A Mexican-American White House lawyer whose grandparents escaped the Holocaust was accused of flashing a white power sign during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Zina Gelman Bash, seen on television directly behind and slightly to the left of Kavanaugh as he faced the Senate Judiciary Committee, was spotted making what appeared to be the "OK" symbol with her right hand resting on her left arm: the index finger touching the thumb with the other three fingers up.
Some left-wing Twitter users began circulating images and photos of Bash and accused her of making the sign as a white power move; the idea that the "OK" symbol was a white supremacist symbol was falsely circulated by users of the site 4chan to troll the public last year. Nevertheless, some Twitter users argued Bash was still guilty of a racist gesture.
Kavanaugh’s former law clerk Zina Bash is flashing a white power sign behind him during his Senate confirmation hearing. They literally want to bring white supremacy to the Supreme Court. What a national outrage and a disgrace to the rule of law. https://t.co/uQGOpNa6xg
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 4, 2018
Where have I seen this symbol before?....oh, yeah the Trump White House. pic.twitter.com/BwDDIsEEoC
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) September 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/evagolinger/status/1037033883412443138
https://twitter.com/rubin_kd/status/1037033721235263488
There is debate about whether this is a white power symbol or not. It was intentionally a troll, but it is evolving into an actual white power symbol. Either way, it is grossly inappropriate in this setting.
cc: @egavactip on another public usage of this hand signal https://t.co/UEwBBA2K9k
— Jennifer Hayden (@Scout_Finch) September 4, 2018
It began as a 4chan troll effort (I've written about its origins) but it has evolved into a symbol used by the alt right (and, occasionally, other white supremacists), the alt lite, and also various MAGA-type Trump supporters. Most still use it to troll (to "own the libs").
— Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) September 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/lblovesvintage/status/1037031354247077888
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1037055835728478213
https://twitter.com/MsLeahCatherine/status/1037058012974800896
Is this woman Zina Bash throwing a white power hand signal?? It sure looks like one pic.twitter.com/k6pIecZwTn
— Belhar (@Belhar62) September 4, 2018
Daily Beast reporter Lachlan Markay set the record straight in a pair of tweets explaining Bash's biography made it unlikely she was trying to send a white supremacist message. A feature by Empower Texans on her father, Dr. Lawrence Gelman, describes him as a second-generation Polish Jew "whose parents barely escaped the Holocaust and found solace in America."
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/1037062044732874753
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/1037063524927905793
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1037072360338284544
Twitter user @ComfortablySmug pointed out prominent Democrats who have used the hand gesture as well.
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) September 4, 2018
Bash clerked for Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit Court and was part of his White House Supreme Court confirmation prep team.
Kavanaugh's first day of Capitol Hill hearings has been full of fireworks. Senate Democrats angrily called for a delay to the hearing to have more time to study Kavanaugh's documents, while protesters frequently disrupted the proceedings.