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Clarence Thomas: Nobody Knows the Trouble He's Seen
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Clarence Thomas, Clarence Thomas Book, Clarence Thomas My Grandfather's Son, Supreme Court, Supreme Court 2007 Term,
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You have to feel sorry for the judge. Like George Bush he has failed upwards until the poor guy is now hopelessly out of his league. Unlike our president, however, he doesn't have to pretend to understand the complexities of his job for just eight years and then retire to the back nine. Poor Clarence is stuck there for life. He seems caught in some sort of chilling Twilight Zone episode, cursed for what he wished for. His new memoir, My Grandfather's Son,"is yet another sad chapter in his lifetime of self-hate.
Am I being too hard or condescending on what should be one of the wisest people in the nation? How else do you explain his terror of asking a single question from the bench? His excuse is that the other justices "talk too much."
It's called doing their job.
They arrive with questions that need to be answered, instead of dogma that needs to be adhered to. Justice Thomas is clearly that terrified kid in every class that knows that if he opens his mouth everyone will realize that he didn't understand today's lesson. Instead of being a beacon of pride for young black kids that, like him, might have been raised in poverty, he is an embarrassment.
His supporters point to his writings, but back in his chambers he is backed up by clerks who are some of our very smartest legal minds. Kato Kaelin could sign off on their briefs and sound like he knew what he was talking about.
George Bush the First's appointment of a black man who was patently unqualified to the highest bench is exactly what affirmative action is not supposed to be about. The point is to open up gatekeepers like elite law schools and medical schools. Once the students graduate, however, they, and every other job applicant has to rise to a certain standard. My sister is a heart surgeon. Nobody is going to let her cut somebody open just to fill a quota. She has to be excellent at what she does. The bar for a lifetime appointment to our highest bench should have been just as high.
My mom went to Yale law school a few years after Thomas, after having graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard. She was a thirty-five-year-old black mother of two teenaged kids. She knew she was brilliant, the best of the best, and thrilled at debating the other students. She never once said, "Oh, I'm only here because they needed a brown body. I really belong at the DeVry College of Law."
And that's how she raised me. Old school. Yes, racism still exists, she would tell me. So a B+ might do for the white boys, but you have to be that much better. How pathetic is it that Clarence Thomas writes that he graduated from Yale Law School with his head hanging low, convinced that the world knew that his diploma came with an asterisk of inferiority? When my mom's friends graduated they burst out of law school ready to kick ass and take names.
The most odious part of Thomas's memoir is his continued insistence that his contentious confirmation hearings elevate him to the canon of tragic black heroes like Native Son's Bigger Thomas and To Kill a Mockingbird's Tom Robinson. As Jane Meyer and Jill Abramson clearly demonstrate in their book, Strange Justice, Anita Hill was only one of several and Thomas, now one of the nine highest judges in our nation, lied repeatedly during his confirmation hearings. The bitterness that seems to be eating away at him and spews out of this book might stem from the fact that he was the head of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission while he was sexually harassing Anita Hill and he is now sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America because he lied his ass off in the United States Senate.
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I watched the whole Clarence Thomas hearing with Anita Hill! What they did to that woman was shameful. There was much evidence and witnesses to corroborate what she was saying was true...he treated women as sex objects; and because GHW Bush wanted him in .....the hearing was merely a formality and he was confirmed anyway....
This is Clarence Thomas' "IF I DID IT." All monies received should go to Anita Hill.
very smart, parisblues. and true.
VERY good!
Sounds like Mr. Ellis is blaming Justice Thomas for Justice Thomas negative attitude and perceived self hatred. What about blaming society?
I wonder if Justice Thomas was liberal if Mr. Ellis would have even written this article. And if he would have, would he not have affixed blame squarely on the shoulders of "society" and only to a small extent on the actual person.
I hope Justice Thomas is more intellectual than and less angry than Mr Ellis is giving him credit for. But this article makes Mr. Ellis own prejudice (against conservatives) very clear.
And the problem with being prejudice against conservatives is?????
