Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
I really enjoyed this peak into Thomas’s worldview as seen through his opinions. It gave me a lot to think about
challenging
informative
medium-paced
really fascinating biography and analysis of a person and politics I (and I assume many others) had little understanding of before. Corey's suggestion that we interrogate the premises and assumptions he lays out in Thomas's politics which the left often shares is especially urgent and compelling
I read this because I've heard several interviews with the author, and the idea of Clarence Thomas as a Black Nationalist with the ultimate success of African-Americans foremost in his judicial philosophy was so far from what I had crafted him to be in my own mind that I finally had to dive in.
The book is accessible to the legal novice, getting just far enough into the weeds to provide numerous examples of Thomas' opinions and the motivations behind them. Robin also provides just enough biographical information about Thomas to help us understand how he arrived at the somewhat unique view of the US and racism which he holds tightly. To wit: racism is inevitable; any attempt to alleviate that by the government is just an effort by White people to improve life for themselves or make themselves look better; and African-Americans should remove themselves from White society, make as much money as possible, and create their own self-sustaining communities, essentially isolated from the US while still within its borders. Don't try to make things better - it's a losing battle. Sorry, African-American MEN should do that. Black women are basically here just to support the Black men.
Even without the sexism, it's a bleak, bleak view of society. I can't say I disagree with all of his conclusions: I do believe a lot of the actions done to "help" Black people have been motivated by White self-interest, etc. But I don't believe cutting & running is the solution. Deconstructing White Supremacy seems a far better goal. I read this in order to better understand this guy & hopefully extend some compassion to him, and that worked. I have more respect for him than I held previously, but am as philosophically distant from him as ever.
For a satirical version of at least part of this perspective, read The Sellout, by Paul Beatty: [b:The Sellout|22237161|The Sellout|Paul Beatty|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403430899l/22237161._SX50_.jpg|41610676]
The book is accessible to the legal novice, getting just far enough into the weeds to provide numerous examples of Thomas' opinions and the motivations behind them. Robin also provides just enough biographical information about Thomas to help us understand how he arrived at the somewhat unique view of the US and racism which he holds tightly. To wit: racism is inevitable; any attempt to alleviate that by the government is just an effort by White people to improve life for themselves or make themselves look better; and African-Americans should remove themselves from White society, make as much money as possible, and create their own self-sustaining communities, essentially isolated from the US while still within its borders. Don't try to make things better - it's a losing battle. Sorry, African-American MEN should do that. Black women are basically here just to support the Black men.
Even without the sexism, it's a bleak, bleak view of society. I can't say I disagree with all of his conclusions: I do believe a lot of the actions done to "help" Black people have been motivated by White self-interest, etc. But I don't believe cutting & running is the solution. Deconstructing White Supremacy seems a far better goal. I read this in order to better understand this guy & hopefully extend some compassion to him, and that worked. I have more respect for him than I held previously, but am as philosophically distant from him as ever.
For a satirical version of at least part of this perspective, read The Sellout, by Paul Beatty: [b:The Sellout|22237161|The Sellout|Paul Beatty|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403430899l/22237161._SX50_.jpg|41610676]
Dives into why Clarence Thomas thinks the way he does, and how his understanding of being black in America impacts his understanding of the rights granted by the constitution. It gives some of his personal history but not overly so, and doesn't criticize so much as analyze his opinions.
Justice Thomas is popularly known for the Anita Hill incident and saying little to nothing during oral arguments. Combined with his blackness and being the most conservative member on the court in an era when conservatives have been working against the black community in every respect has often led left-leaning people to conclude that Thomas is simply stupid, a puppet or has his clerks write his opinions for him, etc. Robin points out these are criticisms that Thurgood Marshall also caught in his time as the first African-American on the court, and quickly dispenses with them by showing why Thomas's worldview is not only quite coherent, it is more aligned with the left's than one might suspect.
Because of Thomas's roots in the 60's as a radical Black nationalist (fellow academic Mehrsa Baradaran in a review on this website does question the label, so I will raise that here) whom identifies himself as being on the left, following people like Malcolm X and Angela Davis, many of Thomas's initial precepts about race and racism as well as process wouldn't be unfamiliar to people on the far-left. Robin shows from Thomas's own court opinions and occasional interviews that he believes racism is insurmountable; that white people will forever be racist and the government forever be a tool of white people controlling black people. He believes that the programs that liberals enact are simply ways to control the black populace, to put it crudely, and keep them from achieving something better. And he feels that there will never be anything accomplished through government for blacks.
Why is this so relevant to his jurisprudence? Well, as Robin shows us, he uses this reasoning to nudge the door shut for black people whether it be on the voting rights act or on welfare. Essentially, he doesn't want to give hope. Robin lays out his theory that he idolizes his grandfather, and from this he acts like all of black folk are like extremophiles that thrive in bad conditions. Because of this, he is a natural reactionary, even if he does actually have black people in his best interest.
It's a very interesting book that I highly recommend to anyone that managed to read this far down. The undemocratic courts are going to be one of the biggest sources of national trauma in the coming years and this book will give you a bit of direct and indirect exposure to it. What is evident with Thomas, and I think would be evident with anyone you wrote a book like this about, would be that their opinions are political. Their opinions stem from their worldview, and there's simply no such thing as "objectivity" when it comes to the courts, because there's no such thing as objectivity in humans. In science and math, we at least have the shroud of numbers, and it's harder to fool. But here it's quite literally an opinion. To ask for an objective opinion in and of itself should sound like a ridiculous request.
