And what was the effect? Yet, he seems to relish his role as one of the movement's main enemies. His tenure began in 1991. But controversy has swirled around Thomas and his wife, Ginni, in recent weeks, with revelations by the investigative news site ProPublica that a conservative Texas billionaire has lavished Thomas with expensive vacations and other financial benefits for many years, benefits that were never reported on Thomas' financial disclosure forms. In 1979, Thomas earned her Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Business Communication, followed by a Juris Doctorate And we're speaking with filmmaker Michael Kirk. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies. He's very sexist. I'm Dave Davies, and this is FRESH AIR. John L. Dorman. The Education of Clarence Thomas Wiki User. It was this - whatever. She attended Westside High School, where she was an active member of the student government, debate team, and Republican club. Virginia Thomas Biography And they gave them something the kids had never really had - running water. He attended Conception Seminary and received an AB, cum laude, from Holy Cross College, and a JD from Yale Law School in 1974. KIRK: Pin Point is on the outskirts of Savannah, Ga. You always cut it when the going gets rough, the rough get going, or the tough gets going, or whatever the saying is. Clarence Thomas "The mind of Clarence Thomas: the American Dream for me but not for thee. from Yale University in 1974. Copy. The Supreme Court wont have far to look for a personal take on the crushing weight of student debt that underlies the Biden administrations college But it was a hard life in other ways. His documentary, "Clarence And Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power And The Supreme Court," is available to stream on YouTube, Frontline's website and the PBS app. And it is Malcolm's speeches, Malcolm's arguments for separatism, Malcolm's stridence and strength that Clarence is drawn to. Clarence Thomas graduated cum laude from the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts in 1971 and received a J.D. This was kind of hard to believe. Although, that may exist and may come forward at some moment. In a November 1983 speech to his staff at the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, Thomas called affirmative action "critical to minorities and women in this society. One wonders what Thomas believes about his past. "The problem has been that institutions of higher learning, corporations, companies, and other entities have denied well-qualified African American and other individuals access in terms of admissions, employment, because of their race. 1. And he - there he is living with all these other angry and frustrated - self-described angry and frustrated - Black men, three or four of whom we've interviewed. Clarence Thomas WebThomas graduated from the school in 1974. The way they tell the story is Clarence was kind of unleashed. DAVIES: We need to take another break here. GLENN LOURY: You want to be thought of as a good Black man or woman, not as a traitor or a turncoat, a sellout. I hope you can join us. He won the Caldecott Medal for his book "The Undefeated." And it all got out of control. But I - others talk about it in a way that it was - that he was so proud that Clarence might end up being the Black priest of Savannah. How Clarence Thomas orchestrated a new obstacle for Black Ginni Thomas has long been active in conservative circles. Chief Justice John Roberts may have written the majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court that ended affirmative action on Thursday, but Justice Clarence Thomas may savor the moment the most. Do you feel like you really got to the bottom of it or whether there was a consensus among all of these friends and associates of his about that? That narrative is in direct contention with the spirit of affirmative action, which considers the uneven starting line that sets Black Americans in particular back as a group. And he says that there's an expression for doing a Clarence Thomas, meaning that that's when someone uses their Blackness to achieve a place of power and then turns their back on the Black community. It was glass broke, then arguments with the police, then tear gas, then the usual melees, but much - on a much larger scale than anybody expected that had happened certainly previously. And Clarence is not smiling in virtually any of those pictures. Thomas had registered for the draft in 1966, at age 18, but had a student deferment; when he graduated in 1971, and his number in the conscription lottery was low, he seemed a likely candidate for military service in Vietnam. It's different than that, I think. So if that's true, how does he get information? Take his. The PhD project, a diversity non-profit, also criticized the Supreme Court's decision saying in a statement to Newsweek: "We are deeply disheartened by the Supreme Court's decision, which could reduce access to higher education for historically marginalized and minority students. And it was equally hard then, or this is just another great example of it. He would - he hated the idea that - and tried everything he could do to not enforce - the idea of quotas, a word that he discovered was - could be quite successfully used. WebThomas graduated