The Controversial R.B.G.
How Ginsburg’s controversy might shed light on how the modern Democratic party is thinking about the upcoming election
A few weeks ago, I was inadvertently added to one of my mother’s iMessage group chats. In this chat, she and about six of her friends, many of which are lawyers, all of which are highly educated critical thinkers, talk and commiserate about current events, opportunities for activism, and share articles that they find relevant and interesting. I rarely respond to any of their messages but I often spend time reading their conversations because I find them to be both insightful and fascinating as well as a little entertaining and slightly dramatic. When the news broke about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, my phone instantly exploded with messages from their group chat, which they’ve entitled “Sanity,” talking about what Justice Ginsburg’s death means for the future.
For the women of my mother’s generation, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a symbol of hope, power, and feminism. She fought for equal pay for herself and her fellow female co-workers while teaching law at Rutgers University. She co-founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, and she was the second woman and first Jew to serve on the United States Supreme Court. In many ways, Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved the way for women, like my mother and her friends, to follow their ambition and become as successful and powerful as they are today.
However, amid the outpour of love, respect, and remembrance after Ginsburg’s death, long-standing questions about “what conception of women’s rights and what kind of feminism” Ginsburg really stood for began to rise to the surface. In recent years, Ginsburg had received some backlash for only serving white, middle-class women and ignoring the interplay between race, class, and sexual orientation within the feminist movement. This issue highlights one of the long-standing tensions between the feminists of my mother’s generation and the feminists of my own.
The question here for me becomes: how might this fragmentation within the democratic party influence voting in the upcoming election? The sentiment that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was not always as progressive and inclusive as she could have been is true. However, her legacy and impact should not be discounted. I think the controversy around Justice Ginsburg stems from young people’s need and want for more young, diverse, and representative voices in positions of power. Unfortunately, Vice President Joe Biden seems to be an antithesis of those desires. As a white, male, octogenarian, many young voters might believe that Biden’s views and decisions will be uninclusive and outdated. In turn, young voters might decide not to vote or to vote for a third party. However, in a time like this, when our country has strayed so far from the American ideals of equal opportunity, democracy, diversity, and freedom, we must all be willing to sacrifice somethings in order to move in the right direction. Ultimately, while Joe Biden might not be the ideal candidate for many young voters, he is a step in the right direction.
