Affirmative 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

One of the two African Americans on the Supreme Court voted with the majority, right before Independence Day, to say that race-based preference in college admissions violates the constitution. Though "affirmative action" admissions policies preferred his own race, Clarence Thomas does not defend it. 

As a child in the American South, he was subject to racism and bullying. But the work ethic and moral strength he learned from his grandfather pulled him through school successfully, and he graduated with top grades from a Catholic seminary and then college.

After also graduating from Yale Law School, he didn't get the job offers he expected. "Affirmative action," he believes, cast doubt on his qualifications. Why? Because the law firms couldn't know for sure whether he earned his degree by merit, by accomplishing the work, or . . because Yale admitted and graduated him just because of his race.

His own "lived experience" is strong in him still. He believes in the abilities of African Americans, and wants equal - not preferential - treatment for them. The court “must adhere to the promise of equality under the law declared by the Declaration of Independence and codified by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

from Britannica