Black conservatives have perennially faced the slur that they are “not really Black” if they do not align with the left. This narrative claims such conservatives are tools of white racists when they dissent from the NAACP’s hard line.
When the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn a racially gerrymandered congressional district in Louisiana, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) expressed outrage over an Associated Press photograph published by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. The photo featured a lone Black protester holding a sign reading: “Thurgood is watching you, Clarence.”
The image implied that late Justice Thurgood Marshall would be disappointed in Clarence Thomas.
Lee tweeted: “They’re going after Justice Thomas for being conservative while Black. That’s racist. And it’s very, very wrong.”
He added: “It’d be absurd to assume that Justice Alito should agree with the late Justice Brennan because he’s white. It’s racist and offensive for @Deseret to suggest that Justice Thomas should agree with the late Justice Thurgood Marshall because he’s Black.”
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), a black conservative, seconded Lee: “When the Left can’t beat a Conservative Black man’s argument, they attack his Blackness.”
For example, the Congressional Black Caucus has 60 Democrats but no Black Republicans.
This pattern of criticism dates to Thomas’ nomination for the Supreme Court in the summer of 1991. NBC reporter Bob Herbert highlighted a commentary stating: “David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader, is crazy about Clarence Thomas.”
Columnist Carl Rowan wrote that Thomas had no talent but could only “bootlick” Reagan and Bush, adding: “If you gave Clarence Thomas a little flour on his face, you’d think you had David Duke talking.”
The same sentiment continues today, as personalities on ABC’s “The View” criticized Justice Thomas. Joy Behar complained he “didn’t stick up for his own.”
Two years ago, Behar claimed that Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) does not understand being Black: “the systemic racism that African Americans face in this country and other minorities.” She stated: “He doesn’t get it. Neither does Clarence. And that’s why they’re Republicans.”
At the time, Sen. Scott responded: “When a Black conservative who believes in the future of this nation stands up to be counted, they lose their minds.”
The standard leftist line was exemplified by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who claimed on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” that Thomas and colleagues gave “a green light for unconstitutional attacks on the voting rights that generations of Americans bled and died to secure.”
However, no one has been denied the right to vote. The left insists that Black voters do not have voting rights unless they elect other Black individuals.
This raises questions: What happens when a majority-Black district elects a white representative (Rep. Steve Cohen in Memphis) or an Indian representative (Rep. Shrinivas Thanedar in Detroit)?
Booker further stated on MS NOW that the court’s decision “eliminates black representation, disenfranchising African American voters by drawing creative districts that completely take away any kind of representation.” This implies all 65 Black members of Congress would lose their seats.
It is also inconsistent for Booker to discuss “drawing creative districts,” as many majority-minority districts resemble the Sixth District of Louisiana—a district that appears as a squashed centipede intersecting Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La) district.
Black conservatives are not in favor of eliminating Black legislators or disenfranchising Black voters. However, leftists have vilified them using this narrative because negative campaigning works. The assertion that only Black Democrats are truly Black persists.
