This Just In – Senator Cory Booker made clear he understands the power of history, the value of speaking out and the enduring quality of actual leadership.
In taking to the Senate floor this week and holding the floor for a record-smashing 25+ hours, Booker sent to the dumpster of Senate history the Strom Thurmond filibuster record set in 1957. Thurmond sought to obstruct the Senate from considering the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which created the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The well-known Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Johnson, were actually amendments to the 1957 act, signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower. Under Johnson’s leadership in the Senate in ’57, the Senate version of the bill was weakened from what the House had passed stripping out voting protections for African Americans. Johnson made up for it as President.
When Texas Senator Ted Cruz conducted a filibuster, he was trying to block the Affordable Care Act from becoming law. He spent some part of his 21+ hours reading Dr. Seuss books and otherwise vamping in nonsensical ways to distract from his goal – to prevent an act to expand rights for vulnerable Americans from becoming law.
The headlines were about Green Eggs & Ham, not so much about the approach to governing that seeks to block people from affordable healthcare.
Booker’s approach to the project was thoughtful and serious. He and his staff did a substantial amount of research to provide the Senator with voluminous amounts of substantive commentary about the moral use of power, the role of government and power of the voters and ordinary citizens in resisting tyranny.
Something else happened that was also important. No one objected. Ted Cruz tweeted about pulling the fire alarm to interrupt the speech, but he did nothing on the floor of the senate to object. No one did. Booker’s decorum throughout was classicly Senate-correct. He talked about Thurmond, whose hypocritical racism is well-documented, but he said it was wrong to hate him.
His emphasis in opposing the disastrous and reckless policies of this administration were not about throwing accusations and shaking his fist. His emphasis was entirely about finding ways to reach out across the aisle and throughout communities to extend a hand of good faith and cooperation to preserve our right to self-governance.
These are high ideals. More vital and most refreshing is that this was substantive roadmap of leadership for the Democratic party to move forward at every level of government.
At times of great conflict in our history, we been fortunate to see great leaders emerge and place down markers that allowed us to measure ourselves against our own stated benchmarks – the rule of law, equality, liberty, free access to voting and the pursuit of happiness.
We’ve had leaders like Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr.
And we killed them all.
Protecting the next generation voices of Booker, Jasmine Crockett, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and many others who have forcefully resisted the authoritarian agenda of the current administration is among our highest priorities. Resist the distraction. Demand legitimacy. Help your neighbors. Register voters.
(featured image: AP Photo/ Cheryl Senter, File)
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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