My Grandfather's Son
Title: My Grandfather's Son 4/5
Author: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
2007
Began Reading: 6/7/2009
Ended Reading: 6/15/2009
Format: CD
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the bane of Black America. They hate this man for what he stands for - his conservative principles. They also hate him because they believe he is an opportunistic sellout. They hate him because they believe he sexually harassed Anita Hill. They hate him because some Whites love him. The women hate him because he married a White woman. The men hate him because his name has Tom in it.Yes, I used the word hate. Black Americans love to hate this man. I had just graduated high school when he was appointed a seat on the Supreme Court. So, for the past 15 years I heard this man called an Uncle Tom, a sellout, a boot licker and the more generous someone who is just not that intellectual. As with everything else I wanted to understand for myself. I wanted to know who Clarence Thomas is and what made him the way he is.
I, like most Black folk am conservative. We just don't recognize we are because the majority of us are politically immature. We equate governmental handouts from the Democrats as the party having our best interests at heart. We all know that anything that is not worked for is not valued.
I have at times, flirted with the Republican party because I could not find my way in the Democratic party. They seemed to be pandering profligates that can only feel my pain when they ran for election. I especially cannot stand to hear White Democrats talk about how they are going to save us. Save us from what? We all know the only thing that can save us is ourselves. We don’t need a political party, nor do we need a symbolic presidential candidate, although I did support him, more as a fan than someone I share political ideologies with. I do, however believe Mr. Obama will be a great president.
In knowing all of this, I knew I had to read about Clarence Thomas for myself. I sort of knew going in that we would not be kindred political spirits. Instead, perhaps I could understand how he came to his ideologies. I know how I came to mine.
Clarence Thomas was raised by his grandfather, Anderson Myers. His mother's father. He was a man of principle, albeit latent principles. Myers was not married to Thomas' grandmother. It seems she was yet another Black woman left alone to raise children. However, after reading how Thomas was raised by Myers, I might be apt to change my opinion of him as being quite possibly a young man who sired a child out of wedlock, grew to regret it; and to make amends, raised his grandchildren with the veracity of a loving parent. He seemed to have raised them with integrity and an intense work ethic.
Thomas takes us on a tour of his childhood home in rural Pinpoint, Georgia. His grandfather's heavy handedness often made him chafe, but years later he would look back lovingly on the man who shaped him.
Thomas prior to him becoming a Yale Law School grad, studied briefly to become a Priest. After failing at that task his grandfather in effect disowned him. He spent many years trying to make it up to Myers, but once again failed. Even after graduating from Holy Cross College, then Yale Law School, where by his own tale, was granted admission via Affirmative Action. Anderson Myers would still see him as a failure. He never completed what he said he would, becoming a priest. In my estimation, I don't believe Myers necessarily wanted Thomas to become a priest; he just wanted him to finish what he started. I believe Myers was from the old school and his word was his bond. If a man said he going to do it, he saw it through to the end.
Prior to law school graduation he met and married Katherine Ambush. They later had a son Jamal. This is where I start to lose my allegiance to Thomas. He tells a sketchy story of the breakup of his marriage. He almost explains it as one day he walked in the door and it was over. I understand this may be a private part to one's life, however it is a biography. Almost nothing should be off limits; therefore, it should have been explained more convincingly. He spoke about how hard it was for them to be financially stable. How many times they were so broke he could not pay everyday bills. Then he decides it would easier to walk away from his wife and child and live in a squalid apartment? That does not make sense to me. He did not seem to want to work things out with his wife so he walks away. He walks away? What could he possibly accomplish by leaving another Black woman alone to raise his male son? Thomas alluded to his son having adjustment issues and eventually had to repeat a grade. He was very cavalier in his explanation of it. Almost like it was something most people make their adolescent sons do.
He later meets and marries Virginia Lamp. Oh, but along the way he dates other women casually. He swears these women were Black. I can only take him at his word. But it still makes little sense to me that he would leave a wife then date. When he marries Lamp he is just as broke with her as he was with Ambush, but with Lamp he sticks it out and makes a go of things.
I am not totally convinced Thomas did not marry her for her white skin. His Black wife was just as accomplished as his White wife. There had to have been more to the story.
As for the Anita Hill controversy, Thomas convinced me that nothing, quite possibly happened between the two of them. Then he slips into the narrative that she passed her polygraph exam. He could not explain how that happened. This put me back on the side that he did do something inappropriate to her. I know a few years back Hill wrote her own biography. It would be interesting to read how the accounts differed. Then there is the question of motive what did she have to gain to set him up? This was a complex story that I will leave for the ages to sort out, I know I couldn’t.
After reading this story, I still don’t hate Thomas. There are many things to admire about the man: his self reliance and conservatism that Black people can do for themselves. Don’t ask for any hand outs and we can take care of our own, just the way other groups have done and how we did prior to desegregation.
What I have questionable thoughts about, are how Thomas could so easily cast wife number one out when there were problems and replace her with another woman who could no more solve the problems he brought with him.
Thomas is a complicated man, perhaps too complicated for me to solve. For now I sit on the fence neither loving him nor hating him. I’m just sitting.
