Whenever father needed to find altar boys, all of my classmates and all would hide. I guess the thing I remember most about Clarence is him as an altar boy. It’s a psychologically debilitating aspect of African American experience, this kind of class/color prejudice that operates amongst Black Americans. The resentment and anger that that can provoke within the darker-skinned and "Blacker" individuals is also not so pretty. Clarence had been ridiculed by the children in that area around Pin Point and he was nicknamed A-B-C, for "America’s Blackest Child." So from an early age Clarence really felt estranged I think from his entire community. And at every turn, there is a racial dimension to his life that he talks about.Ĭlarence was frankly never comfortable around the Black people in Georgia. That’s the prism through which he sees his own life. The issues of class and race have always been at the heart of how Thomas has seen himself. Such racial slurs stung all the more for having come from my own people. Most of the insults aimed at me had to do with the darkness of my skin, the flatness of my nose, the kinkiness of my hair, and the way I talked. “My Grandfather’s Son” by Clarence Thomas Thomas wrote about it in his autobiography. Anything darker, it was ridiculed or derogated in some way. They had the "brown bag rule." Your complexion, it is either equal to the brown bag or lighter. We had racial divides among the Black community. And when I say that, don’t just think that I’m talking white/black. Savannah would have been divided on racial lines. Things weren’t much easier for Clarence out in segregated Savannah. Probably the unhappiest that he’s ever been in his life was the time that he spent in his grandfather’s house. He was physically, mentally, verbally abusive to both of the boys. His grandfather beat the two boys quite often, whenever it was that they didn’t do something fast enough or well enough. And he also whipped them with a belt quite routinely. She described that the grandfather would lock Clarence Thomas and his little brother in the hall closet and not let them out, for punishment. I don’t think empathy might have been his strongest point. But she said, “But I had to do what I had to do.”ĭesperate, Clarence’s mother, Leola Williams, gave up the boys, sending them to live at their grandfather’s house.Ĭlarence had been rescued from a life of poverty and ended up in a house that had a toilet, running water and his ability to go to school every day.īut life with his grandfather, Myers Anderson, had its own challenges. His mom has talked to me about how that was a very bleak period of her life, when she had to do. He didn't have a relationship with any of-not his biological dad, or any that came afterwards. KEVIN MERIDA, Co-author, Supreme Discomfort: It was hard, but it was all we had and all there was. We shared a kitchen with other tenants, and we had a common bathroom in the backyard, which was unworkable and unusable. In 1955, my brother and I went to live with my mother in Savannah. Well, the Geechee dialect-speaking, Sea Island-dwelling poor Black people of the 1950s, which is when he was coming along, were as marginal, I can imagine, as you could get within the context of American society. They talk about marginalized and underrepresented communities. He came up poor, very poor, from a marginal community. My earliest memories are those of Pin Point, Georgia, a life far removed in space and time.Ĭlarence Thomas’s journey to the center of American power began as far away as one can get from it. They are one and the same in how they look at their opponents. In a nation freighted with division and upheaval, the Thomases have found their moment. challenging the use of race in college admissions, which could have an impact on affirmative action. the conservative majority overturning Roe v. Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever. This duo of Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas, they are the "it" couple of the far right. RANDALL KENNEDY, Professor, Harvard Law School: Two powerful conservatives, on the court and in politics, pursuing a shared vision. Her politics are all about this politics of fear and anger. Ginni Thomas is as good as any, maybe the best embodiment of the American right today. He really is sort of the ideological and intellectual center of gravity on the court. So this is why it’s often referred to as the Thomas Court now. Justice Thomas has developed into one of the leading lights on the court, if not the leading light. It’s a moment of victory for Clarence Thomas. MICHAEL FLETCHER, Co-author, Supreme Discomfort: that I will support and defend the Constitution.Īmy Coney Barrett had chosen Thomas to swear her in.Ī sign of transformation inside the high court. Presiding over the ceremony: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Folks, do you know how big this is? This is huge. A massive impact on the American judiciary.Ĭlarence Thomas.
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