I have been a long critic of many of Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinions which often reject basic individual rights while embracing police and national security powers. However, I believe that Thomas is often treated unfairly for being a black conservative on the Court. While others like Justices Alito, Scalia, and Roberts routinely vote along the same lines, Thomas’ race is commonly cited in commentary while that is not a factor in the other justices on the right of the Court. This unfairness was vividly shown by the comments of Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) that Thomas is an “Uncle Tom” and suggested that he was not an authenticate black person. He has refused to retract or apologize of the attack. In the meantime, Democrats are uniformly silent in the face of this uncivil and outrageous attack.
In an interview with CNN, Thompson said that Thomas apparently “doesn’t like black people, he doesn’t like being black.” After raising votes in areas like voting rights, he added that “All those issues are very important and for someone in the court who’s African American and not sensitive to that is a real problem.”
Let’s be clear, I did not view Thomas as someone who was well-suited for the Court. However, many of these justices and their predecessors were on an the top lists of legal experts. They were selected for their lack of prior controversy or other more political factors. What concerns me is that his race is constantly raised by critics. He has every right to be a conservative and has shown a consistent and committed jurisprudence supporting those views. I do not agree with those positions but I fail to see why he should be defined by his race. Indeed, I thought that one of the key objectives of the civil right movement was to allow African Americans to be judged not by the color of their skin. Thomas follows the same interpretive approach as his colleagues — an approach mind you that is not supposed to be based not on a jurist’s personal desires or association with any group. He is not supposed to show loyalty to a particular group or fulfill expectations due to his race. I have no problem with criticizing Thomas for his votes in the same way as we often criticize his colleagues, but he should not face a race test by critics.
Thomas deserves better. I have always been moved by his life’s story. His father was a farm worker and his mother was a domestic worker. They were poor and both descendants of American slaves. The family spoke Gullah as a first language. His mother literally worked for pennies a day and his early life was spent in a home without indoor plumbing. The second of three children, he later lived with his grandparents when they became homeless. Thomas was the only black person at his high school in Savannah and yet was able to remain an honor student. He went on to attend college and Yale Law School. While few seem to want to admit it, that is a remarkable and inspiring life. He developed conservative principles and values in his life. Some find that incomprehensible but his incredible struggle produced a strong personality and will that can be admired even if you strongly disagree with his views.
What concerns me most is the virtual silence from Democrats to denounce this type of race-based attack. Being called an Uncle Tom is obviously deeply offensive to African Americans. Thomas and his family have gone through too much suffering and struggle to be treated so unfairly in my view. The suggestion is that being genuinely black requires you to reach the right conclusions and support the right positions. However, the very struggle that Thompson is describing was a fight to allow black men and women to be treated as individuals and not categorized by the color of their skin. Thompson should apologize and Democrats should show that they are not selectively outraged by race-based attacks.
What do you think?
Source: Washington Post
I have to be tolerant since I know most of you folks were educated in public schools and history is what they do the worst teaching. There was no KKK prior to the Civil War. It was formed AFTER the Civil War by confederate soldiers who hated black people being able to vote and white Republicans helping them in that regard. The war was OVER. Secession FAILED. The KKK was a hate group formed because of black people being allowed to vote and white Republicans supporting that right.
Byron – they don’t need no stinkin’ history.
Maybe at the WI GOP convention they can get busy and do a little voter caging. Make hay while the sun shines, before November.
Boy, it looks like I’ve missed a LOT!
Annie – thanks for the link. I am unfamiliar with Americans For Prosperity, and will definitely look into it. I am adamantly opposed to voter fraud . . . period. I do not only oppose fraud in “other parties,” which seems to be the position held by some politicians.
Here are my initial thoughts:
1) The article (and others I GOOGLED) claimed that “Republicans” engaged in voter fraud in WI. When the Black Panthers stood outside voting booths armed with clubs, menacing voters, I did not blame “The Democratic Party.” I blamed The Black Panthers. But this article seemed to do exactly that – blame the GOP for the actions of a group.
2) I have consistently stated that anyone of any party can succumb to the temptation to engage in voter fraud. It happens all the time. And that is why I support voter ID, as well as reviewing the rolls periodically to weed out fraudulent entries. I oppose voter fraud, which should be an almost universal opinion. And these are some of the ways to combat it. The only valid argument, in my mind, against photo IDs is that the elderly and the poor may have difficulty with transportation and the cost to get it. But my solution is not simply to abandon voter photo ID. ID is needed in so many perfectly acceptable transactions throughout daily life. My solution is to help the poor and the elderly to get an ID. It will not only help them vote; it will help them in every other transaction for which they need it. For instance, you cannot have a document notarized, such as a living will, medical POA, or loan documents, without a photo ID.
I will definitely look into the allegations. If it was fraud then have they been convicted yet? I have also found the website for AFP and have written them an email, asking for an explanation.
Karen – did you check out the True the Vote site. They have listed voter fraud in many states. I posted a link way upstream.
Is Ted Nugent a Rep. candidate for governor anywhere?
Paul, When people find it a great idea that a Dem candidate for governor passes out KKK hoods, that he made w/ his daughters sewing machine, you know just how depraved a party the Dems have become. Scare them good black folk by putting hoods on Republicans. You see, they don’t know if them stupid blacks realize how bad the GOP are. So, we better put them hoods on those Republicans, they sure know what that means. The paternalism, condescension, and just plain lack of compassion toward black voters is breathtaking. This brief exchange is one of the most edifying I’ve had. You see why some lament the good ol’ days. This kind of hateful exhibition by a Dem would have gotten a standing ovation prior to the schism, and anyone who said this is just wrong would have been bullied like you have never seen. Just let these folks keep diggin’ that hole.
