In a pair of rulings earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina could not use race as a deciding factor in the admissions process.
The ruling sparked significant debate, with both supporters and detractors of the rulings focusing on Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in particular. His position as a Black conservative on the bench gave him a unique perspective in the cases, which he referenced in his remarks.
“While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law,” Thomas wrote.
A number of prominent conservatives applauded his principled stance on the issue, but many on the left castigated him as a hypocrite or even a traitor to his own race.
This is the face of a man who climbed the ladder of affirmative action to his present perch of power only to help destroy the very ladder on which he ascended. This is not only the mark of deep ingratitude & disavowal of history, but a withering betrayal of justice & democracy. pic.twitter.com/qtoLiOlQuy
— Michael Eric Dyson (@MichaelEDyson) June 29, 2023
“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg, for example, claimed that Thomas “doesn’t get it,” arguing that he is feigning ignorance about the struggles of other Black Americans.
“Could your mother and father vote in this country?” she asked. “Because had the 14th Amendment actually had us on equal footing, they would have been able to vote. And you know why that changed? Because people got out and made a change. If we didn’t have to, no one would do it. Who wants to get hit by water from a water hose? Nobody. But that’s what people did in order to get the vote. So when you say you don’t know what diversity is, I say you’re full of it.”
Of course, this was not the first time panelists on the ABC talk show denigrated Thomas for his ideology. In a discussion about GOP presidential primary contender Tim Scott, co-host Joy Behar included the justice in her rant against Black conservatives.
”He’s like Clarence Thomas — Black Republican who believes in pulling yourself by your bootstraps, rather than, to me, understanding the systemic racism that African Americans face,” she said last month.
