RBG

So, yesterday I saw my fave film of the year; even walked 3-miles to see it…for the second time. But let’s be serious; when you live in Pasadena and even with a few clouds in the sky and the temps plummeting into the low 70s, rain, sleet, and snow are not walking factors.

And for the most part, I’m a movie lover who never watched cartoons and, until yesterday, was at least adult enough to see current film superheroes as a repetitious crock.

But this superhero had a pulse. She was diminutive in physical stature, soft spoken bordering on shy, and almost 20-years older than me. She’s a lace-necked robed crusader for women’s rights, civil rights, and the Constitution. She’s still doing push-ups, sit-ups, and planks; in the gym, her trainer describes her as a “cyborg.” Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminds me of my mother, the Paper Chase’s Professor Kingsfield, and the Karate Kid. You might better know her as Notorious RBG.

And even in the unlikely event that it does snow in Pasadena I’ll probably walk over and see the documentary again. For me, the stroll back from seeing an inspiring film is a selfish, guilty pleasure. And trust me, in SoCal, walking and reflecting is a much safer practice than driving and doing the same.

So, I won’t give you the RBG Wikipedia bio; you owe it to yourself to either watch it or read it on your own. But I was touched by more than the obvious appreciation we should all have for Ginsburg’s dedicated and uber-effective championing of women’s rights…during the 70s (years before she was selected to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993) and to this day.

I was moved by how greatly Justice Ginsburg was influenced by her mother. Ginsburg’s parents, like my own, deeply valued education but never had the opportunity to follow their passion to college. Asked the difference between being a bookkeeper in the garment district and being a Supreme Court Justice, Ginsburg’s answer is “One generation.” Justice Ginsburg’s mother counseled “being a lady” and being independent; courageous advice to be dispensed from mother to daughter in the 50s. Being a lady meant not giving in to emotions like anger or envy. Being independent meant being able to fend for oneself. Oh, and there was one more piece of motherly advice: be relentless. Ruth Bader Ginsburg made Harvard Law Review as a first-year student during a time when the Dean asked, “How do you justify taking a spot from a qualified man?” And Ginsburg’s defense of an inclusive interpretation of the Constitution’s “We, the people…” continues relentlessly today.

As I made it down El Molino Avenue thinking about a true superhero, still going strong at 85-years old; still being the brightest mind in the room (especially when joined by eight men), and still asking bigots to “…take your foot off of our necks” I felt safer. And isn’t protecting others a core value of any decent superhero?

This morning, I woke up with Randy Newman’s “Sail Away’ playing in my head. Sounds crazy but at one time I knew every Newman song just like I knew all the Yankees’ batting averages when I was 12-years old. I opened the Sports Page to read about a major business organization, with the backing of the President, effectively depriving mostly Black elite athletes of their First Amendment rights.

“Sail Away” is Newman’s typically sardonic look at slavery…by way of a slaver’s sales pitch.

We’re a long way from slavery. But, then again, I thought we were a long way from the 50s.

Long live the Constitution; long live “We the People…” and long live relentless Notorious RBG.