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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas rejected the idea that Black Americans should be expected to hold particular political views because of their race during a rare interview with Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“We had this saying [that there are] only two things I have to do: stay Black and die,” Thomas told Cruz, responding to a comment about the conservative justice having an individualist streak. “That was a retort to people who had these sort of requirements for us, these these mandates for us because of our skin color … But at any rate, they think that here’s the way you’re supposed to think. Again, here’s your skin color. There’s this kind of deterministic view that you’re supposed to think this because we say so.”
“And I, of course, declined that invitation. And so now that means that something, that I’m a walking contradiction because I’ve deviated from their perception of what I should think,” the justice added while speaking on the “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast.
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Thomas, who is Black, grew up poor in segregated Georgia, initially living in his parents’ wooden shack in Pin Point and later in Savannah with his grandparents. As a child, Thomas was raised speaking Gullah, a creole language derived from English spoken by the descendants of African slaves.
At the College of the Holy Cross, he initially embraced left-wing Black nationalism, admired Malcolm X and helped establish the school’s Black Student Union. Thomas began moving right after participating in a violent 1970 protest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later saying his shame over the episode prompted him to reject left-wing activism and reconsider the self-reliance preached by his grandfather.
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To further explain his point, Thomas compared efforts to dictate which ideas Black Americans should embrace to the restrictions of racial segregation.
“Here’s what I’ve asked people. I said, ‘When I was a kid, the Savannah Public Library was segregated.’ I said, ‘Do you think it was right that the Savannah Public Library was segregated?’ Oh, no. You should have been able to go in,” Thomas stated. “I said, ‘What if they allowed me in but said I couldn’t go to certain floors? That would be wrong.’ I said, “What about if they said you couldn’t go to certain stacks?’ Well, that would be wrong. ‘What if they had certain books marked that were off limits to me?’ That would be wrong.”
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“Then my question is, why is it then that you have a problem with me embracing certain ideas in certain books? What’s the difference?’ Thomas went on.
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