by MANJUSHA P. KULKARNI, ESQ.
Summer is finally upon us. Even as we enjoy the sun and surf in California, we must take a moment to pause and consider the huge implications of two recent Supreme Court decisions: United States v. Windsor and Shelby County v. Holder.
Windsor gave us much to celebrate and Holder gave us much to fear. In a monumental decision, the Court invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented same-sex married couples from obtaining federal benefits, and declined to hear the Proposition 8 case. In another equally important decision, it found Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional, voiding the formula to determine which states have to obtain federal approval of their voting laws. For the South Asian community, Windsor provides huge benefits to those in same-sex marriages; Holder, sadly, frees nine states, including my home state of Alabama, from necessary federal oversight, allowing the passage of discriminatory voting policies that serve to limit the influence of people of color in elections and public policy.
On a personal level, I am deeply troubled by the Holder decision even though it does not impact us in California. The first legal case I worked on– at the Southern Poverty Law Center– involved a challenge to discriminatory voting systems for electing judges. Knowing firsthand the impact of those measures in 1991 and the implications of the Supreme Court decision today, I am gravely concerned about what the decision means for our democracy.
The Zimmerman verdict this past weekend gives me equal pause. The case is not so much about individual bigotry and prejudice as it is about institutional racism and the denial of humanity to a class of individuals. But rather than embrace bitterness, I feel compelled to work even harder to attain social justice. I am reminded of a Frederick Douglass quote, which captures well the road we’ve already traveled and the path ahead. “The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence . . . If there is no struggle there is no progress.”
AWAZ Voices’s against violence (public service announcement