Ruth Bader Ginsberg (1933 - 2020)
With the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, America has suffered an incalculable loss. The phrase 'we will not see their like again' is so often used it's become over-used. But in this case, it could not possibly be truer. RBG, as she was affectionately known, is as irreplicable as she is irreplaceable.
Talk of glass ceilings invariably crop up when Ginsberg's life and career are discussed, but the imagery doesn't come anywhere close to the encapsulating the scope of the barriers placed in her way. Those ceilings weren't glass; they were steel and concrete and yet she broke through them anyway, such was the fierceness of her tenacity and the precision of her intellect. She made the discrimination she and millions of American women faced become constitutionally untenable. And for that reason, she must go down in history as one of the most important and influential Americans of all time.
She wasn't the first woman on the US Supreme Court bench (she was the second), but she was the longest-serving and most influential, both in her legal role and in her broader sociocultural impact. The Notorious RBG. She wasn't just tough; she was a badass. She wasn't just an octogenarian with a profoundly distinguished career; she was cool. And she will be mourned like few others.
Perhaps she got her fighting spirit from her origins and upbringing. Brooklyn-born Jewish New Yorkers are not known for their passivity. Her childhood nickname was 'kiki', because she was a 'kicky' baby. Her mother, who died when just before Ginsberg graduated from High School, battled cancer for many years before she finally succumbed. Ginsberg was surround with defiant fighters, and in time, she became their champion.
At Harvard Law School, she was one of nine women. Amongst 500 men. Her gender initially prevented her from finding work. Not subtly, either; it was said to her face that she - because she was a she - was not cut out for this kind of work. Did she go to extreme lengths to prove them wrong? No. She simply became her best self, and proved them wrong by default. No one was going to stand in her way.
The wonderful, almost tearfully idealised version of political America depicted in The West Wing once found its main characters in the position of needing to help select a new Chief Justice. What they were after was what they described as a 'Liberal Lion'. In reality, America already had her.
As a progressive liberal (in the American sense of the word), she was loathed by as many as she was loved. But what those who disparaged her never seemed to grasp that she improved American society for all women - progressive or conservative. She enhanced and entrenched their rights; she broadened their opportunities; and she never wavered. She redefined the concept of feminine strength. She intellectualised it on the most powerful and important of platforms.
Once, when asked how many women she'd like to see would like to see on the Supreme Court Bench, her reply of 'nine' shocked her interlocutor, and poured petrol on the flaming conservatives hell-bent on demonising her as a dangerous radical. When questioned on this view, she simply pointed out that nine men was seen as perfectly fine for well over a century, so nine women should be just as acceptable to those with rational minds. Her logic, as always, was flawless. It's why many tried to demonise her, but few ever underestimated her.
And now, America waits, poised on its electoral knife-edge, to find out who will follow in her footsteps. Had it not been for Trump, she would have retired several years ago to prioritise her health, but she was too fearful of what might happen to the balance of the court, which has proven to be so fundamentally important to America's ability to manage itself. She might not have outlasted Trump, but in passing away so close to the election, she has left him too little time to replace her. I am sure, as a result, she will rest in peace. It's a tragedy that under Trump and in the midst of Covid calamity (and in America, it is a calamity) that she will not get the public acts of remembrance and commemoration she so richly deserves. But I doubt RBG would care. She's everywhere now. On t-shirts. In songs. Inked onto skin. Running through the blood of America's veins.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg was so much more than one in a million. She was one in a nation.
We will not see her like again.
Comments