By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on June 30, 2023
An Editorial Opinion
When it comes to matters of race, some things never change. Consider these poignant observations.
First, affirmative action that INCLUDES racial minorities in the socio-economic progress of this nation is now outlawed. The U.S. Supreme Court killed this type of affirmative action yesterday on a 6-3 vote in a college and university admissions case involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
Second, affirmative action that EXCLUDES racial minorities is still fashionable. This is why the overwhelming majority of the 5,996 publicly traded companies in America have all-white boards of directors.
This is also why the 19-judge Alabama appellate court system is all-white today in a state that is 26% black. Since 2000, every vacancy on the state supreme court has been filled by the gubernatorial appointment of a white lawyer or white lower court judge.
Third, the relatively small number of black athletes in colleges and universities across America who can run, catch, and/or dribble a ball in an outstanding manner can get into any school, college, or university regardless of their academic qualifications.
Academic standards do not seem to matter very much in cases where black athletes are used to produce hundreds of millions of dollars each year for major university athletics programs.
Fourth, legacy admission programs at prestigious white colleges and universities have always been available to underachieving white students, and they remain available today. The Supreme Court did not touch this category of affirmative action that has overwhelmingly white beneficiaries.
Simply put, predominantly white graduates of these colleges and universities can always get their children and close relatives admitted to these fine educational institutions under a legacy admission program, regardless of how low their academic qualifications are.
Fifth, this Supreme Court is now functioning much like an Old South, "Redemption Era" court. A majority of the Justices is on a judicial "holy mission" to take America back to the pre-Brown v. Board of Education era -- with all deliberate speed. Brown was the 1954 landmark case that outlawed state law mandated racial segregation in public schools.
Sixth, Clarence Thomas has always been the nation's best known and greatest beneficiary of affirmative action. Thomas has never made it in life on his own merit. Admissions standards for educational institutions always had to be lowered for him.
Thomas has never had the intellectual acumen to be a great lawyer, appellate court judge, or Supreme Court Justice. In fact, Thomas is ranked as one of the five worst Justices in Supreme Court history.
Thomas' professional ascent within the federal judiciary has been based on his political philosophy and not his intelligence.
Clarence Thomas is viewed by many Americans as an unabashed political "whore." Today, Thomas has the highest unfavorability rating on the Court.
As far as I can determine, Thomas has never ruled in favor of any black civil rights litigant's legal claims in his 31 years on the Supreme Court.
What is worse, Clarence Thomas has shown that he hates black people. Thomas also hates the fact that he is black. Experts say there is no known cure for Thomas' self-hatred psychological condition.
What is more, Clarence Thomas' vote on the Court has always been "for sale" for the right price, in the right case, for the right billionaire. Harlan Crowe owns him.
Yesterday's Supreme Court decision in the college and university admissions case was one more milestone along the Court's journey to a place in time when blacks had no legal rights that white men were bound to respect. The final destination for this journey is the Court's affirmation of its infamous 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
African-Americans refer to this dreaded journey as a "Trip to the Land of Misery."