U.S.: Great moments on the plantation

[...T]he issue of culture and education elicited a rare self-critical comment by Smiley, who decried the phenomenon of black kids teasing other black kids who were "getting their learn on" because, to their tormenters, doing well in school was "acting white." Jones echoed this sentiment, critiquing the mindset that holds that "failing at school is somehow a validation of your black heritage." Such a narrow concept of racial authenticity, the panelists concurred, was indeed deplorable.

Yet an hour later, when Guinier noted in passing, "We have a black person on the Supreme Court," Smiley responded, with mock incredulity, "We do?" By which he meant, of course, that Clarence Thomas — because he doesn't share the panelists' left-liberal politics — is not authentically black. He is, as Jackson explained, "an unrepresentative aberration."

So there you have it: Black kids who take a different view of schoolwork get teased by other black kids for not being authentically black — and black adults who take a different view of politics get teased by black leaders for not being authentically black.

Which begs the question: Will black leaders ever grow up?

Only folks on the plantation need "leaders."