Whether or not one wants to see Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court, her husband deserves great credit for his sock appearances during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings this week!
Patrick Jackson has earned attention for the loving affection his wife has offered to him and their children. But Patrick Jackson has also won attention for his colorful socks celebrating the faces of important leaders and thinkers in our country’s history.
On Monday, Jackson wore a pair of blue socks that featured the face of former U.S. President and Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. On Tuesday, he wore a pair of green socks with another founding father on them: Benjamin Franklin. And on Wednesday, he wore a pair of red socks with former President John F. Kennedy’s face on them.
In doing so, Jackson is showing respect and admiration for his and our country’s history. Jackson thus offers a compelling juxtaposition to those on the political Left who prefer to deride our founding fathers and history. The woke crowd certainly wouldn’t endorse such fashion choices. This is not to ignore history, of course.
Thomas Jefferson was a slaveholder. Horrific doesn’t even begin to describe the practice of slavery; it’s an evil that persists in this country and needs to be eradicated. However, Jefferson also penned the Declaration of Independence, was a two-term president, served as vice president, and was the first secretary of state in the country’s history. He brought freedom and constitutional government to many. He laid the foundations for the greatest democracy and force for good in human history. And Jefferson also delivered a blow to the trans-Atlantic slave trade by banning the importation of new slaves to the United States in 1807.
Again, however, injustices existed then and injustices exist now. It’s important to be able to analyze past leaders of the country honestly, acknowledging both the good and the bad.
John F. Kennedy offers a different but otherwise good example of this dynamic. Kennedy wasn’t a segregationist, as some were at the time, but he was a flawed human being. He was the first Irish Catholic president, giving representation to two groups that had been discriminated against in our history. Kennedy had a promiscuous personal life, but he was also a strong anti-communist who loved this country and believed in its people.
At a time when ideas based on critical race theory and the 1619 Project are being pushed in schools and major media outlets, it’s nice to see Jackson pay respect to America. Especially, that is, because he’s the spouse of someone who could play a role in shaping this country’s path over the next few decades.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.
