Clarence Thomas: Society is overly sensitive about race

[KamaAina]

No, not the Onion. Or Borowitz.

http://news.yahoo.com/clarence-thomas-on-race-194104252.html

Americans today are too sensitive about race, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a gathering of college students in Florida on Tuesday.

Speaking at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., Thomas, the second black justice to serve on the court, lamented what he considers a society that is more “conscious” of racial differences than it was when he grew up in segregated Georgia in the days before — and during — the civil rights era.

“My sadness is that we are probably today more race and difference-conscious than I was in the 1960s when I went to school. To my knowledge, I was the first black kid in Savannah, Georgia, to go to a white school. Rarely did the issue of race come up,” Thomas said during a chapel service hosted by the nondenominational Christian university. “Now, name a day it doesn’t come up. Differences in race, differences in sex, somebody doesn’t look at you right, somebody says something. Everybody is sensitive. If I had been as sensitive as that in the 1960s, I’d still be in Savannah. Every person in this room has endured a slight. Every person. Somebody has said something that has hurt their feelings or did something to them — left them out....

“The worst I have been treated was by northern liberal elites. The absolute worst I have ever been treated,” Thomas said. “The worst things that have been done to me, the worst things that have been said about me, by northern liberal elites, not by the people of Savannah, Georgia.”

[jehop61]

1. Good for him

Guess he didn't mind sitting in the back of the bus or drinking from a different fountain

[ck4829]

2. "Northern liberal elites", Gosh, I'm pretty sure the Civil War ended a long time ago.

Maybe Neo-Confederates are looking for a spokesman, but wow, there is such a thing as laying it on a bit thick.

[truebluegreen]

3. Boy, that is some Guinness-level petulance on display there.

Those nasty northern liberal elites weren't impressed? How odd...who would not be?

[Journeyman]

4. It could be argued as well that there was less umbrage then because everyone "knew their place". . .

and simply accepted the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." But not everyone did, Mr Thomas – some took arms against this sea of troubles and by opposing ended them (or so phrased the Bard).

Yes, it is true there is much "race and difference-consciousness" today than in the past, and it's regrettable, to be sure. But until we resolve the endemic inequities within our society, and truly open opportunities and advancement for all, it is the price we'll pay for the flawed society we have built.

Good god, man -- the era you pine for had laws against the very family you've built. What sort of flawed individual are you, sir, who looks back wistfully on the era of anti-miscegenation laws and sees it as preferable to the loving relationship you have with your wife today?

[bemildred]

5. Go back to sleep Clarence. nt

[quinnox]

6. So, its those damn liberal elites who fought for equality who are the real problem, while the

southern racist redneck types are the real gentlemen, according to him.

[loyalsister]

7. That's a perfect example of blind privilege

He's got his and can't\won't see the experiences of ordinary people who share his background and are not as lucky as he is.
Guys like Thomas and Herman Cain assuage any doubts about the legitimacy and self congratulation that comes with the most extreme levels of white privilege.

"You're not racist - they're just whining." It's taken as gospel and expertise when it comes from black men and women.

[Skidmore]

8. Sez the self-described "victim of a high tech lynching."

Funny how that man's mind works. He does so much damage.

[denverbill]

9. Clarence we are judging you by the content of your character, not your race.