You won’t often see so many history-making events crammed into such a small period of time, but that was the case last week with three huge stories breaking in a little less than 30 hours—a bonanza for those of us who work in the news industry.
First, the Supreme Court turned down the last serious challenge to the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the federal government can continue providing subsidies to help people obtain health insurance coverage. That was a very big deal for the 400,000 Georgians who now can afford health care coverage because they get those federal subsidies. Without that coverage, some of them would have died from not being able to get the medical treatment they need.
The Supreme Court followed with its landmark decision that declared unconstitutional all of the state prohibitions against same-sex marriages. The gay marriage bans had already been knocked down in 36 states, and Georgia was part of the dwindling pool of 14 states that still banned it.
There were some angry reactions in various locales, such as the renegade judges in Alabama who said they would defy the court’s decision. There was presidential candidate Mike Huckabee declaring, “I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny.” There was also at least one evangelist preacher who vowed he would set himself on fire rather than preside over a same-sex marriage.
Gov. Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens were the adults in the room on this one, quickly issuing public statements that they would abide by the court’s decision. “The state of Georgia is subject to the laws of the United States, and we will follow them,” Deal said.
At roughly the same time, the first gay marriage in Georgia was being performed at the Fulton County courthouse, just a stone’s throw from the capitol offices of Deal and Olens. State Court Judge Jane Morrison made it official for Emma Foulkes and Petrina Bloodworth of Atlanta, two women who had been together for 10 years. “It means everything it means to every other American,” Foulkes said. “This is the best day of my life.”
To bring it all to an emotional close, President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at the Charleston funeral of Clementa Pinckney, one of nine black people in South Carolina murdered by a white supremacist who thought he could start a race war. Obama’s powerful speech brought into sharp focus the week’s third major development: the efforts in some Southern states to get rid of the last official vestiges of the Confederate battle flag, a move that is long overdue.
“Removing the flag from this state’s capitol would not be an act of political correctness; it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers,” Obama said. “It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought—the cause of slavery—was wrong. The imposition of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the resistance to civil rights for all people was wrong.
“By taking down that flag,” the president said, “we express God’s grace.”
The story of America has been that we move slowly but always forward to extend the rights and freedoms of the few to the many. More people now have access to health care. Gays have the same rights as heterosexuals to join their partners in matrimony. The hurtful symbols of the time when black people were enslaved are being removed. As we prepare to celebrate the birthday of this great nation on July 4, we have some new chapters of that American story to discuss.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
