There is a rather bizarre controversy out of New York where people appear outraged by a minor municipal ceremony to swear in Brooklyn Civil Court judge Carolyn Walker-Diallo. It turns out the Walker-Diallo is a Muslim so she naturally took her oath on a Quran (Koran). One would think that the public would want the oath of office to taken over the book that the jurist considers a binding moral code or through affirmation without a religious book. Yet, many were horrified.
Walker-Diallo has joined Brooklyn’s 7th Municipal District and the photo from the swearing in ceremony was posted after she was sworn into office.
On her campaign page, she makes reference to her faith.
“All is praise (sic) is indeed due to the Most High! I am humbled that my community has entrusted me with the immense responsibility of ensuring that EVERYONE has notice and a FAIR opportunity to be heard in the halls of justice.”
The oath is perfectly valid for a candidate to “swear or affirm” an oath. There are certainly many who would prefer to require a neutral affirmation for everyone. Yet, that has not been our tradition. I find the backlash to this photo to be highly disturbing.
What do you think?
Source: NY Daily
John … certainly no “sensitives” offended. 😀 I could care less but from a historical standpoint and really don’t “get it” how one flag become the symbol of the Confederacy now. Perhaps because it WAS the flag of Robert E. Lee? And was also incorporated in the Confederate flag of Texas?
Due to direct relatives, whose artifacts and hand scribbled memoirs I still have, who fought in the Civil War I am a Civil War “wonk” so to speak. My cloth & leather remnants of the Revolutionary period have long ago turned to dust. One pair of mid 1700’s moccasins were something I wore every where as a kid, stuffed with a rag to make fit. My relatives did save a lot of the period in artifacts, bless them. The saber over my desk here is certainly a good example of what they once call a “wrist breaker”…only Pop-Eye could wield it IMO. I’d guess one could also call my “acumen” pedantic…I tend that way at times 🙂
When in uniform overseas it seemed to me that about every third guy had a “Stars & Bars”, even hung them in tents, stuck them on sticks in dirt holes, etc., and thought it was the flag of the US Confederacy…but not a one could explain it to me. Mostly it just served to symbolically stir up racial dissent in the early 70’s. Damn near ruined our military with internal strife. Regrettably, that might have been the idea and I was naive. Fully half of those weren’t owned by southerners either, but northern city dudes. Go figure.