By Emil Guillermo

The killing will not be paused for the holy days.

And so, the cities of Bucha and Kramatorsk and Mariupol must be top of mind as the war crimes and atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine command the focus of the free world.

It’s the kind of violence that overshadows all. Not just globally, but in our nation and cities. Six people were killed in Sacramento in a nightclub shooting two weeks ago. Didn’t hear about it? Too local compared with tens of thousands of people killed in Ukraine. Not unless it’s a subway shooting in New York. And then the media capital can’t resist.

In these times, our focused attention on life and death history in the world can only be interrupted by more history.

That’s what happened when we paused last week for a major breakthrough for democracy in America.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the new 116th Associate Supreme Court Justice of the United States.

The Good History

By a 53-47 vote, the high-water mark of bipartisanship in our dismally divided country, Jackson has been confirmed by the Senate and will take Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat upon his retirement this June.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) set the scene before the historic vote.

Of 115 who served on the court, there have been just five women, two Blacks, and no Black women, said Leahy.

It was the definition of the privilege of white supremacy in our history.

No one has looked like Ketanji Brown Jackson Not on the highest court in the land.

Durbin added more historical context. When the Supreme Court first met in the Capitol in 1801, he pointed out there were 1 million enslaved people in a nation of 5 million people. And neither Blacks nor white women had a constitutional right to vote. Black women had no place in the court, and could only come in at night to clean, he said.

Durbin briefly touched on the evolution of America, from the bloody Civil War to the decades-long efforts to break down racial barriers.

And now a new chapter.

“And that chapter begins with three letters, KBJ,” said Durbin. “Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the highest court in the land.”

Durbin then recalled how in that week, 54 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. He quoted from King’s speech at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968: “I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promise land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promise land.”

And now, in a way, we have. But we have still some work to do.

Oakland Remembers April 4

If you were at an Oakland Public Library on April 4, you know Dr. King was remembered for another speech he gave in 1967. At New York City’s Riverside Church, King delivered words that merged the peace movement with the Civil Rights Movement.

King was concerned that Blacks and whites were fighting and dying together in Vietnam “for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.”

And then he connected violence there with the violence at home.

“I knew I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government,” said King. “I cannot be silent.”

We need that voice again today.

King called for a “genuine revolution of values,” a call for “world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, nation.” It is “a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men.” And King saw it not as a sign of weakness, but one that has “become an absolute necessity for the survival of man.”

Where are the voices for peace and love today?

At some point, fighting wars with sanctions has nothing to do with peace, and everything to do with a more acceptable instrument of war. Will sanctions get Putin to peace talks? Not before he shells entire towns and kills thousands of people.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is arming up Ukraine, feeding a DIY war that it insists it isn’t fighting. Is it enough to say the West is less irrational than Putin?

Maybe this Easter, we’ll hear more people talk about MLK’s anti-war speech.

Yes, Vietnam is not Ukraine. But U.S. restraint is motivated by avoiding boots on the ground. Not about avoiding needless death. Just this week tens of thousands have died in Ukraine. There are the mass graves in Bucha. The missile attack of the train station in Kramatorsk. The near destruction of the city of Mariupol with the civilian death toll estimated in the thousands.

The holy days are upon us. We must begin to hear voices for peace.

Note: Emil hosts “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” at 2 p.m. Pacific on Facebook; his YouTube Channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.

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