The embarrassing relative

Back in the early '90s, George H.W. Bush made a bold nomination for the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas was proposed to replace Thurgood Marshall, who had been the only African-American Supreme Court Justice in history.  Marshall, of course, was not only a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, but the guiding force behind some of the most important court decisions bringing integration to America.

But Thomas was his opposite in every way.  Which left American Blacks in a quandary -- oppose him for being a right-winger?  Or trust that as a Black American, he'd surprise everyone?

My father-in-law's brother argued the latter.  He was a law professor at Case Western Reserve, and the first Black law professor to achieve tenure at the school.  He told me, "He'll change.  You'll see."

Years later, he admitted that no, Thomas never changed.  That he might have even gotten worse.  Why had he wanted to believe differently?  Well, hell, Thomas was only the second Black man to ever be proposed for the High Court!  As a Black man, my learned relation-by-marriage just wanted to believe the best of the man.

As a Jew, I understand this all too well.  Bernard Madoff, may he rot, embodied every bad cliche about crooked Jews.  He ripped off heritage funds, retirement riches, old people and innocents.  And he victimized mostly his own people!  He had been seen as a mover, a shaker, a mensch!  And he turned out to be a scheming viper.  

And in the end, we don't feel hatred so much as a sneaking feeling of shame.  Today, it's Hershal Walker for African-Americans.  And Deshawn Watson.  For Jews, it's Trump people like Stephen Miller, the right-wing racist whose forbears escaped Russian pogroms.  How, we wonder, can these be our people?

I have no answer.  I invite all here to speculate.

   AlextheKay sometimes finds life a puzzle