Clarence
Thomas last month secured his place in history as the Supreme Justice
of Jim Crow Law, last month. In a bizarre demonstration of independence
from his mentor, Justice Antonin Scalia, Thomas registered the sole
dissent in a Dallas death penalty case that "revealed the most
thoroughly documented, blatant example of racist jury selection as
official policy that could be constructed outside of a Hollywood
studio." (See "All
About Clarence: Self-Loathing on the High Court," February
6.) Thomas staked out new ground to the right of Scalia - a sick man's
version of judicial "independence."
comprehends Thomas' dissent as a message to his fellow African Americans.
He hates other Blacks just as he loathes himself. He and we are his
nightmare.
As
the late Franz Fanon would instantly recognize, Thomas suffers from
the most perverse racial paranoia. He imagines that other Black
people see through to his worthless (in his own mind) core, and
he hates them for it.
The
54-year-old Thomas is the walking definition of the "self-hating
Negro," a bane to his own existence and to the rest of us for
the remainder of his life term. The folks at the Carolina's Associated
Minority Contractors (CAMC) understand him all too well. They dropped
us a note:
To
the point and right to the jugular.
Ye great and glorious "BLACK COMMENTATOR"
Should be heard round the world!
HOTEP.
CAMC
Paul
Moon is a Korean-American reader who also appreciates the work of
our artist, Khalil Bendib.
The
cartoon is very good. I could see how it could offend some people,
but there is one criticism, and you offend the right people.
You
forgot the other part of the terrible two, Scalia. I would have
loved to see you involve him because they are both basically on
the same page, legally speaking. Also, they both share a self-loathing
from their ethnic and class backgrounds they have come from and
betrayed. Unfortunately, they are also considered unequal partners.
Scalia is considered a brilliant jurist yet Thomas is not. Racism?
Maybe. But, I think that there is some element of racism, especially
considering the historical practice of Caucasian Americans to denigrate
the intelligence and mental acuity of Africans in America....
Personally,
I find nothing brilliant about someone who enjoys legally terrorizing
all people and yanking away their rights, and would throw every
person of color in jail for the war on terrorism. As does Thomas.
felt it was important to point out that Thomas is
a victim of soul-destroying racism, which has distorted him
so grotesquely, as well as an active tormentor. Eric Mauer, writing
from San Francisco, found our piece useful.
I
read with intense interest your article about Thomas' self-loathing
and essentially agree with what you conclude. He is an angry, nasty,
punitive, extremely mean-spirited person who should never, ever
be in the position of power he is in. He is a danger to our democracy
- such as our democracy (still) is.
Your
article helped me to synthesize many analyses I have attempted about
this man over the years into a clearer whole. Keep up your important
work!
Clarence
Thomas has had folks scratching their heads ever since his tumultuous
confirmation hearings, 12 years ago. His sickness is now visible to
all except the racists who elevated him to the High Court, who "are
incapable of imagining the emotional inferno they have stoked these
hundreds of years." Bridget Borer ponders Thomas - and shakes
her head.
The
commentary on Clarence Thomas was brilliant. It made so much sense
and was articulated so well.
It's
really very sad and unfortunate - for him and all the others he
despises.
Thanks
for a great website!
Bruce
Tomczak also appreciated Dr. 's
diagnosis of the man who styles himself Lord High Executioner of African
Americans.
What
a wonderful column in CounterPunch
on Clarence Thomas! I have never understood how the man was confirmed
as a Supreme Court Justice. Of course, I am sure the same question
could be asked of the other justices.
Justice,
what an ironic appellation for people who should be called Pre-judgers.
Their decisions and resulting rationalizations are astonishing.
Too bad Gilbert and Sullivan weren't alive to satirize this reckless
crew.
Keep
up the good work! I enjoy your articles.
"Thanks
for your wonderful work!" writes Vernellia R. Randall, Professor
of Law at the University of Dayton. Professor Randall posted our Clarence
Thomas piece at her extremely valuable web site "Race,
Racism and the Law" - a treasure trove of information and
insight worthy of a long visit.
