As a child in Pinpoint, Georgia, Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was hazed by his classmates with the monicker “America’s Blackest Child.” Such hazing may have had long-term effects, rendering Thomas incapable of transcending his background. It may have given him an inferiority complex that expresses itself in his self-hatred, hatred of other Black people and self-absorption.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
While I’m no psychologist or psychiatrist, watching someone who used affirmative action to get into Yale Law School so vociferously attack the policy is fascinating. But, as Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted in her dissent in the two Students for Fair Admissions (a misnomer if I ever saw one), Thomas has carried out a “prolonged attack” against affirmative action. His June opinion in Students for Fair Admissions was just one of his many attacks on affirmative action.
His distaste for affirmative action seems to stem from his own experiences at Yale, an experience that none of his classmates have verified. Thomas seemed to feel that white students assumed he was an affirmative action admit (he was) and thus not as capable as they were (there is no evidence of that). Thus, he thinks affirmative action stigmatizes Black students, so the Supreme Court should eliminate it. Many of us who were affirmative action admits (I was) don’t much chafe about any stigma. Instead, we celebrate the opportunities affirmative action offered, realizing that while affirmative action opened the door, it did not pass our comprehensive exams, our bar exams, or any other qualifiers. Affirmative action opened the door to some elite institutions, but it did not do the work to get us out.
If there were fairness and equal protection under the law, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be sitting on the bench at all. Not only did he use affirmative action to get into Yale Law School, but he also used old-fashioned political patronage to get him on the bench. His patron, Senator John Danforth (R-MO), aggressively championed his career, making sure he got plum assignments, including the chairmanship of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (where he once said that affirmative action made a difference in his life) and a judicial appointment that teed him up for the Supreme Court nomination.
Several other, better-qualified Black jurists were far more qualified than he, but undoubtedly Senator Danforth put his thumb on the scale by embracing that nomination. Black America was ambivalent, but Thomas effectively used his “up from poverty” backstory to convince folks like Dr. Maya Angelou that he would represent Black interests on the court. Instead, the New York Times described him, in 1992, as “the youngest and the cruelest” justice.
In the Supreme Court case Hudson v. McMillian, a Louisiana inmate, Keith Hudson, sued after Jack McMillian and other prison guards beat him so severely that they broke his dental plate while it was in his mouth. Seven of the nine justices agreed that the brutal and malicious beating was “cruel and unusual punishment,” outlawed by the Eighth Amendment. Thomas, joined by Antonin Scalia, dissented from the majority, saying that the beating was not severe and that the Constitution did not protect prisoners. The facts of this case are jarring, especially as a supervisor witnessed McMillian and a colleague beating Hudson and told them, “not to have too much fun.” In his confirmation hearings, Thomas said he brought “something different” to the court, namely his empathy for the downtrodden. Instead, he brought an unusually intense self-hatred, which spills over to how he deals with cases involving Black people.
All Americans must deal with this self-hating justice, whose outdated opinions threaten civility, inclusion and decency in our nation. Black America is significantly affected by his anti-Blackness. Hopefully, the Department of Justice will investigate Thomas’ financial shenanigans and remove this depraved man from the Supreme Court.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at California State University at Los Angeles (www.juliannemalveaux.com).
Clarence Thomas Hates Black People
Photo caption: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
As a child in Pinpoint, Georgia, Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was hazed by his classmates with the monicker “America’s Blackest Child.” Such hazing may have had long-term effects, rendering Thomas incapable of transcending his background. It may have given him an inferiority complex that expresses itself in his self-hatred, hatred of other Black people and self-absorption.
While I’m no psychologist or psychiatrist, watching someone who used affirmative action to get into Yale Law School so vociferously attack the policy is fascinating. But, as Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted in her dissent in the two Students for Fair Admissions (a misnomer if I ever saw one), Thomas has carried out a “prolonged attack” against affirmative action. His June opinion in Students for Fair Admissions was just one of his many attacks on affirmative action.
His distaste for affirmative action seems to stem from his own experiences at Yale, an experience that none of his classmates have verified. Thomas seemed to feel that white students assumed he was an affirmative action admit (he was) and thus not as capable as they were (there is no evidence of that). Thus, he thinks affirmative action stigmatizes Black students, so the Supreme Court should eliminate it. Many of us who were affirmative action admits (I was) don’t much chafe about any stigma. Instead, we celebrate the opportunities affirmative action offered, realizing that while affirmative action opened the door, it did not pass our comprehensive exams, our bar exams, or any other qualifiers. Affirmative action opened the door to some elite institutions, but it did not do the work to get us out.
If there were fairness and equal protection under the law, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be sitting on the bench at all. Not only did he use affirmative action to get into Yale Law School, but he also used old-fashioned political patronage to get him on the bench. His patron, Senator John Danforth (R-MO), aggressively championed his career, making sure he got plum assignments, including the chairmanship of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (where he once said that affirmative action made a difference in his life) and a judicial appointment that teed him up for the Supreme Court nomination.
Several other, better-qualified Black jurists were far more qualified than he, but undoubtedly Senator Danforth put his thumb on the scale by embracing that nomination. Black America was ambivalent, but Thomas effectively used his “up from poverty” backstory to convince folks like Dr. Maya Angelou that he would represent Black interests on the court. Instead, the New York Times described him, in 1992, as “the youngest and the cruelest” justice.
In the Supreme Court case Hudson v. McMillian, a Louisiana inmate, Keith Hudson, sued after Jack McMillian and other prison guards beat him so severely that they broke his dental plate while it was in his mouth. Seven of the nine justices agreed that the brutal and malicious beating was “cruel and unusual punishment,” outlawed by the Eighth Amendment. Thomas, joined by Antonin Scalia, dissented from the majority, saying that the beating was not severe and that the Constitution did not protect prisoners. The facts of this case are jarring, especially as a supervisor witnessed McMillian and a colleague beating Hudson and told them, “not to have too much fun.” In his confirmation hearings, Thomas said he brought “something different” to the court, namely his empathy for the downtrodden. Instead, he brought an unusually intense self-hatred, which spills over to how he deals with cases involving Black people.
All Americans must deal with this self-hating justice, whose outdated opinions threaten civility, inclusion and decency in our nation. Black America is significantly affected by his anti-Blackness. Hopefully, the Department of Justice will investigate Thomas’ financial shenanigans and remove this depraved man from the Supreme Court.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at California State University at Los Angeles (www.juliannemalveaux.com).
Julianne Malveaux
Recent News
Trump-backed Braun declared winner in Indiana GOP governor’s primary
Google begins renovating Thompson Center to be used for Illinois headquarters
World premiere stage adaptation of “Gods and Monsters” reimagines Christopher Abram’s iconic novel through the lens of race
Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana donates $500,000 to Lake Ridge New Tech Schools