John Christoffersen, The Associated Press, October 21, 2007
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a 15-cent price tag stuck to his Yale law degree, blaming the school’s affirmative action policies in the 1970s for his difficulty finding a job after he graduated.
Some of his black classmates say Thomas needs to get over his grudge because Yale opened the door to extraordinary opportunities.
Thomas’ new autobiography, “My Grandfather’s Son,” shows how the second black justice on the Supreme Court came to oppose affirmative action after his law school experience. He was one of about 10 blacks in a class of 160 who had arrived at Yale after the unrest of the 1960s, which culminated in a Black Panther Party trial in New Haven that nearly caused a large-scale riot.
The conservative justice says he initially considered his admission to Yale a dream, but soon felt he was there because of his race. He says he loaded up on tough courses to prove he was not inferior to his white classmates but considers the effort futile. He says he was repeatedly turned down in job interviews at law firms after his 1974 graduation.
“I learned the hard way that a law degree from Yale meant one thing for white graduates and another for blacks, no matter how much any one denied it,” Thomas writes. “I’d graduated from one of America’s top law schools, but racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value.”
Thomas says he stores his Yale Law degree in his basement with a 15-cent sticker from a cigar package on the frame.
I have a hunch that the cigar sticker now adorning justice Thomas’Law degree once belonged to the beloved hero of neo-con stategerist,
P.T.Barnum.
Barnum once opined that;”A Woman is a companion
but a cigar is a Smoke.”
(Note the parellels between Hill vs. Thomas and
later The People of the United States vs. William Jefferson Clinton.
i/e the same strategy by the R/W thinktanks.)
And in reference to the above hero statement;
“There is a sucker born every minute,
and two to fleece him.”
(The 2000 election decided by a 5-4 decision and the 2004 election decided by machinery that
had been designed and manufactured by supporters of the incumbent and was awarded a goodbuddy contract by the same candidate.)
Another dimly remebered quote springs to mind here and seems equally apropo;
“All that is neccasary for the forces of evil
to gain control over humanity is for enough good men to stand by and do nothing.”
Obi-wan Kenobi
Comment by Rainlander — October 22, 2007 @ 2:42 am
The brilliant jurist Clarence “Black Like I Used to Be” Thomas has it all figured out — if whitey won’t give you a job with a prestigious firm, crawl into bed with him and slobber all over his wrinkled ass in the Massah’s Big House instead of trying to end racism. Good plan, Slappy — play the token black cut-out to prove the GOP really isn’t racist, and hope they don’t one day need a fall guy to toss over the side.
I wonder what Clarence’s grandfather would say about his ‘Fortunate’ Grandson — would he remind him of a certain six-letter word that starts with an ‘N’ that white Republicans like to use when the help — Clarence, Condi, etc. — aren’t in the room?
Comment by RS Janes — October 22, 2007 @ 7:17 am
“If the master’s house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, “What’s the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, “Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate,” the house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?” That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that’s what we call them today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here.”
–Malcolm X
Comment by Volt — October 22, 2007 @ 9:11 am
Good post, Volt — says it all in a nutshell. Having personally met a black Republican face-to-face I can tell you this is exactly how they think, and they are even willing to take a browbeating from the GOP massah as long as those goodies don’t stop coming. You know the attitude, “I was smart enough to figure out how to get mine from whitey, the rest of you field hands can go scratch.”
Comment by RS Janes — October 22, 2007 @ 6:52 pm
The problem with Yale is, after you get out, you have to find a yob.
Comment by Evolver — October 22, 2007 @ 8:23 pm