Paul
We were talking about disrespect shown to President Obama. Ted Nugent’s is but one example. Elaine provided another example.
The fact that you do not agree with Ted Nugent, does not strike it off the list of the many slurs hurled at the president.
But you will stand behind all the slurs hurled at President Bush?
Chuck – let me see if I understand you correctly. If you don’t vote for Obama you are racist and if you do vote for Obama you are not racist?
Once again, Paul S makes my case.
Yes. Calling Bush all those things is just like calling Obama a sub-human mongrel.
At those levels, no one can get there without selling theirs soul to the special interests and part of those interests are the central bankers and the military industrial complex that every modern President has had to do. Expecting to breakdown the power of the military industrial complex using democratic means is an illusion. There is only one way to break it down. Stop giving them our money.
“……the home of the KKK is the Democratic Party.”
**********************************************
Horse puckey! The old “democratic” party was the blue dogs and dixiecrats of the old south. Most of them were Democrats because Lincoln was a Republican. When JFK and LBJ came out in favor of desegregation and equal rights for blacks, the Old South Democrats, Dixiecrats and KKK types switched sides and became what is now the modern Republican Party. There used to be a sign at the city limits of Mize, MS proudly announcing the fact that Mize was the “home of the KKK.” I haven’t been back down that way in about twenty years, so don’t know if the sign is still there, but people I know who still live in Mississippi assure me the sentiment remains. Mize is in Smith County. Here is how Smith County went in 2012 with 100% of the votes counted.
I told you I did not agree with Ted. You have a reading comprehension problem.
Annie – you are aware that the first states to talk about seceding were northern states? Brett can give them all the hoods he wants, but all he will do is bring back the memory of the Democratic South. Jim Crow at its best.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/02/wisconsin-s-gop-secession-panic.html
Looks like some WI GOP are now trying to distance themselves from secession from the union. Looking pretty darn foolish, as usual. No wonder Brett Hulsey wants to give them KKK hoods, the ones who signed on to seceding should wear them in pride. How far Wisconsin has fallen under this Republican administration.
The ever charming Ted Nugent calls Obama a sub-human mongrel.
Nice. Very nice.
I wouldn’t stand behind Ted on that. However, attacks on Bush include, but are not limited to, that he was a drunk, complicit in 9/11, a coward, a druggie and an elitist. He got labeled with a banner that the ship’s commander had put up “Mission Accomplished” which he had nothing to do with. He was branded a liar for saying “The British are reporting that the Iraqis have WMDs.” The British, the French and Bill Clinton all reported that. Hell, Saddam reported that because he wanted to scare the Iranians.
I do not remember any reporter who made one of these charges walking it back. Dan Rather, caught in the Big Lie, himself, used the defense of “well my evidence was false but the story was true.”
James Dobson calls Obama the “abortion president” at National Day of Prayer.
I think Obama is the one who said “Thank God for Planned Parenthood.”
Obama hasn’t gotten enough ridicule. That’s why his administration thinks it can do whatever it wants. The party is almost over in that regard.
When you have the press asking to read your talking points it is hard for an administration to go wrong.
A Democrat named Brett Hulsey, running to depose Scott Walker, made some KKK hoods w/ his daughters sewing machine. He is passing them out @ the Wi. GOP convention. Top that one!!
Nick, I do not have to top that since the WS GOP has done it for me. It is entirely appropriate for KKK hoods to be passed out since the GOP will be debating and possibly passing a resolution to support the right of WS to secede from the USA. To say the GOP has changed and is no longer the old party of Lincoln is quite right. The KKK should feel right at home. So please tell me what the problem is.
randyjet – the home of the KKK is the Democratic Party. And they seem to have convinced some of the house slaves to attack the blacks who have run off the plantation.
SWM, thanks for posting that article from TMP, with the president is a zebra reference. The disrespect shown to Justice Thomas is minuscule in comparison to what has been shown to President Obama.
Annie – the disrespect to Obama is minuscule compared to the disrespect shown to Bush II.
Speaking of which, did you see that they are claiming a copyright on Karl Marx and want royalties? Not sure who, but saw a blurb on it?
Byron,
Are you an Ayn Rand fan?
feynman:
how so? A little hyperbole in politics is a bad thing? There is a book titled Ominous Parallels about the similarities between the US and Nazi Germany. The book makes some interesting points.
“Collectivism is the theory that the group (the collective) has primacy over the individual. Collectivism holds that, in human affairs, the collective—society, the community, the nation, the proletariat, the race, etc.—is the unit of reality and the standard of value. On this view, the individual has reality only as part of the group, and value only insofar as he serves it; on his own he has no political rights; he is to be sacrificed for the group whenever it—or its representative, the state—deems this desirable.”
Byron, i see that you disagree with ANY society then since that is exactly what ALL societies are, collectives. Even in the US Revolution, the individual lost rights in favor of the side that they were on. There are degrees to which the individual has or has not rights. For example, during the McCarthy era, you did not have many political rights or right of free expression. There was little freedom of the press, unless you wanted to go to jail, lose your job, etc.. Only mild dissent was allowed, and strictly limited. So to say that the US is akin to Nazi Germany shows a lack of proportion, a total ignorance of history, or a willful distortion of history, and a willingness to LIE! As I have pointed out many times, we have FAR more liberty NOW than when I was growing up. Try reality.
randyjet – you have a very poor handle on history if you think that about the period of the McCarthy Army hearings.
Byron,
It is one thing for ordinary Americans to protest that living in the US today is like Nazi Germany.
It is quite another for a man who may be a presidential candidate.