What drives me nuts about people's criticism of Thomas is that they don't understand what actually makes him different from other Black people. It's not his religiosity or his conservatism. His "don't complain," "don't protest," "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" conservatism is completely normal for people "who look like him." Even his views on racial issues are widely held by other Black people. For example, the majority believe that race shouldn't be even a "minor factor" in college admissions. And only half of Black people think the government "should help improve the social and economic conditions of black people." https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/the-roots-of-black-politic... (Figure 0.5).

What makes Thomas atypical is his partisan choices. Most Black conservatives believe that it's better to caucus with the white social liberals in the Democratic Party (who are often quite hostile to their values) than with the white conservatives in the Republican Party (who are often willing to tolerate anti-Black racism). These is a deeply personal choice between two parties--neither of which well represents the spectrum of interests of Black people--borne of Thomas's singular lived experience.