Shelby Steele On Sotomayor And Racial Politics

This is the best column I've read on racial politics since the last time I read an article by Shelby Steele.

But of course "post-racialism" is not a real idea. It is an impression, a chimera that grows out of a very specific racial manipulation that I have called "bargaining." Here the minority makes a bargain with white society: I will not "guilt" you with America's centuries of racism if you will not hold my minority status against me. Whites love this bargain because it allows them to feel above America's racist past and, therefore, immune to charges of racism. By embracing the bargainer they embrace the impression of a world beyond racial division, a world in which whites are innocent and minorities carry no anger. This is the impression that animates bargainers like Mr. Obama or Oprah Winfrey with an irresistible charisma. Even if post-racialism is an obvious illusion -- a bargainer's trick as it were -- whites are flattered by believing in it.

But the Sotomayor nomination shows that Mr. Obama has no idea what a post-racial society would look like. In selling himself as a candidate to the American public he is a gifted bargainer beautifully turned out in post-racial impressionism. But in the real world of Supreme Court nominations, where there is a chance to actually bring some of that idealism down to earth, he chooses a hardened, divisive and race-focused veteran of the culture wars he claims to transcend.

(h/t Matt L.)

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Clarence Thomas On Racial Preference

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how much I admire Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. I read his memoir, My Grandfather's Son, in 2 days. I believe I wrote about it here and about Thomas most recently, here.

When Clarence Thomas holds forth on anything, I pay attention. Partly, because he is smart and wise and partly because he so rarely opines on anything not related to a formal Supreme Court written opinion. This gives added emphasis to everything he says. Especially this:

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that African-Americans are better served by colorblind programs than affirmative action.

Thomas, addressing leaders of historically black colleges, said affirmative action "has become this mantra and there almost has become this secular religiosity about it. I think it almost trumps thinking."

A longtime opponent of race-based preferences in hiring and school admissions, Thomas said, "Just from a constitutional standpoint, I think we're going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes."

Thomas, 60, has voted on the court to outlaw the use of race in college admissions and in determining which public schools students will attend. He wrote with evident resentment in his autobiography "My Grandfather's Son" that he felt he was allowed to attend Yale Law School in the 1970s because of his race and took a tough course load to prove he was as able as his white classmates.

I think here he's referring to what President Bush called "the soft bigotry of low expectations."


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.