What is the problem with prejudice against conservatives? Here's the problem "conservatism" is an abstraction whereas "conservatives" are individual people with individual ideas that sometimes converge into agreement on particular topics.
The problem with the prejudice is that you see people as categories and labels rather than as complex beings.
The problem is that it makes you a bad listener and a dull observer, one who ignores anyone saying whatever you don't want to hear.
The problem with prejudice is that good ideas are no respecters of persons. Insight comes from different sources.
The problem is it makes you narrow.
The problem is that you miss out on some wonderful friendships.
If I might venture ... If Justice Thomas WAS liberal, he could not still be holding on to the hate and self-loathing that is the subject of Mr. Ellis' article. As for blaming society, if you reread the piece, I think you will find examples of people who faced the same short comings in American society -- minus a Yale education mind you -- and probably aren't as angry and destructive. And, none of those people sit on the Court for the next 20+ years with the opportunity to do such societal backpedaling as Justice Thomas. He doesn't want any opportunities for anyone. That's the point.
Here, here! Brother! or
Right on, Brother! I so completely agree with your very gentle essay. (Blog is such an ugly word.) Or maybe editorial?
I have a scrapbook of news clippings from the Senate Hearing days. When I die I will leave it to my daughter in my will.
The most eloquent, the most reasonable speech against Thomas's approval was that of Senator Byrd of West Virginia. Thanks!
Even if Mr. Thomas was the smartest black man than the rest of the world, he would never have been confirmed into the supreme court without affirmative action. I'm a black woman and I know being the smartest and hard working individual is still not enough to get that dream job, that great salary, or to get into the best schools. I wish it was easy for us like white men and women, just by showing their qualifications. I wish there was no affirmative action, but blacks and minorities need that boost to be given a chance. We're still being denied a chance, we're still being denied a good job, a good school, we're still being judged by our color of our skin. In some ways affirmative action does discriminates whites really white men, but that's the way it is. Judge Clarence Thomas need to be grateful for affirmative action.
Affirmative Action had nothing to do with his being appointed to the court. That was George Bush the first.
As far as AA goes, the biggest beneficiary has been white women and thus white families. Pay attention.
i agree but in a more complex way. thomas' appointment was a cynical calculation to "beat affirmative action" at its own game." it was, of course, in RESPONSE to the pressures others of us were putting on the government to implement affirmative action until things got somewhat normalized around here, but it was just the sort of bait-and-switch that republicans are known for: pretending to "embrace all races" by appointing someone of color who will be in a position of power to then diminish his own race.
this kind of "blackwashing" is far more insidious and harmful that just wearing their white sheets around, in my opinion, because they appear blameless to the shallow observer.
i don't believe thomas is just a minstrel for the fascists, though. i believe his contempt for and hatred of blackness and of women is very, very real, and like all conservatives, believes that the ends justifies the means...
Other African- American Bush hacks:
Condolezza Rice
Colin Powell and son, Michael Powell, disgraced FCC chairman
Thurbert Baker, Georgia� Attorney General, blocked the release of Genarlow Wilson, 17, who had consensual sex with 15 year old girl.
John Ford, state senator (D-Tenn), convicted ofaccepting bribes in the FBI's corruption investigation.
Sharpe James, NJ state senator, former Mayor of Newark, indicted for defrauding tax payers.
Ken Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State, owned stock in Diebold, rigged electronic voting machines in 2004 presidential election. Published 1.2 million SS numbers of Ohio citizens on a website along with their business filings in violation of Ohio law.
Larry Thompson �Bush� Deputy US Attorney General, former attorney for Monsanto, and Providian Financial Corporation, which paid over $400 million to settle charges of consumer and securities fraud. Thompson made $4.7 million in the sale of Providian stock.
Alphonso Roy Jackson, Bush Cabinet member, HUD, rejected all contract bids from companies with Democratic affiliations. Supported Bush� $600 million housing cuts for impoverished African-American communities.
