Clarence Thomas is on 60 minutes being interviewing about himself.
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I found the part of the show I saw interesting. Thomas really looked like a defeated, tormented individual. I found his decision to quit the Catholic faith/priesthood training due to the racist statement made approving of Dr. King's assassination that was followed by his grandfather basically disowning him particularly tragic.
Once they went to break after they talked about him going to Yale then graduating only to be left with his "fifteen cent degree"... I stopped watching. Even though he got his first job working with the Missouri congressmen/judge and after his feeling of shame because people thought he got into Yale just because he was Black, I could reconcile that with what he had to say about being a (Black Panther like) "radical" especially knowing how his grandfather to "never look a white women in the eye" (Jim Crow's rules) and all the racism and poverty he faced growing up.
I found the part where he said "I have an opinion" to be pretty weak. Here's a man who is supposed to be one of the best legal minds in the country and, instead of answering his critics by expressing his opinion and speaking confidently about his reasoning for coming to that opinion, he spoke like he had the mind of a high school student, at best.
But the way he looked, so beaten and defeated (and, perhaps, guilty), I almost felt sorry for the brother.
Once they went to break after they talked about him going to Yale then graduating only to be left with his "fifteen cent degree"... I stopped watching. Even though he got his first job working with the Missouri congressmen/judge and after his feeling of shame because people thought he got into Yale just because he was Black, I could reconcile that with what he had to say about being a (Black Panther like) "radical" especially knowing how his grandfather to "never look a white women in the eye" (Jim Crow's rules) and all the racism and poverty he faced growing up.
I found the part where he said "I have an opinion" to be pretty weak. Here's a man who is supposed to be one of the best legal minds in the country and, instead of answering his critics by expressing his opinion and speaking confidently about his reasoning for coming to that opinion, he spoke like he had the mind of a high school student, at best.
But the way he looked, so beaten and defeated (and, perhaps, guilty), I almost felt sorry for the brother.
quote:Originally posted by Nmaginate:
I found his decision to quit the Catholic faith/priesthood training due to the racist statement made approving of Dr. King's assassination that was followed by his grandfather basically disowning him particularly tragic.
Yeah - I didn't buy his rationale actually. It sounds like, for whatever reasons, he had already made the decision to leave and the comment was a convenient rationalization for that decision. Also - why his grandfather would have actually disowned him for that is rather peculiar.
Another thing about this episode in his life, he said that leaving training for the priesthood was, in effect, an exit from the Catholic church. How the heck did he end up at Holy Cross in Massachusetts then?
quote:Once they went to break after they talked about him going to Yale then graduating only to be left with his "fifteen cent degree"... I stopped watching.
It's clear that he has a SERIOUS inferiority complex. It's perhaps understandable based upon the times, but - as I've speculated before about negro-cons - I think it forms the foundation of his conservative outlook.
BTW - how about the emotion that he showed when he talked about his grandfather telling him he couldn't look a white woman in the eye!
I couldn't help but think about how he compensated for that in later life! quote:Even though he got his first job working with the Missouri congressmen/judge and after his feeling of shame because people thought he got into Yale just because he was Black . . .
I think this is why he's conservative now. Danforth was probably the first white person to show him some love in life and that was so sweet to him that he did whatever it took to sustain that flow of positive feelings. Condi writes about the same thing when folks in the Reagan administration took her in and supported her.
It was quite evident that what Justice Thomas was trying to do with the writing of a Biography while sitting on the highest Court in the Land was to alter History, and change the public image of him as a serious and knowledgable Jurist. Most of the Justices who have written Book have written them about Legal Matters, and not tooting their own personal horn.
With the 60 minutes, and upcoming C-Span Q & A Appearances it seems as if he's trying to use the Book to try and convince the public that he is not what they preceive him to be. It seems as if Justice Thomas is trying to Spin a situation that can't be spun.
Even 16 years later he's still trying to say that Anita Hill made up her story, and told a bunch of lies, and for no apparent reason whatsoever.
I don't think he's doing what he doing, just for money. I think he, like many high-profile persons, as they get older, have a tendency to think about what the public think about them and what they stand for, and he has established a bad immage of how he got to where he's at today, and the image, and history this Current Court is about to establish well into the future.
I think he might be trying to work himself back to the middle of the road where he thought he was during the Reagan Era. That's why he made reference to Ronald Reagan as his big entry into politics.
leart
With the 60 minutes, and upcoming C-Span Q & A Appearances it seems as if he's trying to use the Book to try and convince the public that he is not what they preceive him to be. It seems as if Justice Thomas is trying to Spin a situation that can't be spun.
Even 16 years later he's still trying to say that Anita Hill made up her story, and told a bunch of lies, and for no apparent reason whatsoever.
I don't think he's doing what he doing, just for money. I think he, like many high-profile persons, as they get older, have a tendency to think about what the public think about them and what they stand for, and he has established a bad immage of how he got to where he's at today, and the image, and history this Current Court is about to establish well into the future.
