Not surprisingly, I have been accused of being too hard on Clarence Thomas. As editor-in-chief of "Emerge: Black America’s Newsmagazine," I placed him on the November 1993 cover adorned with an Aunt Jemima-like handkerchief on his head. Exactly two years later, we outfitted him in appropriate regalia as “Uncle Thomas: Lawn Jockey for the Far Right.”

If I were walking in front of the United States Supreme Court today and saw Thomas on fire, I wouldn’t urinate on him to put him out. If that’s giving Thomas a hard time, then so be it. Whatever I say about Thomas doesn’t begin to approach the damage he inflicts on African-Americans as a member of the Supreme Court.

Thomas was in the news recently when he told a group of high school students that one reason he is usually silent during oral arguments before the court is because when he was in high school, students made fun of him for speaking what is known as Geechee, or Gullah. That exchange alone is worth a separate column. And I’ll write it next week. For now, however, I want to address another comment Thomas made to the students.

In the talk, televised by C-SPAN, Thomas said that in addition to his self-consciousness about speaking what was “not standard English,” there was another reason he is the only member of the court who does not ask questions of lawyers who appear before the bench.

“The other thing, I was on the other side of the podium before, in my earlier life, and it’s hard to stand up by yourself and have judges who are going to rule on your case ask you tough questions. I don’t want to give them a hard time.”

A hard time?

The Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the land, the final arbitrator of what is lawful and unlawful. Attorneys appearing before the court are often partners in high-powered law firms; many, like Thomas, have graduated from the best law schools in the country; and they are accustomed to the rough-and-tumble of courtroom arguments. Supreme Court justices are expected to ask tough questions of each side in an effort to discern the truth and render a fair ruling. That is the very nature of our judicial system. Yet, Thomas says he remains silent because doesn’t want to give lawyers a hard time.

I wish the lone Black member of the Court would demonstrate that same level of concern for members of his own race. In his rulings, Thomas has done nothing but give African-Americans a hard time. For example:

- In Presley v. Etowah County, Thomas agreed that the White minority on an Alabama county commission could remove the budget authority of the first African-American commissioner to hold the post since Reconstruction;

- In Shaw v. Reno, Thomas cast the deciding vote that permitted White voters in North Carolina to object to the drawing of political districts in which Blacks could be competitive;

- In Hudson v. McMillan, Thomas dissented from the majority when the court ruled that the beating of a hog-tied prisoner lying on the floor of a Louisiana prison amounted to a violation of the Eight Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment;

- In Adarand v. Pena, Thomas voted to limit affirmative action set-aside programs designed to help people of color gain greater access to federal contracts;

- In Shaw v. Hunt and Bush v. Vera, Thomas cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 cases to declare unconstitutional five congressional districts in North Carolina and Texas that had been drawn to maximize Black and Hispanic voting power;

- In Texas v. Hopwood, Thomas voted to let stand a ruling involving the University of Texas that held that the law school “may not use race as a factor in law school admissions.”

As Thomas’ record makes clear, he shows little support for cases that would help empower African-Americans. But when accomplished attorneys, most of them White, appear before the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas doesn’t want to give them a hard time. African-Americans should be so lucky.