Justice Ginsburg: Ferguson Highlights ‘Real Racial Problem’ In America

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg smiles while speaking to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013, in Reston, Va. She took part in what event organizers describe as a "fireside chat"... Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg smiles while speaking to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013, in Reston, Va. She took part in what event organizers describe as a "fireside chat" with former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson. Olson served as solicitor general from 2001 to 2004 under President George W. Bush and is still a frequent advocate before the court. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) MORE LESS
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg weighed in Wednesday on the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., saying that the turmoil stemming from the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer there illustrated a “real race problem” in America.

Ginsburg made the comment in a wide-ranging interview with the National Law Journal. She said New York City’s disputed stop-and-frisk policy was also indicative of that “race problem” and lamented that recent rulings on voting rights and affirmative action haven’t helped the nation resolve its issues with race, either.

She told the publication that public acceptance, or “familiarity,” remains an obstacle for black Americans, contrasting their experience with that of LGBT individuals.

“Once [gay] people began to say who they were, you found that it was your next-door neighbor or it could be your child, and we found people we admired,” she told the National Law Journal. “That understanding still doesn’t exist with race; you still have separation of neighborhoods, where the races are not mixed. It’s the familiarity with people who are gay that still doesn’t exist for race and will remain that way for a long time as long as where we live remains divided.”

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  1. Discreetly fileting the K-RATS. Nice touch, Justice Ginsburg

  2. I thought the Voting Rights Act provisions got struck down because this was not a problem anymore.

    The Notorious RBG strikes again!

  3. Spoken like a true white person. Black people have known this for 400 years

  4. Reading comprehension isn’t your forte, is it?

  5. This was a classy way of publicly telling John Roberts that he is out of touch with reality.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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