Maydays in May: 3 American distress signals

Conceived as a radio distress signal for airplane pilots and ship captains, “mayday” (the phonetic equivalent of “m’aidez,” the French word for “help me”) was officially adopted by the United States in 1927. The convention requires that “mayday” be repeated three times in the initial declaration, followed by a call sign, a description of the nature of the emergency and the vessel’s present position or its last known position if lost.

This month, several incidents reveal that American ships of state have lost their way and more frequent and forceful distress calls should be issued to bring them home, safe and sound.

Here are three of them.

In mid-May, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.) granted a full pardon, including the restoration of a right to bear arms, to Daniel Perry, a former U.S. Army sergeant, following a vote of the members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, all of whom Abbott had appointed. Perry was convicted last year of murdering Air Force veteran Garrett Foster in July 2020 during a demonstration in Austin protesting the killing of George Floyd, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

After Perry drove his vehicle through a red light and into the crowd of protestors, Foster approached his car carrying an assault rifle (which is legal in Texas), and motioned for Perry to roll down the window. Perry shot him dead with a handgun (which he had legally acquired).

During the trial and sentencing hearing, witnesses testified that Perry could have driven away and that Foster had not raised his weapon; psychologists testified that Perry was “basically a loaded gun.” Prosecutors revealed social media posts in which Perry used “white power” memes; declared he “might have to kill a few people” who were demonstrating outside his apartment and “go to Dallas to shoot looters”; and compared Black Lives Matter to “a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their s---.” Perry pled self-defense, maintaining he feared for his life, but did not testify; his lawyers subsequently acknowledged he suffers from mental disorders.

Before Perry was sentenced, Abbott declared that the conviction violated Texas’s “Stand Your Ground” law and ordered the Board of Pardons to conduct an expedited review of the case. The governor granted the pardon before the appeals process played out, breaking the customary practice in Texas.

In a month of May distress call, Whitney Mitchell, Foster’s fiancée, claimed that the pardon demonstrated that “only certain lives matter.” Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, stated that “Texas Republicans have once again proven that they cannot keep the public safe, they are not the party of ‘tough on crime,’ and they are not the party of ‘law and order’ … today our justice system was hijacked for political gain.”

At about the same time Abbott pardoned Perry, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a law eliminating any mention of “climate change” in state legislation; prohibiting government officials from considering its impact in their energy policies; repealing grant programs that encourage conservation; and removing required use of climate-friendly products. The law also banned off-shore wind farms, although no plans to construct them are in the works. DeSantis had previously rejected $346 million in federal funds to make homes more energy efficient.

Florida is, of course, among the states most susceptible to hurricanes, rising sea levels, flooding and threats to marine life. And 2023 was the hottest year in the state since 1895. According to Columbia University climate scientist Michael Gerrard, Florida “is in great peril. It should be the last state to stand in the way of fighting climate change.”

It’s worth noting that 68 percent of Floridians want their state to do more to reduce the impact of climate change. Nationwide, 73 percent of Americans want the federal government to cut planet-warming pollution in half by 2030 and 45 percent say they have become more concerned about climate change in the last year.

These distress signals apparently haven’t been strong enough to counter the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists in the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee and in many other red states.

On May 16, the New York Times reported that an upside down flag, a distress signal for sailors appropriated by pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” zealots, was displayed at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito three days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, and during court deliberations about a 2020 election fraud case. Alito and Clarence Thomas eventually dissented from a decision not to hear that case.

Alito claims the decision to display the flag was made by his wife, not him. That said, the action flies in the face of the court’s code of ethics, which deems it essential to avoid even the appearance of partisan bias.

The Times story appeared as the court is considering two cases involving attempts by Trump and others to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Alito has given no indication that he will recuse himself. Neither has Thomas, whose wife was actively involved in the “Stop the Steal” initiative. The court’s code of ethics, it’s important to point out, has no enforcement provisions.

This controversy, it seems clear, underscores the hypocrisy of the relentless GOP refrain about the Biden administration’s partisan weaponization of our nation’s system of justice. Does anyone doubt how Republicans would react to a Black Lives Matter flag flying over the home of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson?

“Mayday, mayday, mayday.”

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.