Joy Reid Says Clarence Thomas Opposes Affirmation Action to ‘Hate Himself a Little Less’ For Getting Help From ‘White Patrons’

MSNBC’s Joy Reid had some pointed criticism of Justice Clarence Thomas just hours after he and the other five conservatives on the Supreme Court voted to strike down race-conscious college admissions as unconstitutional. The case was brought against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

On Thursday’s All In, Chris Hayes welcomed The ReidOut host to his show as a guest to get her response.

“Joy, let me first just get your reaction to the ruling, which I think we all suspected was coming,” he said. “But given that it is your Alma mater, [Harvard,] I know you’ve been watching it closely. What’s your reaction to what happened?”

After offering giving praise to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over her “scathing and perfect” dissent in the case, Reid turned her attention to Thomas, who wrote a concurrence in the case.

“I was not surprised because Clarence Thomas has been on a mission to dismantle every institutional attempt to help and aid, not just Black people, but any people who have been disadvantaged in this society since he’s gotten on the court,” she said. “He, like Samuel Alito, appears to operate from a kind of rage, a sort of cold rage, against the entire 20th century, the second half of the 20th century, which they find to be an affront to their own self-image and to their image of America…”

She then cited Hayes’s monologue from earlier in the program where he said Thomas sometimes ascended the academic and professional ranks due to diversity considerations. When Thomas attended the College of the Holy Cross, the school was making a concerted push to enroll more racial minorities.

In Thomas’ professional career, a former Missouri attorney general who hired him said he did so because Thomas was qualified, but also because it was “important to have a diverse office.” In another instance, Thomas was tapped to run the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, but he was reluctant because he was concerned he would be seen as having gotten the job because of his race.

Reid went on to say Thomas is trying to “hate himself a little less” with his opposition to affirmative action:

There was a nun, a White nun whose largesse helped get him through school, and get him those good grades. He has been assisted, you know, by White patrons, really, his whole life – even now by very rich ones, as they fly him around the country.

And to your very point, he seems to deeply resent all of the assistance he got. And he wants to make sure that nobody like him ever gets that kind of help again because it helps his self-image so that he can lie to himself and fool himself, and maybe hate himself a little less for having gotten help all along his path to the Supreme Court.

Reid went on to say that during his contentious confirmation hearings in 1991, Thomas enjoyed the support of most Black people despite accusations of sexual harassment.

“And it was only Black people’s support in those polls that got wavering Democrats to vote for him,” she said. “And he has repaid Black people with scorn ever since.”

Watch above via MSNBC.