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Sun 7 Oct, 2007 02:20 pm
Witness for the Persecution
By Eugene Robinson (Op-ed Columnist)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007; A19
I believe in affirmative action, but I have to acknowledge there are arguments against it. One of the more cogent is the presence of Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court.
If you caught Thomas on " 60 Minutes" on Sunday night, you know that he will probably consider me one of the many people who want to see him "destroyed" because he doesn't "follow in this cult-like way something that blacks are supposed to believe." That's what he told CBS correspondent Steve Kroft -- that he'd been persecuted for "veering away from the black gospel that we're supposed to adhere to."
Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., last month.
Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at
Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.,
last month.
(By Randy Snyder -- Associated Press)
The up-close-and-personal "60 Minutes" piece, timed to coincide with publication of Thomas's autobiography, was compelling television. It was also a useful reminder that whenever my Bush Derangement Syndrome flares up to the point where I'm actually feeling nostalgic for the days when George Bush the Elder was in the White House, I need only recall that it was Poppy who put Thomas on the court. That snaps me back to my senses. Thomas is only 59; we'll be saddled with him, and that gigantic chip on his shoulder, for decades to come.
Thomas said in the interview that the scorched-earth battle over his confirmation wasn't really about him, it was about abortion. Yet at other points he made clear that the whole thing was about him, specifically his commission of the ultimate sin: He is (drum roll, please) a black conservative. Cover the children's ears.
"I'm black," he told Kroft. "So I'm supposed to think a certain way. I'm supposed to have certain opinions. I don't do that. You don't create a box and put people in and then make a lot of generalizations about them."
Enough with the violins. When Fox News bloviator Bill O'Reilly says that African Americans are "finally" beginning to "think for themselves," I chalk it up to the fact that his germane experience with black people is probably limited to that recent dinner he had with the Rev. Al Sharpton and a room full of shockingly well-behaved patrons at Sylvia's, the Harlem soul-food shrine. But Thomas should know better. Either he's being disingenuous or he has a persecution complex of Norse-saga proportions.
There are, as he ought to know, plenty of black conservatives. There are plenty of African American parents teaching their children the same lessons of hard work and self-reliance that Thomas's grandfather taught him. The black church, I would argue, is one of the more socially conservative major institutions in the nation.
Black America has never been monolithic in its views, but black Americans do vote almost monolithically for Democrats. That wouldn't necessarily be the case if Richard Nixon hadn't built an electoral strategy on a race-based appeal to Southern whites -- and if every Republican presidential candidate and party leader since Nixon hadn't followed suit. Just last week, the four leading contenders for the Republican nomination all skipped a forum at historically black Morgan State University. As long as snubbing black voters is seen as smart politics in the Republican Party, black conservatives have good reason to stick with the Democrats.
Back to affirmative action, which Thomas famously opposes: He was 43 and had one year of judicial experience when Bush the Elder nominated him to replace Thurgood Marshall on the court. Even Thomas can't seriously believe Bush's claim that he was the "most qualified" candidate.
In the interview with Kroft, Thomas spoke of his experience at Yale Law School, which set aside a number of slots for minority students. He said he sees his Yale law degree as "tainted," worth less than a white student's degree.
This is why some critics have described Thomas as self-loathing -- not because he holds conservative political views or because he's a Republican, not because he objects in principle to affirmative action, but because he so discounts his own achievement. All Yale gave Thomas was the opportunity; he had to earn the degree. Yet he overlooks his own brains and hard work.
Thomas resents the fact that he couldn't get a job despite graduating in the middle of his class. Maybe prospective employers thought his white classmates were smarter, or maybe they just didn't want to hire a black man. But even if the whole world undervalued Clarence Thomas, why does he so undervalue himself that he keeps his law diploma in the basement with a "15 cents" sticker on the frame?
Thomas really should work out these issues for himself. Instead, he seems to be doing his best to save future generations of disadvantaged minorities from the indignity and shame of a Yale law degree.
@aaronssongs,
Please tell us what is wrong with Thomas as a Justice rather than just pasting in an article?
@Curmudgeon,
Curmudgeon;40746 wrote:Please tell us what is wrong with Thomas as a Justice rather than just pasting in an article?
Emotion based or factual?
Emotionally speaking...he is a traitor to his race...turning into, for all practical purposes, "a white man"...hellbent on playing Massa's good lil' darkie Supreme Court Justice...always siding against the best interest of black people, as a whole. He is fatally flawed...as Anita Hill portrays in her latest book, on his relevance and the incidence of his sexual misconduct, years later.
He is a picture book "Uncle Tom". The absolute worse thing to happen to black people as far as government and progression of the race is concerned.
I don't know one single black person who thinks he is worth his salt.
@aaronssongs,
here we go again.................
@briansol,
briansol;40762 wrote:here we go again.................
What is "here we go again"????
@rugonnacry,
I think he is a nut case myself. He showed he has himself before others when he let his desire s for sex betray his position. But that is why he was elected to the high court in my mind. Our government is filled with me first people.
I believed A. Hill. in case you missed it.
Thanks for the read aaronssongs.
@rugonnacry,
rugonnacry;40779 wrote:Anita Hill likes him LOL
Uh, not according to her book or her previous testimony.
@aaronssongs,
aaronssongs;40753 wrote:Emotion based or factual?
Emotionally speaking...he is a traitor to his race...turning into, for all practical purposes, "a white man"...hellbent on playing Massa's good lil' darkie Supreme Court Justice...always siding against the best interest of black people, as a whole.
I find this fascinating, in that you don't see the racism in your own words. Any black man who does not toe the strict party line where their race is concerned is a "traitor to his race." It might interest you to know that members of the KKK and neo-nazis use those
exact[/i] words to describe a white person who does not subscribe to their racist views.
Sir, with all respect and humility, what differentiates you from a skinhead or a klansman?
Why is it that among some blacks, independent thought is not only discouraged, but even fought? Why is it that every time a black man or woman espouses any conservative thought, they are branded a traitor to their race? Is the black "race" so maladjusted, so weak that it cannot withstand any dissent within the ranks? Why is individual thought so discouraged?
Quote:He is fatally flawed...as Anita Hill portrays in her latest book, on his relevance and the incidence of his sexual misconduct, years later.
He is a picture book "Uncle Tom".
If Hill's accusations are true (and I'm not saying they are not), what is the difference between Thomas and Bill Clinton? He stands accused of the exact same misconduct (well, rape is probably a greater charge than sexual harassment) as Thomas, does he not? But with Thomas, the alleged misconduct makes him "fatally flawed." With Clinton, for some reason it is his accusers who are fatally flawed. Why is that?
Uncle Tom? Again, how very racist of you.
Quote:The absolute worse thing to happen to black people as far as government and progression of the race is concerned.
I don't know one single black person who thinks he is worth his salt.
Absolute worst? Even worse than the welfare state specifically established with rules to keep the impoverished in poverty? And I know more than a couple of black folks who rather admire Thomas.
@aaronssongs,
WOW from simple fact to racism. How foolish, and a very good come back
aaronssongs.
See this is what I was talking about. The American people have this wedge splitting them on so many fronts just to keep them from forming any alliance and slow the elite from gainning more control or stopping Big Business
from reducing our nation ability to have good jobs and stop the drive to have only service jobs.
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