The story “Black Women Feel Sting of ‘Traumatizing’ Jackson Hearings” is about a black Supreme court nominee named Ketanji Brown Jackson who seeks support to become the first female Afro-American Supreme court judge. The scrutiny she is subject to and the questions she is asked testify that the Senate Judiciary Committee is unwilling to break the tradition despite Biden’s nomination. Racial prejudices find their way into the proceedings challenging Jackson’s ability to win the much-debated position.
Jackson, an outstanding jurist and mother of two children, has been subject to the most severe scrutiny as she seeks to be nominated for the Supreme Court judge position. The Senators claim she has been too lenient on the child pornography cases, but the feeling is that it is just a façade to hide racial prejudices. Thus, she is asked about her attitude to critical race theory and her racial stances. She is asked about anything related to race and unrelated to her job as a lawyer. The action takes place in New York at the end of March 2022 and has raised serious debates as senators seek to bring Jackson down despite people’s support and a career untarnished throughout the years.
The story is important because it reveals that racial prejudices are still alive in the highest echelons of power. While American society has been partially successful in destroying racial prejudices in the streets and job positions, in houses and concert halls, race discrimination unexpectedly turns up where least expected – at the Senate, the heart of the country. The very fact that until now, there have been no female Afro-American Supreme Court Justices in more than two hundred years of its history is reflective. Racial and gender considerations have effectively blocked the way for smart and ambitious black women to the top of power. Since the Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life, Jackson’s nomination can become a turning point in the history of the US Supreme Court and the US non-racist movement.
The story connects with a theoretical paradigm of critical sociology mentioned in the text. Thus, Senators ask whether it was “her personal hidden agenda to incorporate critical race theory into [the US] legal system” (Morrison & Mascado, 2022, para 11). For critical sociology, addressing the issues that arise when race and ethnicity become the basis of social inequality is a central focus of any emancipatory project. According to intersection theory, the effects of race, class, and gender cannot be separated, and that is exactly what can be seen in this article. Being a black woman, Jackson faces severe opposition since both subconscious prejudices – those against women in power and those against the Afro-American race play against her. As Morrison, A. & Mascado say, “[this is] another example of highly qualified Black women having to endure indignities and distortions of their credentials, even as they shatter racial barriers in American society” (2022, para. 7). Thus, it can be seen that the prejudices become stronger when they combine and complement each other.
According to critical sociology, society is structured by power relations and domination among social groups that determine access to scarce resources. When sociologists examine gender from this perspective, they view men as the dominant group and women as the subordinate group, and social problems and contradictions are created when dominant groups exploit or oppress subordinate groups. It is difficult for women to rise above men, as dominant group members create the societal rules for success and opportunity. This is exactly for can be seen in this story when the male-dominant Senate tries to block the woman’s access to a higher position in power.
Thus, it can be said that theoretical perceptions on race and gender, namely critical sociology theory, help to see how racial and gender concepts effectively support the class system created a long time ago. Racial and gender prejudices can seriously hamper an individual’s chances for success. Understanding basic paradigms that lie behind such prejudices as Jackson faces is instrumental in opposing them and building a society with equal opportunities for everyone.
Reference
Morrison, A. & Mascado, L. (2022). Black women feel stung of ‘traumatizing’ Jackson hearings. AP News.