I think he might be trying to work himself back to the middle of the road where he thought he was during the Reagan Era. That's why he made reference to Ronald Reagan as his big entry into politics.
leart
quote:Sunday, September 30, 2007
Qualifications: Setting the Record Straight
1. Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a new autobiography, labels Anita Hill his "most traitorous adversary," once again denying the sexual harassment claims she made against him at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and calling her a mediocre but ambitious lawyer. If Thomas wants to dredge up his past in an autobiography for which he reportedly got a million-dollar advance, he's fair game for those of us who want to dredge up his background, too. At Yale Law School, which I attended with Thomas in the early 1970s, he was notable only for his silence, within the classrooms and without. He wore a skullcap and a scowl. After graduating, he led an undistinguished legal career. Under Reagan, he ran the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without interest or vigor, and was tapped by George H.W. Bush for the Supreme Court only because he was a black conservative. Since then, Thomas has spoken rarely from the bench, asked few questions of lawyers appearing before the Court, and has issued opinions often lacking clarity or coherence. By contrast, Anita Hill has had a distinguished career as a lawyer and legal scholar, teaching and publishing on issues ranging from legal contracts to discrimination. She was my colleague on the faculty of Brandeis, and I know few people with more integrity. There's not the slightest doubt in my mind that she told the precise truth at Thomas's confirmation hearing, about the lurid sexual comments and advances he made to her. In my view, he was unqualified then to be a Supreme Court justice, and America is much the worse for the ease by which the Senate was intimidated into confirming him by his claim of being subjected to a "high-tech lynching." http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2007/09/qualifications-...record-straight.html
quote:Originally posted by Nmaginate:
I found the part of the show I saw interesting. Thomas really looked like a defeated, tormented individual. I found his decision to quit the Catholic faith/priesthood training due to the racist statement made approving of Dr. King's assassination that was followed by his grandfather basically disowning him particularly tragic.
Once they went to break after they talked about him going to Yale then graduating only to be left with his "fifteen cent degree"... I stopped watching. Even though he got his first job working with the Missouri congressmen/judge and after his feeling of shame because people thought he got into Yale just because he was Black, I could reconcile that with what he had to say about being a (Black Panther like) "radical" especially knowing how his grandfather to "never look a white women in the eye" (Jim Crow's rules) and all the racism and poverty he faced growing up.
I found the part where he said "I have an opinion" to be pretty weak. Here's a man who is supposed to be one of the best legal minds in the country and, instead of answering his critics by expressing his opinion and speaking confidently about his reasoning for coming to that opinion, he spoke like he had the mind of a high school student, at best.
But the way he looked, so beaten and defeated (and, perhaps, guilty), I almost felt sorry for the brother.
What did he say about the King assassination? I didn't get to see the interview. I fell asleep before it came on TV.
He just mentioned that as soon as they heard the news of King's assassination at the Catholic school, one of the nuns or some official basically said, "good, I'm glad they killed that n*gga."
quote:BTW - how about the emotion that he showed when he talked about his grandfather telling him he couldn't look a white woman in the eye!
I couldn't help but think about how he compensated for that in later life
Yes, ole boy is a mess of contradictions and brutal ironies.
To me, most of the time he looked defeated - on the verge of crying out of torment. I don't know if I noticed anything that stood out when he mentioned what his grandfather told him (for his protection) about looking at white women. Of course, I immediately thought about his wife and paid close(r) attention to his defeated mannerisms. So I don't want to overproject and overstate the amount of emotions he displayed then.
All I know, is that this dude makes Armstrong Williams look like "The Rock"!! With all the work this country needs, how do allllllllllllllll these people find time to write books?? I can hardly find time to write notes to school (you know, those places America's gonna RE-SEGREGATE and ISOLATE, because of "his" court).
When I figure how the hell a pubic hair gets on a coke can, I'll think of Clarence Thomas. Till then, I'll take a rain check.
When I figure how the hell a pubic hair gets on a coke can, I'll think of Clarence Thomas. Till then, I'll take a rain check.
Here you go, MBM...
A couple of things this fool and anyone buying his argument seem to miss. I'll use questions to point them out:
1] How has and when has AA ever been part of some grade inflation regime? Dude said, "they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated." Well, sounds like they had a problem that had nothing to do with AA. Which brings me to this:
2] We are talking about a time when White employers had a problem and didn't want to hire Blacks REGARDLESS!! They would have doubted or discounted even a Yale law degree with or without AA. There's plenty of history of that. There were a whole bunch of porters with college degrees.
quote:'Silent' Justice Outspoken on Affirmative Action
Clarence Thomas: Job Search After Law School Left Him 'Humiliated' and 'Desperate'
... Thomas says that after he graduated from Yale, he went on several job interviews with "one high-priced lawyer" after another and the attorneys treated him dismissively. "Many asked pointed questions, unsubtly suggesting that they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated."
