A Radical Double Agent

A Radical Double Agent
Author(s): Derrick Bell

Source: The Black Scholar , Winter 1991-Spring 1992, Vol. 22, No. 1/2, The Clarence
Thomas Confirmation: The Black Community Responds (Winter 1991-Spring 1992), pp.
24-25
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/41067733
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reach, reconstruct and save a black man who important, had the courage to hope.
has graduated from Yale, how can you reach Because Clarence Thomas has been poor,
down here in this drug-filled, hate-filled cess- has been nearly suffocated by the acrid odor
pool where I live and save me? of racial discrimination, is intelligent, well
I am supporting Clarence Thomas's nomi- trained, black and young enough to be won
nation, and I am neither naive enough nor over again, I support him.
hopeful enough to imagine that in publicly The prophet in "Lamentations" cried,
supporting him I will give the younger gener- "Although he put his mouth in the dust. . .
ation a pretty picture of unity, but rather I there is still hope."
can show them that I and they come from a
MAYA ANGELOU, a poet, is professor of Ameri-
people who had the courage to be when being
can studies at Wake Forest University. This article
was dangerous, who had the courage to dare is reprinted from the New York Times, August 25,
when daring was dangerous - and most 1991.
A Radical Double Agent
by Derrick Bell
a careful analysis of the civil rights Such limits also ignore the fact that state-
writings and statements of Clarence mandated restrictions fall heavily on the poor,
Thomas, I am tempted to support his nomi- among whom black women are disproportion-
nation to the Supreme Court. I have con- ately represented.
cluded that Judge Thomas is not really a Then I realized that Judge Thomas's seem-
conservative, but, rather, a committed black ingly ridiculous statements must be part of a
revolutionary. I am convinced that he plans to carefully conceived conspiracy. No black man
use right-wing dogma to spark racial revolt, a with his roots and knowledge of the nation's
revolt he evidently sees as a dangerous but dire employment situation could actually
urgently necessary response to this society's believe that today's poor can find a formula
growing hostility to African Americans. for success in a "self-help" ideology advocated
Initially, I had a number of grave con- by those born into wealth or privilege or
cerns. I was baffled by Judge Thomas's oppo- both.
sition to affirmative action and other civil Many liberals hope that, if seated on the
rights remedies that advanced his career. Supreme Court, he will take a more realistic
1 cringed at his advocacy of capital punish- and sympathetic position on issues concerning
ment when blacks are given that irreversible minorities and other disadvantaged groups.
penalty in such disproportionate numbers. Large numbers of blacks also hope for a post-
I wondered how he could condemn poor confirmation conversion. They support him
black people - including his own sister - for based on his race and his impoverished child-
relying on Government assistance to feed, hood and despite his disavowal of all race-
clothe and house their children at a time based selection processes. Such hopes are
when so many Americans are dependent on futile.
the Government to spend billions of dollars to Indeed, his value as a revolutionary double
insure savings that have been put at risk by agent depends on his strict adherence to the
ill-managed banks and savings and loans. positions that persuaded President Bush to
Even his anti-abortion advocacy seemed to mock both merit and good sense by claiming
fly in the face of reality. State limits on a he was the most qualified candidate.
woman's choice contradict his espousal of free An all-white Supreme Court hostile to
enterprise without government interference. racial issues is one thing. But a Court with its
PAGE 24 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 22, NO. 1 & 2

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lone black Justice joining the majority in its Thus, Judge Thomas must expect fierce criti-
anti-civil rights decisions will send a clear cism, first from blacks and then - when they
message: it is useless to continue seeking relief realize the racial chaos his decisions will
through law for America's still rampant create - whites as well. His stand will require
racism. personal courage.
Militant arguments that blacks now have The brilliance of his scheme lies in the
no alternative except disruptive protests and following: It will work even if he denies - as
boycotts will be invulnerable to more moder- he probably will - that his conservatism really
ate responses. The Court's action will even masks a radicalism to which most blacks do
give legitimacy to claims by some extremist not adhere but to which an ever-increasing
leaders that black people must respond with number will subscribe within months after he
violence to the violence inflicted on them by takes his seat on the Supreme Court.
an uncaring society.
History reveals no precedent for a black DERRICK BELL, on leave from Harvard Law
man in a position of real power advocating School is a visiting professor at the New York
University Law School. Reprinted from the New
racial policies that are so at odds with the York Times.
convictions of a great majority of his people.
Collard Greens, Clarence Thomas, and the

High-Tech Rape of Anita Hill
by Melba Joyce Boyd

the second day of the Clarence white, all male senate committee, sitting in a
Thomas- Anita Hill hearing I telephoned row, cross-examining a black woman attor-
Rain, an old friend and college roommate, to ney, testifying in precise and perfect "stan-
talk about the scuttlebutt. After a long, first dard" English. It was a scene straight from
day, it was time "to kick it" with a sister. Her the theatre of the absurd, aptly embellished
husband answered the phone and said I on "Saturday Night Live" and "In Living
should come over and watch the event with Color."
them. The need to experience the hearing in Having just returned from her father's
a communal setting intensified the signifi- garden, Rain was loaded down with collard
cance of the moment as the clash of the sexes and turnip greens to be cleaned, cooked and
and sexuality was staged on television live, distributed to family and friends. Rain
and in living color. worked at the kitchen sink and stove with her
For me, the hearing was as much a per- back to the television, while I sat at the round
sonal, political issue as it was a topic criticaltable. With biting sarcasm, we "dogged"
to my work as a professor of Afroamerican Thomas, the usual backward, insidious intelli-
Studies. In the background of my thoughts, gence of the government, and the media's
effacing this conflict, were my most recent blind ignorance. "Who's lying?" was our rhe-
classroom lectures and discussions about the torical refrain, as the "African American
sexual exploitation, abuse and rape of the Republicans lined up for the camera as Yale's
slave woman. I could hear the echo of Linda neat, elite (we call them "e-lites" in Detroit).
Brent's complaint in "Incidents" in the Life of a Rain's husband, an ex-factory worker and
Slave Girl as Anita Hill alleged the indignities now a successful contractor, and Rain's father,
of the sexual harassment she had suffered at a ninety year old labor union veteran, felt a
the whims of the aspiring, Supreme Court sense of male kinship with Thomas. They
Justice Clarence Thomas. The setting: An allwanted Anita Hill to be lying basically
THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 22, NO. 1 & 2 PAGE 25

207.62.77.131 on Thu, 11 Jun 2020 05:15:31 UTC

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Author(s): Derrick Bell

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/41067733

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