I've been having a hard time understanding the GOP strategy of attacking Justice Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights icon to millions of Americans, particularly black Americans. Since the election of Barack Obama, the right has really struggled with issues of race. The problem has always been there, but until it became clear that Mr. Obama was going to become President, they tended to give the illusion that they were really interested in developing closer ties to the black community. Now, all pretenses have been toss aside, so much so that they feel comfortable launching a full-blown, childish tantrum against one of the greatest civil rights icons in America history.
Personally, I think it's a call to arms for some, an effort to recall the ghosts of the old South. To those that still fly the confederate flag with pride, those that send email pictures of watermelons on the White House lawn or that depict the First Lady as a monkey or a cartoonist that hints the President is a chimpanzee that needs to be shot dead.
Sarah Palin made it an art form during the McCain campaign. She took her message on the road where she would make references to "real America" or the "us vs. them" talk. At town hall rallies there where some people that demanded their country back. My question is always, "back from whom?" Just who has taken YOUR country and why is it your country and not "Our" country?
This is the usual fare for some Republicans, there has never been much attraction among black Americans to the GOP. They (GOP) have rarely ever made any kind serious outreach to minority communities in this country. The small effort made by George Bush to reach out to Latinos, which showed some success early in his presidency, was completely demolished by xenophobic elements of the Republican party and their total disapproval of any kind of comprehensive immigration reform. Bush's effort was portrayed as amnesty and all Latino's were painted as illegal, border-crossing criminals which totally disregards the millions of Latinos that are U.S. citizens.
Now, for the last few days, we've viewed this bizarre attack on Supreme Court Justice Marshall. In an effort to derail the nomination of Solicitor General Elana Kagen, a white Jewish woman, the GOP decided that it was a good idea to trash a true American hero, a man that devoted his life to serving his country and his fellow Americans.
Maybe that's the point, maybe the GOP has no problem trashing this great Supreme Court Justice because they still don't see African Americans as real Americans, so to them, there is no down side in showing their true colors.