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Published 8 August 1991 in the News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
NAACP is wrong to oppose Thomas
To the Editor:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's recent call for an African-American to fill the vacant associate justice seat on the Supreme Court, but not Judge Clarence Thomas, sounds Orwellian a la Animal Farm. To paraphrase, "All African-Americans are black, but some are blacker than others."
The NAACP's objection to the nomination of Clarence Thomas smacks of the most insidious forms of racism, the camouflaged type. To suggest that a black who espouses conservative political views isn't really black, but is actually a "Tom" (a person who plays up to the white man) or an "Oreo" (black on the outside, white on the inside) is as racist as anything out of a grand dragon's mouth.
Judge Thomas is indicative of the civil rights movement's victory in the struggle for equal oppportunity. By removing artificial legal barriers, all people have the freedom to go as far and high as their talents, abilities, and ambitions can carry them. African-Americans no longer have to be victims; they can now be winners. Judge Thomas is a winner. The NAACP is in the "victim business", and thus is not interested in the creation and support of winners.
James M. Wallace
Greensboro
Original unedited Letter to the Editor as submitted to the News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
To the Editor:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's recent call for an African-American to fill the vacant associate justice seat on the Supreme Court, but not Judge Clarence Thomas, sounds Orwellian a la Animal Farm. To paraphrase, "All African-Americans are black, but some are blacker than others."
The NAACP's objection to the nomination of Clarence Thomas smacks of the most insidious form of racism, the camouflaged type. To suggest that a black who espouses conservative political views isn't really black, but is actually a "Tom" (sucks up to the white man) or an "Oreo" (black on the outside, white on the inside) is as racist as anything out of a grand dragon's mouth.
Judge Thomas is indicative of the civil rights movement's victory in the struggle for equal oppportunity. By removing artificial legal barriers, all people have the freedom to go as far and high as their talents, abilities, and ambitions can carry them. African-Americans no longer have to be victims; they can now be winners. Judge Thomas is a winner. The NAACP is in the "victim business", and thus is not interested in the creation and support of winners.
James M. Wallace
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