When Black women (or Black men) have hardly existed in a workplace, or a Supreme Court, in an NFL front office, or at a highly selective university, there are two explanations: the racist and the antiracist explanations. 1/9
The racist explanation: Black people haven’t been qualified. Which is to say Black people haven’t been *as* qualified as other people. Which is to say Black people are inferior to other people. 2/9
The antiracist explanation: Racism. Meaning people of all racial backgrounds have been qualified. And so, if qualified Black women (or men) haven’t been there, it’s because the power, policy, and/or practice of the institution has been exclusionary. 3/9
But when the institution says it’s going to stop excluding Black women, says it’s going to bring in a qualified Black woman, the antiracist response is *finally.* Look at all the highly qualified Black women you’ve excluded over the years. Choose one. 4/9
Meanwhile, the racist response is outrage. To be racist is to see the new effort to INCLUDE (the excluded group) as the new effort to EXCLUDE (the supposedly “qualified” group). 5/9
Because by racist logic, unless you have experience holding the water of White supremacy like Clarence Thomas, to be Black is to be unqualified. And the very presence of a Black person in a coveted position means that Black person has received "special treatment." 6/9
108 of the 115 Supreme Court Justices have been White men. But by racist logic, White men haven't received "special treatment"—no, they've predominated on the Court because they're superior; their predominance in coveted positions across society reflects American meritocracy. 7/9
By racist logic, the unequal status quo is just; Black people persisting on the lower and dying end of nearly every racial disparity—is just; efforts to eliminate the disparities are unjust, are discriminatory, are affirmative action quotas, are attacks on meritocracy. 8/9
This is the racist ideology that the Republican Party is counting on—is trying to reproduce—to justify their opposition to the Supreme Court nominee. This is an old ideology, used against Black striving from the beginning. This Black History Month is going to be instructive. 9/9
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