Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)
No Preferential Treatment
Recently Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas published his memoir entitled 'My Grandfather's Son'. In the book Justice Clarence Thomas reflects back on his life and gives us his perspective on his experiences. The book is an inspirational story of how anyone can overcome great obstacles and challenges and rise to the pinnacle of success. Justice Thomas has mentioned in his memoir and in recent interviews that he regrets that he may have received preferential treatment for being African American when he was accepted to Yale law school. Justice Thomas never anticipated that after graduating from Yale his degree would not have the same weight as a degree earned by other students who were white. Justice Thomas said in a recent interview:. . . when I attempted to get a job after Yale, it was clear from the law firms that their assumption was that I had no business at Yale. So I could not get a job after Yale Law School. I tried Atlanta; I tried New York; I tried Washington, DC. And the reason I wound up in Jefferson City is the only person who would look me in the eye and say that he would give me an opportunity, the same opportunity as anybody else to do my best, was then-Attorney General Danforth. As a result of that, I wound up in Jefferson City, Missouri. 1Over time Justice Clarence Thomas has seen the kind of preferential treatment that he received as condescending and demeaning. Today Justice Thomas has decided against Affirmative Action because he believes that race or color should not be a factor in acceptance to a school or a job. He believes that all people are equal and that each person should work hard and earn his or her right to be accepted. Justice Thomas believes that merit alone should be the only criteria by which we judge others. In a similar way the Bible says that we are not to give preferential treatment but we are to be fair and treat all people alike. Proverbs 20:10 says "Differing weights and differing measures, both of them are abominable to the LORD."2 And Jesus' brother James says:
My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? (James 2:1-4).Justice Thomas had a lot of prejudice against him; yet he prevailed, and today he is a very respected Supreme Court Justice. We may not agree with everything that Justice Thomas says, but one thing we can agree on. We should not treat others differently simply because of their race or skin color. Trying to keep it fair, Pastor Steve October 6, 2007
Footnotes 1Clarence Thomas, transcript of radio interview with Rush Limbaugh [web-page] available at: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_100107/content/01125106.guest.html. Rush Limbaugh Show, October 1, 2007. Internet accessed on October 5, 2007. Los Angles Times. Internet accessed September 28, 2007. 2Proverbs 20:10, NASB (New American Standard Bible). Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
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