Hat Tip: Melinda Hennenberger, Huffington Post
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas famously opposes affirmative action, and clearly feels slandered by the suggestion he ever benefited from such a thing.
So, if we no longer need such programs, how’s that working out in Thomas’s own office?
Not well, as it turns out: “Mine happen to be all white males,” Thomas said of his current crop of clerks. “I don’t have quotas.”
When Rep. Jose Serrano, a Democrat from New York, asked about diversity today at a Congressional hearing on the Supreme Court’s budget, it was Justice Anthony Kennedy who answered first: “We’ve made strides,” he said, but there is just tremendous competition for qualified minority law students. “The profession as a whole is very conscious of it, very conscious.”
“Conscious,” Serrano persisted, “but, have we made progress?”
Of the most recent class of 57 clerks, Kennedy answered, only 7 were minority. And the number of women in the group has fallen dramatically, from more than a third to only 17 percent this year.
In a rare interview last week, Thomas told a writer for Business Week that the notion he was recruited to attend the College of Holy Cross because he is black was “a lie. I don’t mean a mistake. It’s a lie.”
After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Holy Cross did begin recruiting young black men. But that had nothing to do with his entrance the next year, Thomas said: “A nun suggested Holy Cross. That’s how I wound up there. Your industry has suggested that we were all recruited.”
“That was the creation of the politicians, the people with a lot of mouth and nothing to say, and your industry. Everything becomes affirmative action.”
There are no words that adequately express my contempt for Clarence Thomas and the inimical self-loathing ideology he espouses. I ain’t got the “Love of the Lord” for him and it is something that I must pray over. I’m gonna leave it at that before I say somethin’ truly hateful.
Skeptical Brotha 
The thing that always got me about Lawn Jockey (thanks Emerge Magazine) Thomas is this….
41 Lied. He wasn’t remotely ‘the most qualified person for the job.’
Hell, he wasn’t fit to carry the garbage pail of the numerous MORE QUALIFIED BLACK REPUBLICAN JUDGES that were passed over for this clown. 😦
rikyrah,
No, he wasn’t fit to cut their grass or clean their homes.
His disingenuousness on this subject calls into question his “judicial temperament,” if I may use a phrase overused by one of my old law profs.
While I disagree with many of Thomas’ views on the Constitution, there are some things worth noting about his views on affirmative action:
(1) Who would admit they achieved what they did because of it (essentially saying I was not good enough without help to have recieved an elite education)?
(2) The Grutter case dissent – not that he disagreed with affrimative action – but he disagreed with the way Michigan used it, i.e., allowing blacks to go to Michigan Law claiming it was in the interest of the educational enviroment when blacks are consistantly at the bottom of the class (making whites class ranks higher) and the majority of graduates from Michigan Law practice out of the state (so how does the state of Michigan improve its diversity of attorneys.
(3) currently, there are two cases before the Supreme Court (one from Seattle and one from Kentucky) which raise the issue of using race as a factor for high school choice plans. These cases are important, because if they find that race can’t be used as a factor in high schools, colleges and universities are next.
The question then becomes, will the HBCUs step up the facilities and education or just continue to blame Justice Thomas?
The pathology and self loathing of this particular individual is at once both repulsive and fascinating. What drives someone to strike out at themselves like this?
Of course, the most disgusting thing of all is that Daddy Bush had the gall to replace THURGOOD MARSHALL with this clown. Now that’s sticking the knife in and twisting it.
“(1) Who would admit they achieved what they did because of it (essentially saying I was not good enough without help to have recieved an elite education)?”
The problem I have with Uncle Thomas is that he and his cohorts will never admit that there is nothing close to a level playing field existing in these United States, which is the reason affirmative action exists in the first place.
SB,
“There are no words that adequately express my contempt for Clarence Thomas and the inimical self-loathing ideology he espouses.”
I heartily and happily agree.
Anonymous,
Thanks 🙂
Ernesto, I agree that there is not a current level playing field. The issue is whether minorities are doing a part to pick up the slack. It is a hard question to ask because it is so self reflective. I think it’s a two step analysis. (1) is there a level playing field; (2) what can we do to make it level; and (3) once it is level, how to we keep it there?
