Samuel L Jackson, the star of films like Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and multiple Marvel superhero films, used a racial slur to insult Supreme Court Justice Clarence Brown.
Jackson, who is well reputed for his dirty mouth in his movies, tweeted to his 8.9 million followers “How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!”
The term Uncle Clarence is a play on the name Uncle Tom, the titular character from the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin about a compliant slave who eventually rebels against his Masters to save his fellow slaves. The name is often used by Black Americans to insult fellow Black Americans that they view as “race traitors”.
Samuel L Jackson also mentioned the case of Loving v Virginia, which barred states from banning interracial marriages. He was referring to Justice Thomas’s opinion on Roe v Wade in which he suggested the Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”. This would have to also include Loving v Virginia, which was decided on the same substantive due process precedents.
Clarence Thomas, a Black man, is himself married to Ginni Thomas, a white woman, meaning their marriage could be annulled on a state level if the case law was to be reversed. This fact has been widely circulated since the Obergefell case he referenced allowed for gay marriage to be legalized nationwide.
Justice Thomas’s logic would not inherently restrict any sort of marriage. If these rulings were reversed, the decision on how to proceed on each issue would fall back on the states. They could still be made into federal law through legislation passed in the US Congress.
The insult from Samuel L Jackson was absolutely meant to be racist. Do you think he should apologize to the Supreme Court Justice for essentially labeling him anti-Black?
