Lemme change the headline to accurately reflect the opinion of the writer and the New York Times"

"Whatya Doin´, Bro. You Ain´t Supposd to Leave the Plantation!"

So following Adolph´s logic, Condoleza Rice was only a "token" Secretary of State and Clarence Thomas was only a "token" Supreme Court Justice? Ya know, its funny how any black person in politics who happens to be Conservative is only a "token". I was completely unaware that the default political status of blacks was only allowed to be liberal Democrat. Who knew?!

No puzzle here. Only a small % of blacks realize that they are FREE. Free to choose what political core beliefs they want.
Since the majority are stuck on the plantation, they deeply resent those who leave, and become successful. FREE thinking takes work. Group thinking is easy..let the group tell you what to think.

Apparently Adolph L. Reed, Jr. feels that it is his right to own the minds and souls and bodies of American black people. And apparently Tim Scott has no mind of his own, no ability to reason, no sense of who he is outside of his color. So Adolph, here, will now use Senator Scott as HIS token.

What a hypocrite.

Name calling is a rather poor opening gambit.

But go ahead if it´s all you´ve got.

After the democrats fought a war to keep Blacks enslaved, killed the Republican President who won that war, then formed the terror group the KKK who enforced the Jim Crow laws that kept Blacks ´in their place´ by lynching Black men and keeping Black children from decent schools, the puzzle is, why are there Black democrats.

Could it be that only "Santa Claus" Republicans have a chance to reap more Af-Am votes?

Put quite simply, there would be more black Republicans elected if the Dems didn´t work so hard to defeat them at the polls.

Amazing and utterly un-self-conscious racism. The writer is among those on the Left who are obsessed with race. It seems to be impossible for them to think in any other terms. They represent the only really significant institutionalized racism in America. It is very discouraging that they control academia and the media.

I find the white liberal socialists at the NYTs more puzzling.

In a related story, Adolph Reed has petitioned the court to change his name. He argues that his name unfairly associates him with a very vile and evil person. So, to remove any possible association in people’s minds between him and Harry Reid, he seeks to change his name to Adolph Smith.

#6, the reason is propaganda and brainwashing by the LPs.
They (the LPs) started this in the late 50s/ early 60s in a big way. They were pushing before that, but had to get their communist/socialist/fascist moles into the right positions in the media and government in order to provide the proper ´influence´. Meanwhile our ancestors sat on their behinds and let the LPs own the ´narrative´ (see the media smearing of McCarthy, for instance) instead of dragging the LPs from their offices and hanging them on the spot (after a fair, 5 min trial, of course). That´s the only way to deal with LPs.

I submit that the real tokens are Black people who would literally never dream of voting other than Democrat. They have no philosophy; only anger, resentment and demands for reparation. The Dems buy their votes by feeding this childish and emotionally crippling mindset.

If you listen to any conservative Black who has dared to leave the playpen, you will hear a thoughtful, engaged, responsible, and mature person. It makes me angry that this ignorant, close-minded, so-called professor insults the very people who can truly "advance black interests".

I suppose then that we have a token mulatto in the White House.

Re #2 - Thurgood Marshall was the first token Black on the Supreme Court, oh wait, he was a Lib/Dem... never mind...

How can they be tokens when the Republicans don´t believe in race-based preferences? This is projection!

Adolph?

Nice.

The Times thinks Scott has to be a moron, because all Republicans are morons. Maybe we should just have the civil war and get it over with. It´d be over in about five minutes, because the newsroom of the Times is a gun free zone.

THe puzzle is why do blacks still trust the democrat party. THey have done nothing except keep misery in your community. The democrats come around at election time, promise then leave, don´t keep their promises but you still fall for the same schtick year after year. That isn´t progress for blacks but indicative of dumb.

No puzzle. He was raised to think for himself and he trusts actual evidence, not emotionalist rhetoric. Pretty simple, actually.

Disgusting and despicable. Nothing else needs to be said.

The mere fact that the author sees this as a ´puzzle´ reveals a profound prejudice on his part.

If it is a white guy this question is not even asked, unless maybe it is a homosexual.

A note to the author... Blacks are free now. They can think and decide on their own and no longer need your help, offered in the form of orders.

This is America, Adolph.

You were free to choose your own career path. You picked academia. Congratulations on your success.

I think you need a gentile reminder. Tim Scott is no less qualified than you were, to choose his own path. His choice of conservative politics is only "puzzle" if you allow yourself to think in stereotypes.

Don´t do that. It´s hypocritical. Black Americans do not all agree with you that big government serves their best interests. Some believe their interests and their families are better served by conservative politics and smaller government. Get over it. Get over yourself.

#15, if you re-read my post you will hopefully note that I made no mention of Clarence Thomas being the "First" black Supreme Court Justice. I did however note that he was conservative and therefore, according to Adolph Reed and probably you, only capable of "token" status.

One would think that a Black who is a political science professor who also claims to be a learned Black History scholar, would be an advocate for Blacks fully utilizing and leveraging the TWO party political system we have and would also be aware of the saying, "no permanent friends, only permanent interests"...35% dims, 35% GOP and 30% independent registration keeps a group relevant...

Where do they dig up these token journalists?

The author shows his ignorance (I know, it doesn´t matter...)

Tim Scott was strongly backed by the local Tea Party groups when he ran for Congress. He started his career on Charleston County Council, and has always represented a majority-white district.

Islandian