As a culture, I am not sure we ever address anything past the first question. However, the court is already on question 3. They are debating right now whether the federal government can continue to interfere with states when school systems have been under court oders to de-segregate, the court orders have been lifted, and housing patterns are re-segregating the schools.
The Supreme Court has been saying since 1854 that African Americans will not be a favored class of the law forever and one day we must take out place with the ordinary citizen. In affirmative action cases of the early part of 2000, the court stated in dictum that there should be no need for affirmative actionin 20 years.
WAKE UP! The clock is ticking and we have to be pro-active in making OUR schools better because they won’t have a place to go soon. We are past blaming Justice Thomas. We must act affirmatively.
Current stats show that at HBCUs, less than 1/2 of the African American students who enter graduate within six years. If we don’thelp ourselves now, who do you think will do it when affirmative action is over? And, believe me, it will be over soon.
Y’all keep forgetting that Yale Law School doesn’t accept any student not coming in with high LSATs and 3.5 GPA or higher.
Clarence was a “C” average student. If Yale didn’t allow him in, but for affirmative action, then I have some beachfront property in Arizona for sale.
Clarence Thomas – the portrait of Negro Self-Hatred personified and multiplied.
I said two step analysis when I should have said three. Sorry. Writing an essay and responding to SB is not an easy thing to do!
Thomas graduated cum laude from Holy Cross. If he didn’t then he’s lying on his resume. Do you think people would allow that un-truth for this long?
I understand your contempt for Thomas. But, keep it honest. He makes enough bad decisions where we don’t have to lie about his resume.
Look up the phrase “internalized oppression” and there should be a picture of Clarence Thomas there.
Hey Viv,
I agree totally. 🙂
youngblackman,
The court will strike down voluntary affirmative action in the public schools this year. I feel it coming and it is with tremendous dread and trepidation.
yeah, I agree that this one is a piece of work.
But think about it: isn’t he the prototype (of my generation at least) of the type of black man that the Establishment loves to embrace?
One could make the argument that his “pimp game” (for white conservatives) is/was self-hate and contempt for black progress.
He tap danced to whatever beat necessary to get HIS and doesn’t care who he harms in the process.
Unfortunate as hell… but not unique at all. 😦
So are you saying that blacks should cease to improve because “nothing [I] do personally willl level the collective playing field.”
If everyone sought to improve their own position, our culture would be greatly improved, and, that has nothing to do with the majority class.
Also, explain how improving one’s own position widens that class divide. Are you saying that those who do not improve themselves have contempt for those who do, and vise versa?
From a brother who is trying to improve himself, I can honestly say that I work hard to help those who still struggle. I am not rare. Many African American men I know do the same thing.
Adolph Reed, Jr. said, “A black [conservative] seizes the public stage by ratifying the social prejudices of the wealthy and powerful, all the while complaining of censure and persecution and receiving praise for courageously taking an unpopular stand.”
John L. Wilks, a black Republican who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations, said, “They [black conservatives] merely say they’re conservative, say they’re opposed to affirmative action and are immediately picked up by a right-wing white sponsor.”
Sure seems like Justice Thomas hitched his wagon to a conservative star. Voting in lockstep with Antonin Scalia has earned him the well-deserved contempt of a whole lotta folks.
“From a brother who is trying to improve himself, I can honestly say that I work hard to help those who still struggle. I am not rare. Many African American men I know do the same thing.”
What’s this have to do with Clarence Thomas?
younblackman,
“(1) is there a level playing field; (2) what can we do to make it level; and (3) once it is level, how to we keep it there?”
1. Of course not, and I don’t know of any black person in this country who would say there is, unless they were living in a bubble (on the Supreme Court). 2. That’s easy, erase racial and class distinctions. We know this won’t be happening for some time, however. And until it does affirmative action will be necessary. 3. See number 2.
No one is saying that black people should not seek to improve themselves. They are saying that American society should seek to improve itself as well. And they are saying that some folks are in denial about that reality because they are no longer living it; Clarence Thomas being an extreme example.
only responding to your quote, “You can improve your own position on the tilted field but confusing that with ‘leveling the field’ did A LOT to widen the class divide in the Black communities.”