cum laude from College of the Holy Cross in 1971 with a degree in English literature. The policy, which had aimed to help increase minority college admissions, was prohibited this week after SCOTUS was asked to consider whether colleges should no longer be able to use race as a consideration when admitting students. KIRK: He had never really been around white people in this way, in the sense that you're sleeping in a room with 20 others or 15 others or maybe more, eating together, hanging around. Newsweek has reached out to Yale and a representative for Clarence Thomas via email for comment. Ruth Marcus picked up the story in The Washington Post on October 8, 2021. Saida Grundy is an associate professor of sociology and African American studies at Boston University, and the author of Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man. And DAVIES: This is like nothing he'd ever seen. Justice Clarence Thomas wife related People talk about it as being Clarence Thomas' court. And basically, he said to Clarence, you're going to end up just like your no-good father. Clarence Thomas Legal historian Mary Ziegler 04, J.D. Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court via email for comment. So he has this kind of crisis, and instead of becoming more radicalized, he decides to shed the Panther, the uniform, put on a coat and tie at times. And they said that's exactly the problem. Fact Check: Did Clarence Thomas Go to Yale Under - Flipboard And other conservatives said he was with the president. As controversy swirls around the benefits Thomas and his wife Ginni received from a conservative billionaire, filmmaker Michael Kirk examines the couple's path to power in a new PBS documentary. Where did Clarence Thomas go to school? His memoir, My Grandfathers Son (2007), testifies to a much deeper educational journeyone that began under the determined watch of his maternal grandfather in Jim Crow Savannah and that You know, they went to Indonesia. He lived about the worst kind of life you could imagine for a little kid, even in that time - poverty, a father who was gone, so a fatherless life, mother barely scraping by, and not even, really, in lots of ways. This is an association that really lasted a long time. Clarence Thomas - IMDb It's the process between Ginni and Clarence at that moment as he decides to not fold, but to come back fighting. DAVIES: That's Glenn Loury from the documentary "Clarence And Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power And The Supreme Court," which is directed by our guest, Michael Kirk. He's obviously eyeing a position getting some kind of a high-visibility job inside the Reagan administration. (SOUNDBITE OF JULIAN LAGE GROUP'S "IOWA TAKEN"). Roberta Shorrock directs the show. In 2022, its astonishing to read and hear that Justice Thomas must recuse himself from cases because of his wifes views on the 2020 election. Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni raised Thomas grandnephew, Mark Martin, as a son, as the Supreme Court justice once put it. I came so close to being arrested - I think 40 students had been arrested - so close to ruining my life, and for what? And his ideology, his conservative ideology was forming up around this time. KIRK: Yes, laying on the bed, sobbing, believing his life was over. I mean, it was reported, you know, by the Times and others somewhat earlier. And you're alone. When I talked to the white students who were there at that time and later, they, too, had many stories about how Brooks provided support, humor and guidance in their lives. Although there isn't documentary evidence (such as admission papers or other paperwork that would settle the question entirely), it appears clear from the testimony of Yale officials and Thomas that his admission to the Yale School of Law was made at the time of affirmative action policies and was almost certainly was influenced by it. George Washington University has decided to stand by US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, despite protests from students calling for his termination. He applies himself and does very, very well and manages to graduate from Holy Cross - the first person in his family to do so. And that was the assassination, the murder of Martin Luther King, when he heard a white seminarian say King had not been murdered - had not died yet. It was his race, as Thomas has admitted, that got him two civil-rights posts in the Reagan White House; the jobs came because he opposed the civil-rights movement. DAVIES: Wow. At the time, Republicans had won the popular vote for president in Just give us a sense of what that relationship was like and what the benefits were to Clarence Thomas. "Segregationists likewise defended segregation on the ground that it provided more leadership opportunities for blacks. I mean, even today, this is a man who - for whom revenge is one response to the lack of acceptance of him and his efforts. ", Then, his remarks got personal: "But for them (affirmative-action laws), God only knows where I would be today. He says he has the degree, the Yale Law School degree, framed with a 10-cent price - one of those stickers that says 10 cents - and he stuck it on the diploma frame and said, that's basically what that Yale Law School degree was worth to me. Oct 31, 20225:40 AM Justice