A Nescient Justice Thomas Is Anathema to the Progress of Civil Rights

By Norman Franklin

Norman Franklin

A recent statement by Justice Clarence Thomas calls into question his knowledge of American/African American history. It affirms that African American history, accurately presented, must be fully incorporated into history and social studies curricula - K-12 through post-secondary education.

Thomas is a Yale Law School graduate.

His primary school years were spent at a segregated Catholic school in Savannah, Ga. His first experience with an integrated learning environment was in the tenth grade. He was enrolled in the St. John Vianney Minor Seminary. He attended The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

Thomas grew up in Pin Point, Ga., during the Jim Crow era. Pin Point was founded by freed slaves. Somehow education bleached white the significance of his Jim Crow experience.

Justice Clarence Thomas believes that the Court over reached its authority in the landmark Brown v Board of Education decision. “It was not backed up by the Constitution or the nation’s “history and tradition,” he wrote in a concurrence opinion that allowed South Carolina to retain its jerrymandered redistricting map.

Thomas, a Yale Law School graduate, is a scholar in the letter of the law; he suffers a deficiency in the knowledge of African American history and the social con struct of America.

It’s not that Thomas is unfamiliar with the need for social advocacy. In college, he was known to recite speeches of Fredrick Douglas, Marcu Garvey, and Malcolm X. He later gravitated towards Republican conservativism, shelving his alignment with Black Nationalism.

Apparently, he didn’t understand the meaning imbedded in the words of Garvey, Douglas, and Malcolm X. He recited the speeches, but he didn’t understand the words coming out of his mouth.

Justice Thomas consistently confirms his place on the conservative court. He voted with the conservative majority to dismantle Affirmative Action, gut the Voting rights Act, and on all decisions of social justice. The list of betrayals is extensive.

It’s not that an African American jurist on the Supreme Court, the last stop for justice under the law, must always rule favorable to the marginalized; he/she is not compelled to consider the history of their oppression, their expecting, as promised, justice for all.

The next administration, potentially, may appoint some jurists to the high court bench and hundreds of judges to the lower Federal courts. These courts will determine the direction of the country.

Whether we have a balanced SCOTUS, or continue with a conservative majority, it will not matter to Jurist Thomas, he will continue to interpret the Constitution as if it were a perfect document.

Social justice is not backed up by the Constitution; social change does not comply with the nation’s history and tradition.