A Theory About This Week's Media KKKraziness—It's About The Supreme Court And The VRA
03/09/2013
A+
|
a-
Print Friendly and PDF

Why has the last week seen the national media break out into a frenzy over the specter of white racism? (See below for examples.) 

Perhaps it goes back to the February 27th oral arguments at the Supreme Court over whether or not to bid adieu to Title 5 of the Voting Rights Act after 48 years. Justice Scalia's question about the "perpetuation of racial entitlement," about how quickly we glide from a world where affirmative action can't be ended because the beneficiaries are too weak to one where they are too strong, definitely got the press's goat. Scalia suggested that the Supreme Court is the only institution left in America with the independence and the moral backbone to say Enough Time Has Passed. 
Since then, we've seen the prestige press push bizarre stories, like the current top story in the Washington Post this evening about the "mysterious" murder of a black politician in Mississippi that was actually solved last month (Spoiler Alert! Another black male killed him.)

This is not to say that it's an organized conspiracy. The stories are way too stupid for that. It's more like an immune system response: throw everything and anything and see what sticks. Maybe the Oberlin assault blanket or the white racist deli or black-on-black Mississippi crime can get Justice Kennedy to decide, "I'm just not ... comfortable with sunsetting the VRA. What will Georgetown think?"

Print Friendly and PDF