Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son, opens with the main character, Bigger Thomas, trying to kill a rat that has been terrorizing his family in their tenement of South Chicago. Bigger and his younger brother block the rat from getting into its hole in the wall to escape, and like all rodents, when cornered, the rat gets mean.
I recall this graphic scene as I think of Judge Kavanaugh and Senator Graham during the most recent hearing. Anger. Rage. Hate. Venom of “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.” Like the rat in Native Son, they and others choose to attack, to strike at any movement that prevents them from scurrying to the safety of their hole.
Slowly the tale of Brett Kavanaugh will unwind, and the truth will emerge, as it usually does. It will, as written, set us free from such lies, mis-statements, lusts, and love for power. My friends and commentators and politicians say that Judge Kavanaugh has and had every right to be angry. So? Did not Dr. Ford not have the right to be angry? Yet, look at her facial expressions and hear her tone during her testimony. Compare that to Judge Kavanaugh’s second audition for a life-long seat on the Supreme Court.
The Preacher writes “… but the fool rageth and is confident.” Perhaps Kavanaugh and Graham have the confidence, to quote Mark Twain, “of a Christian holding four aces.” But this is not a card game, and their hand will be called, eventually.
Southern Intersections 