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This conservative wing of the black middle class during the 1980s and 1990s, in effect, committed "racial suicide," in the sense that it disavowed any sense of obligation, or "linked fates," with what happens to the masses of disadvantaged African Americans. There is no sense of personal responsibility or accountability to a political project that is race-based. They wish to be judged as "individuals," not as part of the larger "black community."

I do not feel any obligation to other whites to promote their interests, other than their right to be treated equally under the law with all races - does that make me a "traitor" to the white race? And if I were to promote a position to be part of the larger "white community", and promote white racial positions, I would IMMEDIATELY be branded by this writer as a bigot - and rightly so. But if Clarence Thomas in turn pursues a position of racial equality under the law, with no preference to his own race, he is branded as a traitor - which means that this writer is a rank hypocrite, and that his problem is not so much with Thomas as with the underlying concept of equal protection.

And if I were to promote a position to be part of the larger "white community", and promote white racial positions, I would IMMEDIATELY be branded by this writer as a bigot - and rightly so.

Nonsense. It is not bigoted in the least to attmept to help your own people advance themselves. You have no obligation to create any private organization for the advancement of people who don't look like you. The problem is in attempting to use coercion or government force in order to achieve this.

The 1964 civil rights act did not abolish freedom of association.