'Justice Correspondent' Takes out the 'Trash' — AKA the Constitution

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America has radically changed.

In relatively no time at all, we’ve racked up quite the reversals:

  • From Christianity to secularism
  • From patriotism to a condemnation of “nationalism”
  • From a championing of colorblindness to its castigation as sin
  • From “Sticks and stones may break my bones” to “Words are violence”
  • From “I may disagree, but I would fight for your right to say it” to “Disagreement -> Hate -> Harm -> Crime”
  • From “Don’t sweat the small stuff” to “Microaggressions are death by a thousand cuts
  • From “Looks are only skin-deep” to “I demand to see people who look like me”
  • From “Mind your own business” to “I must feel seen”
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Some might call it an unraveling.

As for our foundational tie that binds, how’s the Constitution looking?

To Elie Mystal — “justice correspondent” for The Nation — not so good.

Per the outlet’s website, it’s “the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, covering progressive political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis.”

And per Elie’s analysis, America’s most treasured document is “kind of trash.”

Amid an appearance on Friday’s installment of The View, here’s what the justice correspondent had to say:

“It’s certainly not sacred, alright? Let’s start there. The Constitution is kind of trash.”

Time to put away childish things:

“[L]et’s just talk as adults for a second.”

Ready?

“It was written by slavers and colonists and white people who were willing to make deals with slavers and colonists. They didn’t ask anybody that looked like me what they thought about the Constitution.”

Apropos of color and looks, they needed permission from people not pale — and the consent of ladies:

“This document was written without the consent of black and brown people in this country, and without the consent of women in this country. And I say that that is the starting point. The very least we can do is ignore what those slavers and colonists and misogynists thought and interpret the Constitution in a way that makes sense for our modern world.”

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I like his idea of consent — I declare that the government can no longer do anything without mine. Crossing my fingers for complete control hereafter.

The concept’s application could get hairy, however, if we discover — per chance — that people of similar shades or sex chromosomes aren’t a massive monolith.

Regardless, Elie was promoting the newly-published Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.

“[W]hat I’m trying to with this book,” he said, “is explain in laymen’s terms what Republicans are doing to the law.”

“I honestly believe that if everybody understood it, they’d be as outraged as I am…and they’d be willing to do something about it.”

To hear Elie tell it, though idiocy is one-sided, America is full of morons:

“Look, folks — the law is complicated. I’m not gonna lie about it. … (But) if you can read, you can understand the laws that govern this country, and you can understand how Republicans are obviously trying to manipulate those laws, take away the rights of minorities, women, the LGBTQ community. You can see it all, and I try to explain it all in ways that people can understand. So that we can fight them.”

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Co-host Sunny Hostin is hostin’ love:

“I loved this book so very much. The first chapter — “Canceling Trash People is Not a Constitutional Crisis.” Chapter Nine, “The Taking of Black Land,” was another favorite of mine. And “Reverse Racism is Not a Thing.”

Elie’s ready to clean up the country by taking out the trash.

Joy Behar inquired, “Do you want to rewrite it?”

Give the man room:

“I could, right? I could rewrite parts of it in a tweet. … I could do it in a tweet, right?”

Perhaps he will. But if I understand correctly, he’ll have to first receive the “consent” of every race and sex.

Unless everyone’s the same, he could possibly encounter problems.

In the meantime — if you’re white, and applying Elie’s logic — if at any point you feel wronged by Uncle Sam, ease up: Possibly, 235 years ago, one of the nation’s framers asked someone who somewhat physically resembled you — and who is now drastically dead — what they thought.

#ConsentGranted

-ALEX

 

See more content from me:

Catholic University Scraps Its Seal Because It Looks Like a White Man Is Giving Directions

The Tyranny of Big Tik: Social Media Giant Outlaws Anti-Government Wrongthink

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