Let’s talk about erasing racial and class distinctions. I believe that WE, as African Americans, need to raise our own poor and uneducated people to a higher level. When we help our own, while at the same time attempting to improve on mainstream societal views of ALL minorities (hispanics and homosexuals) then we may reach a point where affirmative action is not needed.
However, because affirmative action is ending (regardless of what either of us think) we need to come up with practical solutions to deal with the mass of minorities that will not be able to attend the elite universities and the mass of students that will flood HBCUS.
Currently, they (HBCUs) are not up to par.
“When we help our own, while at the same time attempting to improve on mainstream societal views of ALL minorities (hispanics and homosexuals) then we may reach a point where affirmative action is not needed.”
Even if it were possible to do this, the problem runs deeper than that. Look no further than G.W. Bush for an example of how messed up the college admissions process is, not to mention his subsequent career of being kicked upstairs everytime he failed at something. That story is not atypical. I see it every day. So while I agree with you on the importance of self-reliance, I’ve also come to the conclusion that there are some fundamental flaws with this society that no amount of self-sacrifice and self-help can fix. And before the court strikes down affirmative action it must ask why it was needed in the first place and why it is now no longer needed.
youngblackman:
Let me start by saying that I don’t normally respond to strawmen.
NO. I am not saying that…and there’s not enough text in my comment for you to accidentally misinterpret. Let me suggest that if you can’t argue a point without purposely misinterpreting the “other side,” you HAVE no point.
If you want to improve, please do. I have no issue with you improving your position on the unlevel field. I ACTIVELY suggest you do that very thing.
I just don’t want you to have (or promulgate!) illusions about what you are doing when you do so.
Again, you are wrong, your own standard. Every commercial rap artist you likely hate has improved his or her position on the unlevel playing field. Shall we ALL take on their methods? I seriously doubt you’d support that.
No, because that’s not what I said. I have no responsibility for your extensions and misunderstandings.
I said mistaking improving one’s own position for collective action widens the class divide.
Where do you read that? It’s straight foolishness.
Why?
The mass of minorities never COULD attend those universities…and diversity plans are for the benefit of mainstream folks anyway.
It may not be considered a mass (because the mass of African American males are in jail) but major white institutions often have more,or as many, African Americans than the historically black colleges and universities that are near them.
Diversity plans are not meant for “mainstream folks,” rather, they are for minorities. Is it mainstream to get decent enough grades to at least apply to a white university? You speak of class divide, but yet put a stigma on your people you can be included in diversity plans. Or, by mainstream folks, do you mean white people. I know you hate questions but it’s unclear what you are saying.
If there is any misunderstandings of your prompts, it is simply because your writing does not state your points clear enough. If there was no room for interpretation, then it would not be needed.
When I speak of improving our position in society, clearly financially is but one means. Educationally, spiritually, and socially are by far the more important means. So, in that, you are right that I would not support most rappers, although there are some that warrant imitation.
“mistaking improving one’s own position for collective action widens the class divide”. Only African Americans believe in that individualistic thinking. Other immigrants who came to the U.S., i.e., Jewish, Asian, Hispanic, use a cultural approach and have made strides in this society while we sit back and complain. By individual sucsess, you can help others in your previous state, which will help the whole. But first, you’ve got to help yourself.
Ernesto, the court has already answered question one. Affirmative action is designed to “remove the vestiges of slavery.” Citations ommited but can be provided if needed.
In the court’s opinion, and much of society, even though slavery ended in 1863, reconstruction ended around 1900, and seperate but equal was denounced in 1954, it is currently 2007. The court questions at what point helping blacks is actually hindering whites. And, with a diversified society, and blacks and whites ability to attend the same primary schools, why can’t blacks get equal scores? This is the court’s analysis, not mine, so don’t shoot the messanger.
I don’t agree with ending affirmative action, I just understand their reasoning because I study it. My fear is that as blacks, we will pontificate too long before we take care of our own busniess.
No, I hate strawmen.
Sure they are. Look at how they are described. They are designed to expose people to different cultures etc.
There is only one culture in the USofA that has the barest possibility of NOT encountering other cultures. More than that:
Who designed the affirmative action programs you decry? WHite folks. Who implemented them? White folks. Who claims the method stigmatizes Black folks? White folks.
Wake up.
Want to take a poll asking the question, “who is indulging in ‘individualistic thinking, P6 or youngblackman?”
