If Yearbooks Mattered For Kavanaugh, Then They Matter For Katie Hobbs, And Hers Has ‘Slave Day’

It’s really the double standard for me. You see, Katie Hobbs’ Catholic Preparatory High School yearbook was recently uncovered by DailyMail.com. In that yearbook, the page on the 1987 student council includes Katie Hobbs’ face and explains that the student leaders planned the school’s Spirit Week events. One of those events was ‘Slave Day,’ a tradition where younger high school students were expected to perform ‘degrading’ tasks, ’embarrassing acts of servitude,’ and follow the orders of their ‘masters,’ the older students. There was even an ‘auction’ for the freshman ‘slaves.”

I think this is disgusting. How anyone, student or teacher, could think this kind of thing is appropriate is beyond me. Was there seriously not one single teacher or student who stood up and said, ‘This is wrong. It’s disgusting, degrading, inappropriate, and we shouldn’t do it ever again?’ I’m baffled by that. They were still doing this all the way until 1997! But the year of Katie Hobbs’ participation in the Student Council was 1987, 35 years ago.

As a candidate in a heated gubernatorial race, it looks pretty bad to have planned and participated in a ‘Slave Day’ event. But some have said it isn’t relevant and shouldn’t even be brought up because it was 35 years ago. People change and grow, as do society and the world. They say we shouldn’t hold people to an unrealistic modern standard after decades of personal and social change. Bill Maher recently condemned this practice he calls “presentism,” or judging past conduct by present cultural norms. And I agree. I don’t think it’s fair or productive to analyze every past action through the lens of modern social rules. Things and people change and grow with time.

The problem here is that these same people who don’t think Katie Hobbs’ yearbook should be a big deal to her gubernatorial candidacy made Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s yearbook a HUGE deal during his SCOTUS nomination. We’re talking New York Times headlines about how “Kavanaugh’s yearbook page is ‘horrible, hurtful’ to a woman it named” kind of huge deal. See where I’m going with this? Like I said, it’s the double standard for me. If Kavanaugh’s yearbook is a big enough deal to try to derail a SCOTUS nomination, then Katie Hobbs’ yearbook is definitely free game. Because if high school yearbooks matter, like they made sure that Kavanaugh’s mattered, then they matter for everyone. Including Katie Hobbs.