We
should take this opportunity to thank the high-powered brains behind
BlackPlanet.com,
TakeBackTheMedia.com,
BlackElectorate.com,
the Institute for Global
Communications and the ever provocative CounterPunch.com
for sharing our work with their readers.
The People Disappearing Act
The
government that has taught so many other regimes the fine arts of
"disappearing" dissidents is about to declare war on dissent,
worldwide. No one knows what Permanent War will look like under 21st
Century conditions, or how a state of Permanent National Emergency
will mangle American society. However, it is clear that domestic tranquility
cannot coexist with the international chaos that is certain to follow
Shock and Awe.
Although
not yet formally listed as legislation for congressional debate, "Patriot
II is the perfect tool to 'disappear' any number of human beings for
any reason to any place for any length of time," we wrote in
the February 27 piece, "In
the Time of Disappeared People."
M.
McNease seems reassured to learn The Black Commentator shares his
anxieties.
Thanks
for your commentary. A friend thinks I've gone over the edge because
I said the cartel holding power now in all branches of government
will never give it up. If there is any danger of Bush being defeated
in an election (and we've already seen what they can do with those),
we will find ourselves under martial law and our democracy and Constitution
suspended. These people will not give up power under any circumstances.
My
friend thought I was being farfetched, and I pointed out that Oliver
North was involved in a plan to do just that back when Reagan was
president: create civil unrest, declare martial law. So they waited
20 years, that's all. I will be highly surprised if this is not
the beginning of the end of American democracy.
Actually,
as we pointed out to Mr. McNease, the Bush Pirates have been working
towards this day for at least a decade.
We
get the impression that Premilla Dixit has been working for peace
for a lot longer than that. She's with the Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom, New York.
I
am so glad to hear someone calling a spade a spade. The double speak
on all sides is enough to give one a nosebleed.
The question is What do we do?
We
will do what we must, in a world that will change in ways that we
cannot imagine.
Putting
the Democrats through changes
The
national Democrats ponder the polls and wonder why they can't touch
Rev. Al Sharpton's core of Black support. The answer should be obvious:
you can't hold Black people at arms length and move them from place
to place at the same time. As we put it in the February 27 commentary,
"Al Sharpton's
Battle to Transform the Democrats."
Huge
numbers will follow Sharpton despite his perm, because they
know that he "speaks truth to power," an esteemed quality
among African Americans, the most sophisticated electorate in America.
Eddgra
Fallin read the piece in Huntsville, Alabama. She's exactly who we
were talking about.
I
knew when Bush stole the 2000 election and the media drove the get
away car that we black folks were in Trouble with a capitol T. I
have found that I have to be selective about what I watch on TV
because it elevates my blood pressure. The media has decided that
they are tired of black folks. There are very few of us they are
letting on TV nowadays and the few they are letting on the air are
ineffective. As for me and my house, we support Al Sharpton. He
has consistently been there for black people.
I
can't support Carol Mosely-Braun because I can't think of a thing
she has done for black folks other than be a figurehead. I call
Carol the Colin Powell/Condi Rice of the Democratic Party. The Democrats
parade Carol out so they can say, "See, we ain't racist!"
Al
is my man.
Voters
like Ms. Fallin are the reason we wrote: "There can be no compromise
with people who poison the political well. Cohabitation with Rightists
and racists means death to the Party."
K.
Lowell, of Hawaii, sent us an intriguing letter/poem that addresses
the non-Black side of the political transformation question.
I
am waiting for the Black voters in this country, all of them, to
wake up and realize they are strong.
I am waiting for the Black leaders in this country
to wake up and realize they stand in front of a willing army.
I am waiting for Black writers, musicians, athletes
and actors to wake up and realize people are listening, watching,
emulating.
I am waiting for Black CEO's to wake up and realize
they have leverage, power.
I am waiting. And I'm White.
