“From my standpoint as a Black American, as far as I am concerned, it is high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that, unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate, rather than hung from a tree.” — Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing 1991
“I’m not going to emasculate a Black man.” — Fani Willis
It is interesting that the scoundrels who happen to be Black know how to deflect from their misdeeds and get undeserved support from their people. The less any solidarity is deserved, the more blatant the effort to use Black trauma as a get out of jail free card.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivered quite a performance during his 1991 confirmation hearings. He defended himself against charges of sexual harassment by referring to his experience as a “hight tech lynching,” and in doing so he immediately won the support of many Black people who should have known better than to give him any credence for any reason whatsoever. A man whose politics were diametrically opposed to those of most in their group managed to turn himself into a heroic figure.
Thomas has lots of company in this regard, as Fani Willis has proven. Ms. Willis is the Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor overseeing the........