"The white man demands that the black man entertain him?"

A sarcastic question, by Freeman Hunt, in the comments to last night's post, which was about a Jeffrey Toobin piece in The New Yorker that savaged Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not speaking during oral argument. "Thomas is simply not doing his job," Toobin wrote. I had highlighted the racial issue like this:

If the politics were reversed — and Thomas were liberal and Toobin conservative — I doubt if Toobin would have exposed himself to the risk of accusations of racism.

Freeman went on a much harsher attack, asking the question above, then, a few minutes later, posting this (with quote marks around what is her version of what Toobin seems to be saying):

"Why don't that lazy black man put on a show for me? You git to performin' now, ya hear!"

And this in The New Yorker!

And:

Somebody send Toobin a white suit, a cane, and a hankie.

If he doesn't have them already.

And (beginning with another paraphrase in quotes):

"A-leanin' back in a fancy chair like he's somethin'! You tell that boy to sit up straight and look them white men in they eyes."

Is that what his editor had to craft into what is now the piece we read here?

Here's the material from the actual Toobin piece, as published in The New Yorker, that provoked that paraphrase:

In his first years on the Court, Thomas would rock forward, whisper comments about the lawyers to his neighbors Breyer and Kennedy, and generally look like he was acknowledging where he was. These days, Thomas only reclines; his leather chair is pitched so that he can stare at the ceiling, which he does at length. He strokes his chin. His eyelids look heavy. Every schoolteacher knows this look. It’s called "not paying attention."

Schoolteacher? The editor didn't even take the trouble to expunge every tell.