Randall
Kennedy (ugh) again
The
Internet is a wonderful system/instrument, allowing the visitor to
delve instantaneously into a publication's archives to rediscover
subjects that even the publishers would prefer to forget. Mary Scott
rummaged through 's
summer issues, and found herself in the malodorous presence of Randall
Kennedy, Harvard Law School professor and author of books designed
to make white racists feel good about themselves.
Kennedy's
"Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word" gave
whites broad latitude to employ the racial epithet, provoking a series
of
articles on the controversy. In the August 22 triplet, "The
N-Word Three Ways," we urged African Americans to "shun"
Kennedy as a "fraud" and Harvard's Dr. Martin Kilson described
his colleague as an intellectual "tramp."
Mary
Scott emerged from the archives with this assessment:
After
reading the words of Randall Kennedy I had to wonder if this man
has been living in a box.
Coincidentally,
on the same day that Ms. Scott's letter arrived, we heard from Carl
Fletcher, who made the Randall Kennedy - Clarence Thomas connection
and provided commentary on the evolving Sharpton story.
Thanks
for expressing in words my thoughts, without the expletives, almost
exactly on the dual clowns of Randall Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
Joel
Klein, Eleanor Clift and Peter Beinart of the neoracist New Republic
are setting the litmus test of disregard of Sharpton for the Democratic
presidential candidates. The term media whore comes to mind. Eleanor
Clift used to write in Newsweek often about how Clinton should "stick-it-to
the Black Caucus to shore up support with independent voters. Also
the use of the "sista-souljah" moment. No matter what
you say about the Republicans they do not seem to hate their political
base. They have shown no compunction at rollicking in the mud along
with the Jesse Helms and Jerry Falwells. Maybe it is not fair to
say the Democrats feel this way, perhaps it is more fair to say
that the Democrat elite and media whores feel this way.
It
is not limited to conservatives - the American Prospect had a nasty
polemic against Sharpton last month and both they and the Nation
use Kennedy as their resident black voice on issues. Disgusting!
Coping
with "Christians"
When
Alice Copeland Brown's letter arrived, we were in the middle of writing
this week's Cover Story, "Racism
& War: Perfect Together." Ms. Brown seemed to have been
reading our minds.
I
am looking to the Black Caucus for moral and political leadership
in this awful insane time. The symptoms that Southern schizophrenia
has gone national are all around us. I graduated with 150 Birmingham
teen-agers in 1955 from high school. The blindness of so-called
Christians to the evils of segregation is now present in the blindness
to the insanity of bringing democracy to Iraq as we bring death
by bombing, when we no longer have it ourselves. I used to think
this hypocrisy was willful; now I believe it to be a psychopathic
condition brought on by years of living in denial with a mass media
that censures out anything to the contrary.
We
need cheap gas to fuel our SUVs, so the deaths of thousands that
we'll never see matters not at all. But how do you talk to these
people? I've received 12 letters from classmates, ordering me to
take them off my mailing lists... people who attend church every
Sunday and think of themselves as loving Christians (and they are,
to one another). What do I say, without being obscene and using
the fury I feel behind my words?
Unfortunately,
racists hear and see only that which confirms their superiority, or
- in the case of Ms. Brown's "Christians" - their moral
uprightness. They have been known to react murderously when contradicted.
As
a movement veteran and Head Organizer for Allegheny County ACORN (Pittsburgh),
Maryellen Hayden has run up against racists and reactionaries of every
variety. She relaxes, kind of, with .
I
love your take on the issues that cut to the lives of African Americans
and Americans who are not in the elite class. I am so overwhelmed
by the current situation that I just don't know what to do anymore.
I am a lifelong in-the-trenches activist who has tried to work for
change, and I feel like every gain we have made is being taken away
and we seem to be powerless to stop it. Reading your e-magazine
brings me back to my good old anger, the kind that drives me to
fight anyway, and I love you for it! Keep doin' it!
Ms.
Hayden is looking for organizing talent in the Pittsburgh area. Only
determined movers-and-shakers need apply. (Click here for the ACORN
website Organizer page.)
Keep
writing.
www.blackcommentator.com
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