February 12, 2020
Page 15
Clarence Thomas in His Own Words
Lawyer and
academic Anita
Hill in 1991 when
she accused
U.S. Supreme
Court nominee
Clarence
Thomas, her
supervisor at
the Department
of Education
and the Equal
Employment
Opportunity
Commission,
of sexual
harassment.
C onTinued from P age 12
ligentsia. A cartoon of Thomas as a lawn
jockey on the cover of the very edgy black
newsmagazine Emerge is just one of the
examples of biting political satire that has
followed his career.
In the footage, Thomas firmly believes
that attacks on him are because he is a free
thinker. Not because of his deeds. After his
very public and stormy confirmation as a
Supreme Court judge in which he out-ma-
neuvered Democrats like Joe Biden by
using the term “high tech lynching,” and
swayed public opinion in his favor, he
equated white liberals as oppressors:
“I felt as though in my life, I had been
looking at the wrong people, as the people
who would be problematic toward me,” he
said. “Ultimately the biggest impediment
was the modern day liberal.”
There’s scant mention of his first wife,
Kathy Ambush or son Jamal, both African
Americans. His white wife Virginia gets
plenty of airtime, and is the only other in-
terviewee in this 1 hour 56 minute promo
reel. The two live in a protective bubble,
able to see what goes on in society, but
completely sheltered. If they didn’t, and he
let the outside world in, he might hear and
absorb constructive criticism that could
lead to deep self-examination. The kind
of introspection that challenges people to
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grow. The film’s basic, insular format just
fortifies his cocoon. No rivals. No oth-
er judges. No historians. No other family
members. Nothing.
How out of touch is Clarence Thomas,
especially concerning the African Amer-
ican community? A voiceover states that
Thomas doesn’t recruit interns from Ivy
League schools, and prefers students from
less prestigious institutions. Like he’s try-
ing to get down with the real folk. The
camera shoots a scene of him in his judge’s
chambers with a flock of new interns. The
gut check is that they are all white. All
blond! And this is his norm. What hap-
pened to his blackness? Sense of commu-
nity?
A two-hour unperceptive documentary
leaves the quietest man on the Supreme
Court no less an enigma than before the
opening credits rolled. Thomas: “I’m dif-
ferent than what people paint me to be.”
How would anybody know?
Dwight Brown is the film critic for the
National Newspapers Publishers Associa-
tion, the Black Press.
1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Cut squash in half, and discard
seeds. Place the squash halves, cut
sides down, in a 13 x 9-inch glass or
ceramic baking dish, and add 1/2 cup
water to dish. Cover and bake at 450°
for 40 minutes or until squash is ten-
der. Remove the squash from pan, and
let stand for 10 minutes. Remove pulp
from skin, and discard skin. Combine
squash pulp, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and
the remaining ingredients in a food
processor, and process until smooth.
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