Peak Wokeness: Federal Judge Steps Down After Praising Black Clerk

We thought we’d seen the worst of wokeness already. In a weekend where protesters knocked down a statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and raged against the “problematic” nature of Hamilton, how much worse could it get? But even days after formerly-respected news organizations like CNN characterized Mount Rushmore as a monument to slave-owners, we’ve yet to lose our capacity for surprise. Every single day, it seems that the pathetic, ravenous left finds a new way to destroy America with their utter nonsense.

Take this story out of Los Angeles. This week, Cormac Carney, a federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, had to step down from his new position as chief judge when he made the gross error of praising the court’s black clerk. His sin? He referred to Kiry Gray as “street-smart,” an apparently-unforgivable foray into despicable racism.

From National Review:

In a webinar that took place eight days after he assumed his duties as chief judge, Carney spoke to members of the California bar about how he was adjusting to his new role. “Fortunately for me,” he reportedly said, “we have just a fabulous clerk of the court in Kiry Gray. She’s so street-smart and really knows her job.”

According to the L.A. Times, several court staffers and attorneys were upset by the remark, which they interpreted as having a “derogatory and racially insensitive layer.” Upon learning that some people were calling for his removal, Carney says he spoke with Gray and expressed frustration that “the people criticizing me were equating my well-intended use of the term ‘street-smart’ with the reprehensible conduct of a police officer putting his knee on a person’s neck.” On Friday, he publicly apologized and announced that he would be stepping down as chief judge, though he will remain a judge on the court.

Not only is it the height of absurdity that praising a clerk as “street smart” would be judged such an irredeemably racist smear that a judge would feel the need to step down over it, just look at that one sentence in the report. Carney was frustrated that his critics “were equating my well-intended use of the term ‘street-smart’ with the reprehensible conduct of a police officer putting his knee on a person’s neck.” Yes – we’d say that’s cause for frustration, indeed!

But that is the new woke world we live in – where the slightest deviation from The Proper Racial Manual is every bit as terrible as killing a black man. Say something wrong on Twitter? Canceled! You owned slaves? Canceled! You fought for the Confederacy? Canceled! You fought against the Confederacy? Canceled! It should be plainly obvious by now that this isn’t about social justice. It’s not curing racism. It’s about exercising power.

And every time a judge (or a dean, or a newspaper editor, or a CEO) voluntarily resigns to satisfy the mob, that power grows stronger.