People in an “entitled” world seldom lack arguments to deny others the advantages that they enjoy pretending are not advantages. They are real, and if earned, must be awarded. The endeavor for equality will see no closure until this nation recognizes inequality exists. The struggle for justness will go much faster, and we will minimize the damage of the last four years when we accept that history has placed us all within a common border and under common laws. These codes of conduct support liberty and opportunity for all. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Abe Fortas, Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Justice Ginsburg argued in favor of reasonability. It was time for individual freedoms, fair elections, the end of violence and intimidation against citizens, and constitutional protections for all.

Such legal defenses will be set in time to steer this nation into becoming a beacon for liberty and opportunity. Some, however, remain distant from the promise of a dream that remains a mirage for too many today.

It is time for the Notorious RBG to rest now; the job becomes ours. She was a tireless hero for women, the architect for the end of gender discrimination in America. Her work can only be complete if we become duly devoted to a perfect union. “We” men and women, must commit ourselves to the laws she constructed by continuing to ensure that the weight of her opinions will be embedded in future tenets of Constitutional law. The “Thurgood Marshall of Gender Equality” had a gift for making coherent arguments, and like Justice Marshall, she has fulfilled the work of a “Great Emancipator.” In the history of the United States, let us go beyond eulogies for Justice Ginsburg and work to dismantle the last remains of naïve incivilities.

Khalilah Sabra, Ph.D. // TWITTER: @khalilahsabra // Muslim Americans For Social Justice & Diversity // BIA Accredited Representative (Immigration Law) // www.masijc.org