Clarence Thomas poses for a portrait in his chambers at the Supreme Court in 2002. Thomas opens up about the process in a new documentary and claims the biggest impediment to his life and legal career was not the KKK but the modern-day liberal.. (Copyright, 1995, Creators Syndicate, Inc.). It's the perception that is most in play there and the most dangerous consequence of people discovering just how grand his relationship in financial and other terms was with Harlan Crow. You're surrounded by - I mean, one of his - his married student housing roommate was John Bolton. On the other hand, the idea that I would think for myself and I won't be told what to think just because of the color of my skin is one that very powerfully animated Clarence Thomas. In partnership with: May 9, 2023 by Julia Ingram Originally published May 9, 2023, this story was updated on June 29, 2023. WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas famously opposes affirmative action, and clearly feels slandered by the suggestion he ever benefited from such a thing. MSN He was confirmed. If somebody is going to tell me I'm not Black because, thinking for myself, I arrived at certain conclusions that they didn't like - you question my authenticity? Several reports from Yale officials and representatives confirmed that the university followed an affirmative action policy at the time Thomas attended its law school. Justice Clarence Thomas at the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 26, 2020. The way they tell the story, he's trying to appeal to the white Reagan staffers and conservatives by being the Black guy who's the first to tell a kind of racially tinted joke or use an unkind phrase, proving to them that he can be trusted. Clarence Thomas Am I here for merit, or am I here only because I'm Black? In 1967, Thomas entered Conception Seminary at the college level. He lived - Supreme Court justices don't make that much money by comparison to other very successful lawyers. The Higher Education of Clarence Thomas - JSTOR That was certainly the way he felt, and he felt that Clarence had betrayed him. DAVIES: You said he was taking the rough edges off of affirmative action - meaning what? It's about his life as a father and as the son of a Baptist preacher of Black liberation theology. Did Clarence Thomas Benefit From Affirmative Action He Just I guess there's also the question of whether this contact with Harlan Crow represented a conflict of interest or an appearance of conflict for a justice who has to, you know, weigh all these consequential cases. Virginia grew up to become interested in politics and aimed at joining the United States Congress at a young age. Clarence Thomas was raised in this house in Savannah, Georgia. He's written and directed more than 100 hours of "Frontline" documentaries and has won four Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk Awards and 16 Emmy Awards. (AP Photo/John Amis, File) Clarence Thomas has now served on the Supreme Court for 30 years. He now had to start over. Clarence Thomas Thomas ", The decision this week by the Supreme Court has awakened that echo, with MSNBC host Chris Hayes describing Thomas as having turned around to "pull the ladder up behind him.". For me, understanding what was going on behind the scenes with this character we followed all the way from Pin Point as a little boy was really remarkable. And he and Limbaugh became inseparable, kind of really, really close friends during that time. And he never reported any of it. Clarence basically collapsed. KIRK: I think the extent to which he really got slammed and surprised by Anita Hill's allegations, especially at the beginning when they hit the news but before the hearings. And he is the subject of derision and mocking and taunts at night. He asks the women, the way they tell it, you know, what was your bra size? The vast majority of people there are Black. Clarence Thomas: Poster Boy For Affirmative Action There's an obvious contradiction here: Clarence Thomas benefited enormously from the kind of affirmative-action programs he now seeks to kill. Thomas received a degree in English in 1971 from College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1974. FRONTLINE traces the 'ambition and revenge' driving SCOTUS DAVIES: So he left the seminary and went back to live with his grandfather, who did not particularly welcome that decision. Where did Clarence Thomas go to school? CNN . Thomas did not attend an integrated school until he entered St. John He was admitted to law C larence Thomas graduated cum laude from the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts in 1971 and received a J.D. They traveled the world in the jet. FILE - Associate Justice Clarence Thomas joins other members of the Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. And, you know, Clarence Thomas' record includes, you know, votes to weaken the Voting Rights Act. On tomorrow's show, we'll talk with Kwame Alexander about his new memoir, "Why Fathers Cry At Night." DAVIES: We need to take a break here. It got pretty lively. I've read Thomas's bio and although he does believe in equality some of views where strongly shaped by his childhood. The truth is that Thomas owes thanks to the civil-rights movement - whose decades of lawsuits, protests and lobbying