‘White Progressives Do Not Have the Moral Authority:’ Black Academics Denounce ‘Racist’ Attacks on Clarence Thomas

Black academics are denouncing the “racist, vicious, and ugly personal attacks” against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the wake of the Roe v. Wade overruling. In their open letter published by RealClearPolitics, the academics write: “Whether it is calling him a racist slur, an ‘Uncle Tom’ or questioning his ‘blackness’ over his jurisprudence, the disparagement of this man, of his faith and of his character, is abominable.”

“White progressives do not have the moral authority to excommunicate a black man from his race because they disagree with him,” read an open letter signed by black academics, published in RealClearPolitics.

The letter goes on to “condemn the barrage of racist, vicious, and ugly personal attacks that we are witnessing on Clarence Thomas.”

“Whether it is calling him a racist slur, an ‘Uncle Tom’ or questioning his ‘blackness’ over his jurisprudence, the disparagement of this man, of his faith and of his character, is abominable,” the letter affirms.

Signees included Brown University professor Glenn Loury, Hoover Institute Research Fellow Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Woodson Center founder Robert Woodson Sr., and dozens of other black academics and community leaders.

“He is entirely undeserving of the vitriol directed at him,” the letter continues. “Character assassination has become too convenient a tool for eviscerating those who dare dissent from the prevailing agenda, especially when it is a black man who is dissenting.”

The letter goes on to state that “some of the undersigned agree with his judicial decisions and some do not,” clarifying, “This is not about the content of the court’s decisions or Justice Thomas’ personal views.”

“We speak out — as black people and Americans — to condemn these attacks and support Justice Thomas, because to remain silent would be to implicitly endorse these poisonous schemes as well as his destruction,” the letter concludes.

Meanwhile, students at George Washington University Law School are demanding Thomas be fired from his teaching position at the school, claiming the justice “has stripped the right to bodily autonomy of people with wombs” and plans “to further strip the rights of queer people and remove the ability for people to practice safe sex without fear of pregnancy.”

The university, however, responded by rejecting the students’ demand, stating that the school supports “the robust exchange of ideas and deliberation.”

“And because debate is an essential part of our university’s academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world’s most urgent problems, the university will neither terminate Justice Thomas’ employment nor cancel his class in response to his legal opinions,” the university added.

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