Rod Paige, Bush� Secretary of Education, opposed teacher unionism, called the NEA a "terrorist organization�
Armstrong Williams, radio/tv show host, paid $240,000 to promote Bush� No Child Left Behind Act on public airwaves, part of a $1 million contract with Ketchum Inc, a PR corporation that made over $100 million taxpayers money for promoting Bush� agenda.
Jesse Lee Peterson , Republican tv personality, stated that African-American people stranded in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina were "welfare-pampered," "lazy" and "immoral."
Alan Keyes, Republican pundit, supported Israeli-Zionist military policies against Palestinians, defined homosexuality as "selfish hedonism." Threw his lesbian daughter out of his house.
Michael S. Steele, Republican pundit, accepted contributions from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff
J.C. Watts, former U.S. Representative (R-OK), refused to join the Congressional Black Caucus , branded black civil rights leaders as "race-hustling poverty pimps� Board Member of Clear Channel, which censored opinions critical of Bush. Clear Channel-owned KTVX , refused to air Cindy Sheehan� paid political message against the Iraq war.
That's one impressive list sunshower7.
And since they do not follow the liberal mantra, you will look at them as nothing but lawn jockeys. You are quite the racist.
What about adding Juan Williams, NPR/Faux News hack and O'Reilly apologist who compared Letterman to John Wayne Gacey for criticizing Billo to the list? The Juan job was Bush's first choice as an interviewer and Cheney shill?
After watching clarence thomas on 60 minutes and jenna bush on another popular show for one hour. I feel that this was one on Karl Rove's idea in order to rejuvenate the Bush administration. It did the opposite for me.
When polls for the Bushies are down. What better to do than have an unpopular person associated with the administration write a book. Next we will have to listen to Gonzales's biography.
I agree with Trey Ellis. The finest response was by the person who suggested putting Hill on the Supreme Court! I've been fascinated by Hill since the riveting hearings and have studied them extensively as part of my masters in history. I'm delighted that Thomas spoke out on 60 Minutes because it is easier to understand him. His anger is apparent. SHAME on 60 Minutes for the softball questions and for not mentioning any of the hard evidence put forth over the last 16 years. The Brock book and his subsequent admission that he LIED, the witnesses NOT called to testify but who volunteered and were prepared to do so, Hill's voluntary lie detector test, the poor treatment of Hill by Senators who have been reelected over and over; Hatch, Spector, Leahy, Kennedy. I'm so glad to know I have company. I've been sad about this since 1991.
Will the hearings be part of your thesis should you go for your doctorate? This could be interesting. I wouldn't put much stock in "60 Minutes". Could be useful for a quote or some such.
Looking up the Brock refutation of his own book I find this: http://que
Sincerely, and good luck to you!
Best comment I've seen yet on the Anita Hill controversy comes from G. Will:
"Anita Hill and her allies blazed the path subsequently trod by Crystal Gail Mangum and her fans in the university/media establishment in the Duke non-rape case last year."
But Thomas has an even better last word:
Once I got on the Court, I vowed I would never do my job as poorly as journalists do theirs.
Bravo! You've risen far far above the abysmal bottom-feeding standards of ink-stained hacks & political media-whores like Hill.
Thomas and Bush will be remembered in history as the greatest failures in their jobs.
Not only that they are both embarassments both in the USA and in the in the World.
Best blogging in years. The man(?) is hardly worth the energy and is a disgrace. His new book is merely a reminder of what a petty individual he is, and there is this picture in my mind of Orrin Hatch's indignant pose. History will record both what Hatch really means and what conservatives think is non- discrimination and family values. Thanks Clarence, for bringing this whole discussion back to the forefront. Were it not reverse polish racism possible, he'd be driving a cab somewhere. His very position on the Court is a disgrace.
It may well have been that my forebearers and Clarence Thomas' shared the same length of chains during their voyage as human chattel over the waters between Africa and America. But I know of no Black person in high places whose professed philosophies and ideologies I detested almost to the point of virulence.