Yet, so many elite law institutionalists believe in this, or at least act as though they do. Why? Well, after reading this, it's at least a little less hazy. Thomas's reasoning is legitimately impressive. Robin doesn't inject his own analysis much, so you are mostly getting straight into his head, and at times, he almost convinces you, until you really start thinking about it. Most right-wing thought is eye-rollingly stupid, but this is not. It's dark as hell, but it's not dark in the same way normal conservatism is. It's almost... a passionate darkness. It frames things from the point of view of the underclass and the victim, and actually acknowledges hard realities much of the time. You realize Thomas's vision of despair is winning. Half of Americans simply don't believe our political process is worth the time. But all the same he's making it worse, further depressing the vote, further making sure it all happens the way he foretells.
Thomas is a political actor with immense power. As the book jacket says, he's likely the most powerful black man in the country. It's highly unsettling that all of this was in the public record and still the public perception of Thomas was as it was. We cannot keep pretending Supreme Court justices are non-political actors. The only people who seem determined to do this of this are law professors and conservative justices who benefit themselves. It's true there are "activist judges". All of them are activist judges. It's time to acknowledge this and reform this branch of government that can functionally rewrite or veto our laws.
Because of Thomas's roots in the 60's as a radical Black nationalist (fellow academic Mehrsa Baradaran in a review on this website does question the label, so I will raise that here) whom identifies himself as being on the left, following people like Malcolm X and Angela Davis, many of Thomas's initial precepts about race and racism as well as process wouldn't be unfamiliar to people on the far-left. Robin shows from Thomas's own court opinions and occasional interviews that he believes racism is insurmountable; that white people will forever be racist and the government forever be a tool of white people controlling black people. He believes that the programs that liberals enact are simply ways to control the black populace, to put it crudely, and keep them from achieving something better. And he feels that there will never be anything accomplished through government for blacks.
Why is this so relevant to his jurisprudence? Well, as Robin shows us, he uses this reasoning to nudge the door shut for black people whether it be on the voting rights act or on welfare. Essentially, he doesn't want to give hope. Robin lays out his theory that he idolizes his grandfather, and from this he acts like all of black folk are like extremophiles that thrive in bad conditions. Because of this, he is a natural reactionary, even if he does actually have black people in his best interest.
It's a very interesting book that I highly recommend to anyone that managed to read this far down. The undemocratic courts are going to be one of the biggest sources of national trauma in the coming years and this book will give you a bit of direct and indirect exposure to it. What is evident with Thomas, and I think would be evident with anyone you wrote a book like this about, would be that their opinions are political. Their opinions stem from their worldview, and there's simply no such thing as "objectivity" when it comes to the courts, because there's no such thing as objectivity in humans. In science and math, we at least have the shroud of numbers, and it's harder to fool. But here it's quite literally an opinion. To ask for an objective opinion in and of itself should sound like a ridiculous request.
Yet, so many elite law institutionalists believe in this, or at least act as though they do. Why? Well, after reading this, it's at least a little less hazy. Thomas's reasoning is legitimately impressive. Robin doesn't inject his own analysis much, so you are mostly getting straight into his head, and at times, he almost convinces you, until you really start thinking about it. Most right-wing thought is eye-rollingly stupid, but this is not. It's dark as hell, but it's not dark in the same way normal conservatism is. It's almost... a passionate darkness. It frames things from the point of view of the underclass and the victim, and actually acknowledges hard realities much of the time. You realize Thomas's vision of despair is winning. Half of Americans simply don't believe our political process is worth the time. But all the same he's making it worse, further depressing the vote, further making sure it all happens the way he foretells.
Thomas is a political actor with immense power. As the book jacket says, he's likely the most powerful black man in the country. It's highly unsettling that all of this was in the public record and still the public perception of Thomas was as it was. We cannot keep pretending Supreme Court justices are non-political actors. The only people who seem determined to do this of this are law professors and conservative justices who benefit themselves. It's true there are "activist judges". All of them are activist judges. It's time to acknowledge this and reform this branch of government that can functionally rewrite or veto our laws.
I found this book fascinating. It focuses on Thomas’ philosophy through his writings and speeches before and while on the Supreme Court.
4.5 -- All of the deep learning; lucidity and erudition; and subtle, expansive observation and argumentation one has come to expect from a Corey Robin book are in full force here. With its abundant fresh, sharp, nuanced takes on a subject as vaguely known and misunderstood (by both supporters and critics) as he is galvanizing, THE ENIGMA OF CLARENCE THOMAS is both a sobering accounting of the perverse (yet, as it turns out, disturbingly understandable) worldview of one of the most powerful, extreme conservatives in the United States government...and a real pleasure to read.
Clarence Thomas views the problem of racism in much the same way as your favorite liberal authors, but comes to much uglier conclusions about what must be done. Corey Robin lays out convincingly how Thomas, the most conservative Supreme Court justice of our time (and possibly the last century?) could have been born of the Black Power movements of the 1960s and ‘70s. Like many black Americans, Thomas recognizes that to get ahead in a racist system requires working twice as hard; Thomas doesn’t see that as a problem, but a gift. In fact, the liberal state has made things too easy, and lulled black Americans into laziness and complacency.
As Robin notes, Clarence Thomas is often portrayed as lazy, dumb, and indifferent to the plight of black people. It’s much more to disturbing to recognize that Thomas isn’t any of those things. He has made the same diagnoses that liberals have, but he’s been much more successful in furthering his prescriptions than his counterparts.
As Robin notes, Clarence Thomas is often portrayed as lazy, dumb, and indifferent to the plight of black people. It’s much more to disturbing to recognize that Thomas isn’t any of those things. He has made the same diagnoses that liberals have, but he’s been much more successful in furthering his prescriptions than his counterparts.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced