July 1st 2023.
This season's rendition of Slate's Slow Burn podcast details the life and career of Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas was part of a 1971 affirmative action initiative of Holy Cross, designed to increase the enrollment of Black students at the overwhelmingly white campus. Though he joined the Black Student Union on campus, Thomas often espoused views that ran opposite of the majority opinion - such as his demand for his white roommate to live with him in their all-Black community dorm.
Thomas then went on to Yale Law School, convinced that Affirmative action was a policy that demeaned Black people in practice, despite its noble goals. Over the next 50 years, he worked to dismantle affirmative action. He even accepted a position as the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, despite wanting nothing to do with anything race-related. His move away from affirmative action caused the NAACP to speak out against him, concerned that it set a dangerous precedent.
The NAACP called into question the transformation of the Supreme Court during Thomas' 1991 confirmation hearing, and today's Supreme Court has decided that using race as one factor in college admission practices goes against the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Last Thursday, Thomas read his concurring opinion aloud from the bench - a rare occurrence that signals the importance of this ruling to him personally.
In his opinion, Thomas makes it clear that he thinks so-called 'race-based quotas' are actually pieces of racist practices themselves. He also states that he is aware of this country's past and history, and that he holds out hope that it will live up to the ideals of equality set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
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