The leader of the prominent American civil rights group NAACP on Thursday joined conservatives in assailing affirmative action – albeit for a very different reason.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling that effectively guts affirmative action in college admissions, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson took aim at Clarence Thomas, the staunchly conservative Black justice and longtime affirmative action critic who wrote his own 58-page opinion backing the ruling.
"The worst thing about affirmative action is that it created a Clarence Thomas who benefited from the program and now is in a position where he's going to deny many young African American talented individuals an opportunity,” Johnson said Thursday during an appearance on MSNBC.
“Historically, the problem has been that institutions of higher learning, corporations, companies and other entities, have denied well-qualified African Americans and other individuals access in terms of admission and employment because of their race."
Johnson said his group is working to prevent an “apartheid reality in the United States.”
“This is an unfortunate situation for the citizens of this country as we participate in a global reality window moment participating in a myopic Alabama, Mississippi segregated reality."
He continued: “We cannot as a nation continue down this trend.”
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