“World’s Blackest Child”
World’s blackest child is what schoolmates
Of Clarence Thomas called him,
When they could get away with it.
They were black schoolmates mind you
So it must have been some insult.
Today Thomas is soon to become
The longest serving Supreme Court Justice
And just like when he was a kid
There are a lot who still insult him.
If he were a liberal justice he’d be lauded
As one of the greatest to have ever served.
As it is, he just is one of the greatest
Without the praise.
It’s a funny thing in America
How we so often root for the underdog,
The one who rose up from abject poverty
To the very top of achievement,
Based on merit none-the-less,
Only to undermine it all
When it turns out the underdog
Goes their own way,
Is their own person,
Especially when they are black and conservative.
It’s funny but not in a humorous way.
It’s a peculiar thing
When some kinds of individuality
And remarkable accomplishment
Are made into nothing
Simply because you “aren’t one of us.”
In the old days they called that being bigoted
Discriminatory and racist.
Today they call it being progressive and woke.
Does Justice Thomas care?
I doubt it, he lived through worse,
And he’s risen above worse.
He was, after all, the world’s blackest child
And he made that a good thing.
(9/18/26)
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