The Future is in Our Hands

By: Gina Pedroza

As a woman of color who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, the current state of the U.S. supreme court after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing is very nerve-wracking to say the least.

As of October 27, 2020, a day after Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been sworn into the supreme court, many minority groups have been fearing this day since she was elected by Donald J. Trump.

Barret is notorious for being very religious and conservative. “Ms Barrett is a devout Catholic with ties to the People of Praise, a charismatic community teaching that husbands have authority over their wives. Ms Barrett also has a long paper trail, notably her writing on the balance between upholding the law and personal faith” Writes the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The impact that she might have on the minorities of america could be a step back from all of the progress we have done in the past years in terms of human rights such as: same sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act.

Myra Valdivia, a U.S. History teacher from Yerba Buena high school who has been keeping up with everything that has been going on in and around the White House, has also been worried about the new decision of having Judge Barrett in the supreme court.

“It makes me nervous to know that; it could mean a lot for minorities, it could mean alot for the Affordable Care Act, for Women and their rights and reproductive rights.” Says Valdivia

Knowing that Barrett is part of a religious group that believes women should submit to their husbands it is not a surprise that she has some beliefs towards women's rights and reproductive rights. She has had a lot of opinions on women's reproductive rights and what she believes is morally just. “Barrett believes that abortion is always immoral and women who do decide to get one should be sentenced with the death penalty.” Economist Intelligence Unit writes.

When it comes to the affordable care act Republicans nominated Coney Barrett because of her extreme far-right beliefs about abortion and Affordable Care Act. “During her confirmation hearing she did not want to answer a question that would show her beliefs about these most consequential matters to Americans. She has been confirmed and will fill a seat on the Supreme Court.” writes Take Back The Court Today.

This means that when a case involving the Affordable Care Act is heard in November she will most likely vote to overturn it or reject it. If a hearing involving Roe vs Wade concerning abortion comes up, she might do the exact same.

Valdivia believed that those with illnesses like diabetes and cancer would be mostly affected with the repeal of the affordable care act.

“I think more than anything it's going to be about one you know the repeal of the Healthcare Act which is huge; millions of Americans have Healthcare through that it was in that minority right that people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes or like cancer. So that's something to think about and then another one is just thinking about Roe v Wade being overturned or Something along those lines which would impact women and their reproductive rights.” Valdivia says.

With this in mind I began to wonder if Barretts acceptance into the supreme court would cause any ruckus within the protests that have been going on in the recent months involving the black lives matter movement. But since then there really hasn't been much uproar. Prior to Barrett being sworn in I did ask Mayra what she might've thought would happen.

“I think we've already seen people protesting. it's one thing to say it's her necessarily, it is another to say the protests are also occurring because people are saying that it should be the next president that's going to be elected that should be making this decision and so it's two separate things right, one is more conservative judge that clearly based on her record as seen in one particular way, and secondly people are also protesting because when Barack Obama was about to exit the white house, judge Scalia passed away and they blocked him and said they need to let the next president.” Says Valdivia.

Protesting is a great example of getting information out to those who are not informed of Barrett's impact on minority groups but with the current situation of covid it’s a bit difficult to get the message out to other people. So our best bet for spreading the message is to make social media posts or what i am doing currently, writing an informative article about the issue, another good example of protesting and helping the future minorities of america is to participate in the election and vote to keep democracy alive and well in the U.S..