How long has it been since Anita Hill (an attorney with the U.s. Dept. of Education) accused her boss Clarence Thomas (then U.S. Supreme Court nominee) of sexual harassment? I really doesn’t matter how long it’s been but it was about the time Rodney King (an intoxicated, unarmed black man who had been taken into custody after a high speed car chase) was brutally beaten in the street by Los Angeles police officers. The point is that police departments across the country have become not only aware but extremely sensitive to the possibility of having their unauthorized brutality filmed, of it turning up in internal investigations and on the evening news. But on the other end, at the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas is still measuring out polarizing opinions that punish poor people of color and rewarding the (1% which is as rich & powerful as it is white). The King beating was on every news channel that night. I would never, not ever try to imagine what goes through Clarence Thomas' head or how he was transmogrified into such a champion for White Privilege.
My reason for writing this piece began with words; I am drawn to words that get used infrequently but create a memorable sound bite when they do fall on a discerning ear. One of those words is ‘Transmogrify’. Garrison Keller (Prairie Home Companion) was a wordsmith who showed off his unparalleled vocabulary with neither shame nor pretense. He presumed his audience was equal to his verbiage. Occasionally, one of my word choices will carry a worthy pedigree but nothing like the literary plethora of a Garrison Keller phrase. It was an election year and Keller was ranting about Republicans apparent disregard for human dignity when he dropped the ‘Transmogrify’ bomb. It was in regard to sweet, well intended children growing up only to become self worshiping ogres. The word itself would more than suggest a change or transformation that was generally unexpected, unsavory and certainly mysterious if not magical. So the change Keller spoke of was both unwelcome and mysteriously magical. He went on to beg; how can one trust anything you hear from anyone who is so sure of everything, and I gave it a thumbs up at the time.
That was before 2016 or ’17 when a woman writer accused the man from Lake Wobegon (Keller) of inappropriate contact (touching). Within a few days of internal sleuthing, National Public Radio cut their ties with Garrison Keller. He still has a career but not in the mainstream. A year or so later another one of Minnesota’s favorite sons was forced to resign from the U.S. Senate for sexual impropriety. Al Franken had a long career as a humorist, writer and actor before winning a seat in the senate. For so long; the good old boy’s club had enjoyed a hand grasping, back slapping code of membership. Then they had trouble adapting to the KY2 influx of women into the public service domain. Too many men needed something for women that paralleled the hands shake, back slap. So what do you do with women, you hug them; and if the hug is a real or perceived attempt at copping an unauthorized feel, you suffer the consequence. If a woman lets it go that is about how she deals with condescending gropers. If she calls the culprit out for his indiscretion; Go home Al, console Garrison Keeler. There is no transmogrification in that bad choice just grown-old gropers with teen age arrested development.
Rodney King died before his time some twenty years later at age 47. The change for King was not transmogrifying, nothing magical. His tormentors wanted him dead at the time but Rodney wasn’t ready to go yet but the beating certainly did nothing to promote his health. I don’t know how to qualify Clarence Thomas’ longevity. Speaking only for myself, it seems just another ripple, like graffiti on a passing railroad car, that if there really was a God he would have swapped King like the NFL does with players for Thomas who would have been beaten too a pulp by an angry husband. Rodney would probably have lost his driver’s license but would still be drinking.
My reason for writing this piece began with words; I am drawn to words that get used infrequently but create a memorable sound bite when they do fall on a discerning ear. One of those words is ‘Transmogrify’. Garrison Keller (Prairie Home Companion) was a wordsmith who showed off his unparalleled vocabulary with neither shame nor pretense. He presumed his audience was equal to his verbiage. Occasionally, one of my word choices will carry a worthy pedigree but nothing like the literary plethora of a Garrison Keller phrase. It was an election year and Keller was ranting about Republicans apparent disregard for human dignity when he dropped the ‘Transmogrify’ bomb. It was in regard to sweet, well intended children growing up only to become self worshiping ogres. The word itself would more than suggest a change or transformation that was generally unexpected, unsavory and certainly mysterious if not magical. So the change Keller spoke of was both unwelcome and mysteriously magical. He went on to beg; how can one trust anything you hear from anyone who is so sure of everything, and I gave it a thumbs up at the time.
That was before 2016 or ’17 when a woman writer accused the man from Lake Wobegon (Keller) of inappropriate contact (touching). Within a few days of internal sleuthing, National Public Radio cut their ties with Garrison Keller. He still has a career but not in the mainstream. A year or so later another one of Minnesota’s favorite sons was forced to resign from the U.S. Senate for sexual impropriety. Al Franken had a long career as a humorist, writer and actor before winning a seat in the senate. For so long; the good old boy’s club had enjoyed a hand grasping, back slapping code of membership. Then they had trouble adapting to the KY2 influx of women into the public service domain. Too many men needed something for women that paralleled the hands shake, back slap. So what do you do with women, you hug them; and if the hug is a real or perceived attempt at copping an unauthorized feel, you suffer the consequence. If a woman lets it go that is about how she deals with condescending gropers. If she calls the culprit out for his indiscretion; Go home Al, console Garrison Keeler. There is no transmogrification in that bad choice just grown-old gropers with teen age arrested development.
Rodney King died before his time some twenty years later at age 47. The change for King was not transmogrifying, nothing magical. His tormentors wanted him dead at the time but Rodney wasn’t ready to go yet but the beating certainly did nothing to promote his health. I don’t know how to qualify Clarence Thomas’ longevity. Speaking only for myself, it seems just another ripple, like graffiti on a passing railroad car, that if there really was a God he would have swapped King like the NFL does with players for Thomas who would have been beaten too a pulp by an angry husband. Rodney would probably have lost his driver’s license but would still be drinking.
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