I was asked recently what existential crises have been on my mind. Given it’s a take your pick world on that front (global wars, AI, gutting of various golden gooses like funding science research institutions, education, energy infrastructure and aid), it feels like so much of what we deal with is due to the circumvention of the democratic process, made clear by a string of Supreme Court rulings the past few years, most recently with the recent negation of a key part of the Voting Rights Act.

The New York Times published an opinion column by a couple of Harvard law professors shortly after that I think everyone should read. It offers historical clarity for the importance of the Civil Rights Movement, which ultimately was attempting to right the wrong of the failure of Reconstruction and the subsequent Jim Crow era. It also connects the dots on Chief Justice John Roberts decades-long aims to diminish and/or dismantle the VRA. Even if you’re not a history buff, this one’s short enough to be the cliff notes version to understanding our current moment.

In my view, the “woke” post-George Floyd moment really speaks to the desires of a nation to have a fully participatory, multiracial democracy, with equal protections. And everything that is considered “anti-woke” backlash has more in common with the Confederacy than anyone will admit.

A little extra credit/helpful visual - look at this series of maps that lays out some stakes when we say voters are being disenfranchised, and proceed to let that disenfranchisement (in this case, a glut of gerrymandering cases) happen.