Rich: Nobody Knows the Lynchings He’s Seen (Clarence Thomas)

[RamboLiberal]

WHAT’S the difference between a low-tech lynching and a high-tech lynching? A high-tech lynching brings a tenured job on the Supreme Court and a $1.5 million book deal. A low-tech lynching, not so much.

Pity Clarence Thomas. Done in by what he calls “left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony” — as he describes anyone who challenged his elevation to the court — he still claims to have suffered as much as African-Americans once victimized by “bigots in white robes.” Since kicking off his book tour on “60 Minutes” last Sunday, he has been whining all the way to the bank, often abetted by a press claque as fawning as his No. 1 fan, Rush Limbaugh.

We are always at a crossroads with race in America, and so here we are again. The rollout of Justice Thomas’s memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” is not happening in a vacuum. It follows a Supreme Court decision (which he abetted) outlawing voluntary school desegregation plans in two American cities. It follows yet another vote by the Senate to deny true Congressional representation to the majority black District of Columbia. It follows the decision by the leading Republican presidential candidates to snub a debate at a historically black college as well as the re-emergence of a low-tech lynching noose in Jena, La.

Perhaps most significant of all, Mr. Thomas’s woe-is-me tour unfolds against the backdrop of the presidential campaign of an African-American whose political lexicon does not include martyrdom or rage. “My Grandfather’s Son” may consciously or not echo the title of Barack Obama’s memoir of genealogy and race, “Dreams From My Father,” but it might as well be written in another tongue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/opinion/07rich.html?ref=opinion

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Clarence Thomas is a sick, evil, cruel prick. That he is on the Supreme Court of this country is

very, very sad. He represents the best of nothing...nothing at all.

[Didereaux]

2. Thomas is one or the other of these...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12461951@N03/

[petersjo02]

3. I read the post, including the part about

backrop of presidential camping of an AA, and I couldn't think for the life of me who the African American candidate might be. Is Sharpton running? Has Keyes gotten in? What does that tell you about my view of race in general and in the presidential campaign in particular. Interesting bit of psychology or sociology in my first response.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Clarence Thomas is someone black people do NOT admire.

That alone is very telling.

[opihimoimoi]

5. He is a window dressing ELEMENT...used by the Far Right to make the SCOTUS

Less White....they picked a FOOL and a Pretender...

ANITA was correct....The Senate was WRONG....Partisan over whats GOOD FOR THE NATION......

[Thor_MN]

6. Clarence is confused. An autobiography with a title that would indicate Father or Uncle..

My Grandfather had two sons, my Dad and my Uncle.

Therefore a book I wrote titled My Grandfather's Son, would be about my Dad or my Uncle.

Who's your daddy, Clarence? Oops, it appears you are...

[lordsummerisle]

7. What's really sickening

is that he may be on the court for decades to come.

[durrrty libby]

8. Frank Rich can be fun to read. Too bad Clarence didn't choose

the road of altruism. He could have accomplished so much