Which culture’s approach did they use? Which do you suggest we use?
By the way, youngblackman, your position is collective action isn’t necessary, that we all just need to strive for excellence. Fair and correct?
I’d advise against you taking that poll.
“Affirmative action is designed to “remove the vestiges of slavery.” ”
Affirmative action is but one timid step in the direction of overcoming the legacy of slavery, where fortunes were made off of the free labor of black people. A modified form of slavery replaced that system and lives on to this day, namely the perpetuation of a lower class that is not paid a living wage for their work. This problem will be allowed to continue boiling just below the surface as long as the threat of a large scale insurrection does not emerge. Meanwhile, the victims will continue to be blamed for the pathologies of the criminal.
But back to the topic at hand. Why does Clarence Thomas hate himself?
One thing I forgot to add…I don’t think affirmative action will be gotten rid of. There’s two reasons…people who toss a dog a bone are not inclined to take the bone back from the dog (unless the dog has no teeth). And it is also a good tool for playing the divide and conquer game against lower class whites and blacks that was perfected back in the Nixon era.
That’s good. You’re right, it’s the perfect tool to keep lower classes angry and to keep them voting Repub.
I think that if Clarence Thomas looked like Denzel Washington we wouldn’t be having these problems now.
I don’t know why Clarence (and yeah Condi) hate themselves. Did someone in their family or at school who looked liked them hurt their feelings with a withering comment? Do Condi & Clarence revel in proving how much that they aren’t like *most blacks* with their establishment jobs and close friends the Bushies?
I don’t know. Just sad we have to watch aghast at their continued acts against humanity.
At least in 2009, Condi will be sailing somewhere on her tanker but Clarence is forever.
I don’t about that. Michael Steele isn’t bad looking and he’s got plenty of problems.
ura butt
I can not comprehend how the people on this blog can support AA. I used to work for a large corporation that had, what they called, an Equal Opportunity policy. I worked closely with the people in the EO department, so I knew the policy. For some strange reason they wanted to keep this policy hush-hush and not let the masses know about it. They did place the policy on the intranet but it was only accessible by password.
Basically the policy said that during the hiring/promoton process – all things being equal (education, qualifications, etc.) – the hiring manager should hire/promote a black person before a white person and a female before a male just because they were black or female.
How fair is that? It’s not fair at all. I, being a white male, obviously left this large company.
How would you feel, black men, if you knew that a woman, that had all of the same qualifications as you, was promoted instead of you just because she was a woman?
Koz,
You seem to think there isn’t a price to be paid for white privilege, systemic discrimination against people of color, or sexism and misogany. There is. Affirmative Action wasn’t created in a vaccum for no reason. You damn well know that. Moreover, Affirmative Action doesn’t mandate the selection and hiring of anybody-just their consideration.
What you describe, if you’re to be believed, sounds like a mandated consent decree arrangement to remedy systemic employment discrimination against people based on their protected status as racial or ethic minorities or their status as women. If true, your employer was actively discriminating against people based on a protected status. Breaking that up usually requires more than a slap on the rist and is very, very rare in only the most extreme cases.
I suggest that you wake-up and realize that this is the 21st century and that being white doesn’t equal merit.
Well you just taught me one thing – I didn’t realize that AA didn’t mandate a selection but only consideration. If that policy actually worked than I would not be against it – the bad thing is that I don’t think it works that way with most companies that have an AA policy.
I know that you don’t know me from Adam but I am absolutely telling the truth. This company was, and still is, discriminating based on protected status. I’m afraid that they are not the only ones.
I know that being white doesn’t equal merit and never suggested that it did – but you should realize that, with all the racial overtones in this blog, you portray that being black equals merit.
Koz,
I do not portray the being black equals merit. Why don’t you read my Obama criticism in detail, or the criticism I have of Al Sharpton, or Harold Ford, Jr and the Congressional Black Caucus. Trust me, just because its black doesn’t mean that I will find favor with it.
Well I’m glad to know that. I just found your blog. So, I haven’t caught up on all of my reading yet.
Thanks for the link varneer. I saw Leah Ward Sears on C-span a few days ago. She came across as more conservative than Souter to me. Based on what I saw I’m hoping Obama looks elsewhere.