Lynching redux

[Mullins, Bill]

> I believe the term for what Thomas was doing is "playing the
> race card."

I'd agree that his use of "lynching" upped the ante, but the race card
had been in play for some time.  Thomas had been criticized as a token
negro (in editorial cartoons by Dan Wasserman, and Mike Keefe, in July
of 1991); he'd been called an "Uncle Tom" and a race traitor; he'd been
accused of not being black enough, in his work at the EEOC and
elsewhere; he'd taken criticism for having a caucasian wife; Spike Lee
had called him a "handkerchief head, chicken and biscuit eating negro";
and the accusations from Hill played into the most base stereotypes of
race and sexuality.