Author: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
2007
Began Reading: 6/7/2009
Ended Reading: 6/15/2009
Format: CD
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the bane of Black America. They hate this man for what he stands for - his conservative principles. They also hate him because they believe he is an opportunistic sellout. They hate him because they believe he sexually harassed Anita Hill. They hate him because some Whites love him. The women hate him because he married a White woman. The men hate him because his name has Tom in it.Yes, I used the word hate. Black Americans love to hate this man. I had just graduated high school when he was appointed a seat on the Supreme Court. So, for the past 15 years I heard this man called an Uncle Tom, a sellout, a boot licker and the more generous someone who is just not that intellectual. As with everything else I wanted to understand for myself. I wanted to know who Clarence Thomas is and what made him the way he is.
I, like most Black folk am conservative. We just don't recognize we are because the majority of us are politically immature. We equate governmental handouts from the Democrats as the party having our best interests at heart. We all know that anything that is not worked for is not valued.
I have at times, flirted with the Republican party because I could not find my way in the Democratic party. They seemed to be pandering profligates that can only feel my pain when they ran for election. I especially cannot stand to hear White Democrats talk about how they are going to save us. Save us from what? We all know the only thing that can save us is ourselves. We don’t need a political party, nor do we need a symbolic presidential candidate, although I did support him, more as a fan than someone I share political ideologies with. I do, however believe Mr. Obama will be a great president.
In knowing all of this, I knew I had to read about Clarence Thomas for myself. I sort of knew going in that we would not be kindred political spirits. Instead, perhaps I could understand how he came to his ideologies. I know how I came to mine.
Clarence Thomas was raised by his grandfather, Anderson Myers. His mother's father. He was a man of principle, albeit latent principles. Myers was not married to Thomas' grandmother. It seems she was yet another Black woman left alone to raise children. However, after reading how Thomas was raised by Myers, I might be apt to change my opinion of him as being quite possibly a young man who sired a child out of wedlock, grew to regret it; and to make amends, raised his grandchildren with the veracity of a loving parent. He seemed to have raised them with integrity and an intense work ethic.
Thomas takes us on a tour of his childhood home in rural Pinpoint, Georgia. His grandfather's heavy handedness often made him chafe, but years later he would look back lovingly on the man who shaped him.
Thomas prior to him becoming a Yale Law School grad, studied briefly to become a Priest. After failing at that task his grandfather in effect disowned him. He spent many years trying to make it up to Myers, but once again failed. Even after graduating from Holy Cross College, then Yale Law School, where by his own tale, was granted admission via Affirmative Action. Anderson Myers would still see him as a failure. He never completed what he said he would, becoming a priest. In my estimation, I don't believe Myers necessarily wanted Thomas to become a priest; he just wanted him to finish what he started. I believe Myers was from the old school and his word was his bond. If a man said he going to do it, he saw it through to the end.
Prior to law school graduation he met and married Katherine Ambush. They later had a son Jamal. This is where I start to lose my allegiance to Thomas. He tells a sketchy story of the breakup of his marriage. He almost explains it as one day he walked in the door and it was over. I understand this may be a private part to one's life, however it is a biography. Almost nothing should be off limits; therefore, it should have been explained more convincingly. He spoke about how hard it was for them to be financially stable. How many times they were so broke he could not pay everyday bills. Then he decides it would easier to walk away from his wife and child and live in a squalid apartment? That does not make sense to me. He did not seem to want to work things out with his wife so he walks away. He walks away? What could he possibly accomplish by leaving another Black woman alone to raise his male son? Thomas alluded to his son having adjustment issues and eventually had to repeat a grade. He was very cavalier in his explanation of it. Almost like it was something most people make their adolescent sons do.
He later meets and marries Virginia Lamp. Oh, but along the way he dates other women casually. He swears these women were Black. I can only take him at his word. But it still makes little sense to me that he would leave a wife then date. When he marries Lamp he is just as broke with her as he was with Ambush, but with Lamp he sticks it out and makes a go of things.
I am not totally convinced Thomas did not marry her for her white skin. His Black wife was just as accomplished as his White wife. There had to have been more to the story.
As for the Anita Hill controversy, Thomas convinced me that nothing, quite possibly happened between the two of them. Then he slips into the narrative that she passed her polygraph exam. He could not explain how that happened. This put me back on the side that he did do something inappropriate to her. I know a few years back Hill wrote her own biography. It would be interesting to read how the accounts differed. Then there is the question of motive what did she have to gain to set him up? This was a complex story that I will leave for the ages to sort out, I know I couldn’t.
After reading this story, I still don’t hate Thomas. There are many things to admire about the man: his self reliance and conservatism that Black people can do for themselves. Don’t ask for any hand outs and we can take care of our own, just the way other groups have done and how we did prior to desegregation.
What I have questionable thoughts about, are how Thomas could so easily cast wife number one out when there were problems and replace her with another woman who could no more solve the problems he brought with him.
Thomas is a complicated man, perhaps too complicated for me to solve. For now I sit on the fence neither loving him nor hating him. I’m just sitting.
Labels: Recommended, Socio Commentaries
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