However, when the circus masquerading as a Senate hearing dominated the airwaves, I found myself rooting for Judge Thomas. Perhaps it was because Anita Hill was so obviously being used as a tool by the pro-choice faction that caused my shift to Judge Thomas' corner. But I was then, as I am now, pro-choice. But I am also pro Black. And the hearings were far more about race than about abortion or Judge Thomas' woefully flimsy qualifications for the seat on the Supreme Court.
The most striking and obvious aspect of the hearings was that had Judge Thomas been white, Anita Hill's porous accusations would not have been seriously considered for half a second. With Judge Thomas having gone through at least two prior confirmation hearings, why didn't she level her accusations then? With her also having been a graduate of Yale law school, she would have surely understood the power at her command by setting pen to paper and would have documented the incidents as they occurred with signatures of witnesses to support her assertions. "High tech lynching" was the perfect description of the burlesque show that the nation was exposed to.
Obviously Judge Thomas had been fast tracked to a Supreme Court nomination to replace Thurgood Marshall, I had hoped that a gush of enlightenment would temper his intractable conservative position. No such luck. I've come to regard the presence of Judge Thomas on the highest court in the land, as I do the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. Both were victories over racism, leaving well deserved scabs of shame on the soul of America.
Just a few comments on Charles' points.
We really don't know why Anita Hill waited. To assume we do is to supply our own bias to the answer.
It would have been less fair for Anita Hill to simply write in her accusations. Thomas had a right to have his accuser be exposed to public scrutiny and cross examination by his supporters.
The recent sexual impropriety scandals have been against very white men, so it's not a compelling argument that the accusations were only taken seriously because Thomas was black.
Why not try reading what she wrote today?
Say what you want about Thomas but he is his own man and knows what he believes.
A lesser man would have caved under both presure from the Left and from fellow African Americans. All Thomas would have to do is renounce his Conservative views and jump on the Left Wing bandwagon and you guys would call him both a hero and one of the smartest men alive. If he gave one speech claiming to support Affirmative Action, Reperations, Gun Control, Abortion, Unlimited Welfare, UN laws trumping US laws and a "Living Breathing Constitution" and he would be The Huffpost's Man of the Year.
"Say what you want about Thomas but he is his own man and knows what he believes."
You can say the same about Bush and Cheney.
That doesn't make them good people.
Thomas is far from his "own man." He's a slave to his internal narrative even more than most of us are, and that's saying something.
"Say what you want about Thomas..."
Ok, he's a lying little schmuck. Thanks for inviting me to have my say.
Thomas is very definitely NOT his own man but beholden to the powerful right wing extremists. I believe that much of the problem may have stemmed from his Grandfather, who gave him this admonition, loosely quoted, when he was a boy: "Boy, now that you've come of age remember this advice: 'never look straight into a white woman's eyes'" This may have instilled a sense of subservience to "the man" into young Thomas's mind that is still reflected in his judicial decisions.
"All Thomas would have to do is renounce his Conservative views and jump on the Left Wing bandwagon and you guys would call him both a hero and one of the smartest men alive."
Stop projecting 1will. Blind support for a political party no matter what they do that is totally wrong for the US seems predominately a conservative personality trait. If what you wrote had a shred of truth in it, congress's approval rating would be something above 11% ... don't you think?
Love your post, Mr.Ellis! Couldn't agree with you more re Clarence Thomas. But what I liked best was your praise of your mother. Right on!
As a 60 year old white man raised in the south, I only want to say that comparing his "struggle" with the black struggle is the most offensive thing I've seen or heard him do so far, and that's saying a lot.
It's kind of historic though, I've never heard a "Tom", if you will permit me the word, to complaining about discrimination.
No kidding.
How many Southeren white children could afford a private education? How many would have gotten a free ticket through a university and a law school, and a court nomination becasue of their "color", or their poverty?
The only place I have ever heard heard of an "Uppity" black, is in hollywood movies.
I think the word is acceptable, if there's no substitute. If it weren't in use, we might have to invent it.
Any charged label should be used with care of course.
What a whiney-baby CT is. And so full of self-hate it oozes out of him like a festering sore.
Well, they say you get in life what you deserve, so go figure. He's the one who has to live every moment of every day with the disgusting asshole that he is.
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