Speaking earlier this week on the Al Sharpton Show, Syracuse professor Boyce Watkins remarked that there are, contrary to what you may have been told about Clarence Thomas’ skin color, no black people on the Supreme Court. The remark drew laughter from Sharpton, who ripped into Thomas as one of the most “inflexible members of the whites’ rights voting bloc.”
Jesse Jackson has praised Watkins for his intellectual gravitas, so there must be something we’re missing here. (“You remind me of the great activist scholars who inspired me during college,” Jackson said of Watkins, “and we need more professors like you to continue the fight for economic and social justice in America.”)
The transcript:
DR BOYCE WATKINS (GUEST, AL SHARPTON SHOW): Another thought, going even deeper I think in terms of race in my opinion there is not a black man on the Supreme Court. You know hey I am going to get a lot of flak for saying that. Ha ha ha ha. We need a black person on the Supreme Court, why not a black woman?
SHARPTON: A lot of us would like to see blacks [nominated for the US Supreme Court opening], but a lot of us also are reminded that we got a black from George Bush Sr named Clarence Thomas and a lot of us would rather not, I’d rather have someone else who would vote, in my opinion who would vote in line with upholding human rights and civil rights and woman’s rights and prisoner rights then to have someone like Mr Thomas, Justice Thomas, who I think has consistently voted against all of that and has been one of the most inflexible members of the white right voting bloc in terms of not only the court, but in terms of his own public expressions.
WATKINS: But it is absolutely true. I mean when you talk about Clarence Thomas, you know he’s such an atrocious appointment for the black community that even his wife is a very vocal Tea Party member you know which is to some extent it undermines his integrity as a judge to have a spouse who is so politically active.
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