The fact that he couldn't get a job would shape his thoughts on affirmative action programs for years to come. Thomas wrote, "Now I knew what a law degree from Yale was worth when it bore the taint of racial preference."
A couple of things this fool and anyone buying his argument seem to miss. I'll use questions to point them out:
1] How has and when has AA ever been part of some grade inflation regime? Dude said, "they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated." Well, sounds like they had a problem that had nothing to do with AA. Which brings me to this:
2] We are talking about a time when White employers had a problem and didn't want to hire Blacks REGARDLESS!! They would have doubted or discounted even a Yale law degree with or without AA. There's plenty of history of that. There were a whole bunch of porters with college degrees.
quote:The fact that he couldn't get a job would shape his thoughts on affirmative action programs for years to come. Thomas wrote, "Now I knew what a law degree from Yale was worth when it bore the taint of racial preference."
Thomas is making a whole lot of assumptions here. The only thing he really knows is how much his law degree from Yale was worth to the people he had been trying to sell it to. I sincerely doubt that it had anything to do with the "taint of racial preference", and had everything to do with the "taint of racial prejudice".
Why should he assume that those law firms would have hired him if not for AA? Furthermore, without AA he wouldn't have attended Yale in the first place... so the relative value of that law degree to White employers (who would've discriminated against any Black man regardless of where he attended school) becomes null and void.
However, I suppose that if Clarence Thomas were adept at recognizing contradictory logic then he wouldn't be a conservative.
Clarence Thomas: Nobody Knows the Trouble He's Seen
Trey Ellis, posted October 1, 2007 | 11:41 AM (EST)
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 twelve 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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/clarence-thomas-nobody-_b_66605.html
Trey Ellis, posted October 1, 2007 | 11:41 AM (EST)
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 twelve 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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/clarence-thomas-nobody-_b_66605.html
I found the part where he said "I have an opinion" to be pretty weak. Here's a man who is supposed to be one of the best legal minds in the country and, instead of answering his critics by expressing his opinion and speaking confidently about his reasoning for coming to that opinion, he spoke like he had the mind of a high school student, at best.
But the way he looked, so beaten and defeated (and, perhaps, guilty), I almost felt sorry for the brother.---Nmagiante
This is about where I have ended up as well.
Justice Thomas' position reflects pain, disappointment, anger, repression, discrimination, abuse, etc.
I have seen his intellect demonstrated in several interviews, and other settings.
I never would question that..., but
I simply cannot get over his choice in the vote on the Election of 2000.
My God!!!
All he had to do was abstain!!!!!!!!!!!
PEACE
Jim Chester
But the way he looked, so beaten and defeated (and, perhaps, guilty), I almost felt sorry for the brother.---Nmagiante
This is about where I have ended up as well.
Justice Thomas' position reflects pain, disappointment, anger, repression, discrimination, abuse, etc.
I have seen his intellect demonstrated in several interviews, and other settings.
I never would question that..., but
I simply cannot get over his choice in the vote on the Election of 2000.
My God!!!
All he had to do was abstain!!!!!!!!!!!
PEACE
Jim Chester
quote:Originally posted by Nmaginate:
Here you go, MBM...
quote:'Silent' Justice Outspoken on Affirmative Action
Clarence Thomas: Job Search After Law School Left Him 'Humiliated' and 'Desperate'
... Thomas says that after he graduated from Yale, he went on several job interviews with "one high-priced lawyer" after another and the attorneys treated him dismissively. "Many asked pointed questions, unsubtly suggesting that they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated."
The fact that he couldn't get a job would shape his thoughts on affirmative action programs for years to come. Thomas wrote, "Now I knew what a law degree from Yale was worth when it bore the taint of racial preference."
A couple of things this fool and anyone buying his argument seem to miss. I'll use questions to point them out:
1] How has and when has AA ever been part of some grade inflation regime? Dude said, "they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated." Well, sounds like they had a problem that had nothing to do with AA. Which brings me to this:
2] We are talking about a time when White employers had a problem and didn't want to hire Blacks REGARDLESS!! They would have doubted or discounted even a Yale law degree with or without AA. There's plenty of history of that. There were a whole bunch of porters with college degrees.
Not only that, but I also would doubt that Clarence was exactly wowwing these people with his interview skills, either. Amazing, though, how the scapegoat he chose would one day lead to a whole bunch of history-changing 5-4 decisions... with more to come, I'm sure.
It's good that she is answering those same silly incorrect statements he has made in the past, but the Guy is truly presenting himself as some type of Crackpot by putting himself on "Front-street" in this manner.
It seems as if his time would have been better served writing a Book on one of the Major Legal controvercies of the day. I know he can't talk or write about things currently before the Court, but there are many things he could have written about that would have better suited his Status as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
leart
It seems as if his time would have been better served writing a Book on one of the Major Legal controvercies of the day. I know he can't talk or write about things currently before the Court, but there are many things he could have written about that would have better suited his Status as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
leart