MSNBC: Non-Liberal Minorities Aren’t Authentic Minorities

Melissa Harris Perry On Cabinet Diversity: Clarence Thomas Doesn't Represent Blacks (RealClearPolitics)

MSNBC host and commentator Melissa Harris Perry surprisingly defended the lack of diversity in President Obama's second term cabinet in an appearance on the network this morning. Harris Perry says just because someone is of one gender and not the other or has a certain skin color doesn't mean they are representative of that specific group. Harris Perry cites Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an example, who she says doesn't represent "the vast majority" of African-Americans.

MSNBC host and commentator Melissa Harris Perry says we should "be careful" when it comes to calling out the hypocrisy of President Obama for having a not so diverse cabinet. Perry says we don't want to "assume that any given physical body carries with it a set of political ideas."

Harris Perry names Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an example. Harris Perry says just because he is black it "does not mean Justice Thomas is representing necessarily the positions, the issues, even the Constitutional interpretation that is shared by the vast majority of civil rights organizations, by the vast majority of African-Americans."