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Obituary
In Loving
Memory
Lloyd Noble
Aug. 6, 1935 – Jan. 28, 2020
Lloyd Noble was born Aug.
6, 1935 in Seminole, Okla. to
Stephen Noble and Estella Jack-
son. On Jan. 28, 2020, the Lord
called him home after being ill
for a number of years. His moth-
er passed at an early age, and he
was raised in Bakersfield, Calif.
He also lived in Spokane with
his oldest brother Everett and
wife Violet. Later on he moved
to Portland and stayed with his
sister Frances Odom and Olene
Rosemon.
He was active in life and was
president of the AARP Chapter
5264 for many years. He worked
many jobs, such as a longshore-
man and as an assistant chef at
a Bohemian restaurant. Later on
he joined the Merchant Marines
and worked as a cook on a ship.
He also joined the electricians
union and became an electrician
on the vessels he worked on. He
was very proud of that. He car-
ried ammunition for three years
and never shot a bullet. He trav-
elled around the world for 27
years, countries as Africa, Japan,
Egypt, Korea, and many states in
the USA
He was sharp dresser and very
outgoing. He married Louise
Kinsey on April 7, 1960 and ad-
opted Linda, Tanya and Malcolm
and raised them from an early
age. He joined the Church of
Living God in 2006 as a deacon
under Pastor Maxie. Later on
in 2016 he joined the Bethesda
Church under pastor Jointer.
He leaves his beloved wife
Louise, his adopted children,
many family members and
friends.
A memorial service will be
held Thursday, Feb. 13 at 1 p.m.
at Bethesda Baptist Church,
1730 S.E. 117th Ave.
February 12, 2020
Clarence Thomas in His Own Words
New film on the
one black justice
by his grandfather for being a
revolutionary. Thomas eventually
graduated from Yale Law School,
and no family members came to
his graduation. That affected him
greatly.
Fast forward to 1980, and some-
thing changed his social opinions,
politics and viewpoint on the fight
for equality. This is where the
footage feels like it skates over
a crucial part of his life. What
makes a black man go from a poor
kid, to a bright student, a militant,
a counterculture “lazy Libertari-
an,” to a Republican? It’s like he
walked through a door, left his
blackness outside and embraced a
party that caters to whites with no
reasonable explanation (only 8%
of black voters identify in some
way with the Republican Party).
How did this conversion occur?
What was the trigger?
“In the fall of 1980, I had de-
cided to vote for Ronald Reagan,”
Thomas says. “It was a giant step
for a black man. Then license is
given to others, to attack you in
whatever way they want to. You’re
not really black because you’re not
doing what you expect black peo-
ple to do. You weren’t supposed to
d WighT b roWn
To many, he is an enigma. Or
that controversial 1990s political/
judicial figure who faded into a
quiet corner of the Supreme Court
of the United States. RBG gets all
the press. Clarence Thomas does
not. Rarely interviewed, rarely in
front of a camera.
If political junkies, students
of history, the African American
community and others want to
delve deep into the psyche of the
one black SCOTUS judge, they
will have to do their own research.
As young black man, future Supreme Court Justice Clarence
What’s on view in the new film
Thomas had more opportunities than other poor kids in his
‘Created Equal: Clarence Thomas
neighborhood and took them.
in his Own Words,” is a one-sid-
oppose busing; you weren’t sup- are notoriously against them. Un-
ed scrapbook, with no dissenting
posed to oppose welfare.”
like his predecessor Thurgood
points of view. No friends, col-
Director/writer Michael Pack’s Marshall, who the black com-
leagues or rivals to pose a counter-
inability to ask a tough question munity could look to as someone
point—the kind of good friction
becomes egregious here. Thomas who understood their challenges,
that makes a documentary a docu-
is known as the Supreme Court Thomas has been resolutely the
mentary and not a promo reel.
judge who consistently votes opposite. Why?
However, this non-fiction film
against measures that will even the
As Thomas sits in a dark room
does shed light on certain histor-
playing field for African Ameri- recollecting,
cinematographer
ical aspects of Thomas’ life. Born
cans. Affirmative action, college James Callanan shoots him from
in the very segregated Pin Point,
admissions, quotas –his opinions unflattering angles, with horren-
Georgia in 1948, he was raised ini-
dous lighting that makes him look
tially by a single mother in abject
like he’s in a low-budget sci-fi
poverty with virtually no interac-
movie. Photos and footage from
tion with his father. His brother
the 1950s, 60s and 70s detail pov-
and he were taken in by his mid-
erty in the south and black life
dle-class maternal grandparents. A
under the oppression of Jim Crow
stern granddad became his father
laws. They also reveal a young
figure, applying strict discipline
black man who had more oppor-
and telling his two young grand-
tunities than other poor kids in his
sons that the door swings in and
neighborhood, and took them.
out. They came in with it, and will
Thomas attended Yale Law
go out with it if they don’t behave.
School at the time when its pol-
Thomas was sent to a Catho-
icies, involving race-conscious
lic elementary school. His teenage
admissions programs embracing
years were spent in an all-white,
diversity, opened the doors for
all-male Catholic seminary, where
people like him. Yet he dissented
he was often the target of racial
from the court’s landmark 2003
taunts, especially during the tu-
decision in Grutter v. Bollinger,
multuous civil rights movement.
which upheld the use of race as
Somehow he attended the Col-
a factor in state university admis-
lege of the Holy Cross, a private
sions decisions. It’s that hypocrisy
Jesuit school in Worcester, Mass.
that made him an outcast in the
in 1968 even though his grand-
African American community,
father refused to pay for college.
He fell in with some black radical Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas pictured with his second and particularly to the black intel-
students, embraced the Black Pan- and current wife, Virginia, who gets plenty of airtime in a new
C onTinued on P age 15
ther movement and was disowned one-sided bio about his life.
by
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