As he goes off on vacation, perhaps to write the book for which Rupert Murdoch gave him a $1 million advance, Clarence Thomas can take satisfaction in having embarked on his real life’s work--dismantling the progress in race relations since Brown v Board of Education in 1954.
In her syndicated column today, Ellen Goodman points out a significant statement by the usually silent Supreme Court Justice in the decision striking down voluntary integration plans in Seattle and Louisville schools:
“One sentence leaps out of the footnotes: ‘Nothing but an interest in classroom aesthetics and a hypersensitivity to elite sensibilities justifies the school districts' racial balancing programs.’ He trivialized the values of diversity to a matter of aesthetics and closed with a warning: ‘beware of elites bearing racial theories.’ So much for a half-century of civil rights.”
With Bush appointees Roberts and Alito enabling a 5-4 conservative majority on the Court, Thomas is, in the words of the man who made it possible for him to pursue his life goal, “free at last” to express his inner disdain for African-Americans without the skills, desire or coldness of heart to Uncle Tom their way to the top.
Thomas didn’t invent the stereotype of a self-hating minority member--Jews have had their share--but he is practicing the art at the highest level ever.
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2 comments:
The fact is, it is immoral to treat a person differently based solely on the color of his skin. Perhaps, instead of being "self-hating" as you put it, Justice Thomas simply grasps that simple truth.
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