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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with George Simkins, April 6, 1997. Interview R-0018. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Lack of sympathy for civil rights in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is not sympathetic to civil rights, Simkins believes, part of a retrenchment started by Ronald Reagan.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with George Simkins, April 6, 1997. Interview R-0018. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

GEORGE SIMKINS:
And you've got a Supreme Court that's not sympathetic at all with integration. You've got a black man on there, Clarence Thomas, that has ruled any time a black issue comes up, he's ruled against blacks. For example, they had this prisoner who was handcuffed, shackled, and the sheriff was beating him and beating him. The man sued and said it was undue force. The majority of the Supreme Court agreed that it was undue force. Clarence Thomas said no, it was not undue force. You really don't have a chance now. I think Reagan moved in when he was president, and started things going in reverse.