Recognizing humanity

I'm grateful to Michael P. for calling our attention to Stephen Carter's interesting op ed.  Certainly the advice Michael derives from it is good advice---indeed, the best advice.  And the late Justice Thurgood Marshall certainly deserves to be honored for his willingness to see the humanity of others, even including those who supported segregation and other dehumanizing policies and practices.  But as Nat Hentoff (himself an admirer of Justice Marshall) has lamented, it is a shame that Marshall could not quite see the humanity of unborn children or even of handicapped newborn infants, such as Baby Doe. I point this out not to be churlish or to rain on a parade, but simply because the truth would be disserved if we were to imagine that Marshall was someone who always saw the humanity of others.  He didn't.  Of course, that in no way detracts from the validity of what Michael rightly calls Justice Marshall's "wise counsel," nor does it negate the good example he set by treating his opponents on racial questions---a pretty unsavory bunch by any accounting---with the respect due to human beings as such.