removed barriers for individuals like Thomas. He'll be back to talk more after this short break. Clarence Thomas | Encyclopedia.com And then there was one critical moment when Clarence knew, OK, I've got to get out of here. Maybe he prefers the fairy-tale account provided by Rush Limbaugh, whose talk show he listens to each day: "Clarence Thomas escaped the bonds of poverty by methods other than those prescribed by these civil-rights organizations.". KIRK: Her father was a tough guy, also carried a lot of the racism about the internal racism inside the Black world of Savannah and Pin Point, ran a fuel oil business, I think ice and coal kind of business, where in the summer, you deliver ice, and in the winter, you deliver fuel oil in a kind of old truck. This is a Supreme Court justice whose primary reference point for cultural events and political events in the country was his wife, Ginni, and a man who would become his great best friend, a wealthy, rich white man named Rush Limbaugh. So in 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the only Black member of the Supreme Court, retires and George Herbert Walker Bush picks Clarence Thomas to take his place as an associate justice. Judicial record undermines Clarence Thomas defence in luxury gifts scandal While the Supreme Court's ruling faced criticism and divided the court, recent polls indicate it may be a popular decision. It's called "Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power And The Supreme Court," and it's available to stream for free on YouTube, Frontline's website and the PBS app. You could find Clarence in the library, not out on the streets or anything like that. He said out loud that he was now going to stop consuming any national media at all. The problem is not some specific piece of legislation or a case. When I talked to the white students who were there at that time and later, they, too, had many stories about how Brooks provided support, humor and guidance in their lives. Encounter, 2019. He wholly ingested the racist take of the admissions officer in his ascendency to the supreme court, and that take steers his judicial opinions to this day. How long has Clarence Thomas been a justice? Clarence Thomas And just on and on and on like that - unseemly uses of his authority. He adopts the clothing, the hairstyle, the combat boots, the - you know, the military-style uniform, wears a beret and finds an idol. We'll talk more in just a moment. And he would defend efforts to challenge it. However, he failed his physical examination. A complex man, Clarence Thomas took in his great-nephew when the boy's father, his nephew, was in and out of prison but was finally sent away for a long time for drugs. Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution by Myron Magnet. He is an award-winning filmmaker. And, you know, one of the things that you address in the documentary is how other African Americans view him. Kirk's documentary, "Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power And The Supreme Court," is available to stream for free on YouTube, Frontline's website and the PBS app. Justice Clarence Thomas voted to strike it down for future generations. He was not happy about the implications of affirmative action, and it was among the first times that he would, of course, throughout his life be a recipient, a beneficiary of what became known as affirmative action. Thomas Justice Clarence Thomas has served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court since October 23, 1991. WebSupreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was still paying off his student loans when he joined the High Court in 1991. Washington CNN The What admissions officers sought to avoid, according to Thornhill, were Black students who would rock the boat with antiracist activism and whose essays discussed structural racism both in their lives and on college campuses. You can't finish anything. Here's what he says about that idea that Thomas is regarded as, you know, a traitor. The Education of Clarence Thomas. As Bolton tells us, it was a place where people expected to run the world someday, and they were just there gathering whatever they needed to do that. And I want to prove that I belong in this world. Clarence Thomas Responding to Thomas' 58-page concurring opinion on the ruling, Jackson said: "The takeaway is that those who demand that no one think about race [a classic pink-elephant paradox] refuse to see, much less solve for, the elephant in the roomthe race-linked disparities that continue to impede achievement of our great Nation's full potential.". Clarence Thomas To DAVIES: And just for listeners here, this is - the first part of the hearing went smoothly enough. I'm Dave Davies. Thomas received a degree in English in 1971 from College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1974. . You work for Danforth, who's a conservative. Ivy-Educated Thomas and Sotomayor Divide on Affirmative Action You know, it's hard to witness the hardship that he suffered as a child and not have some sympathy for him. (SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON'S "SWITCH BLADE"). Where did A screen and stage performer, Thomas appeared on stage in "A Lesson Before Dying", and on screen in Fosse's "Lenny"(1974) and also in In the aftermath of affirmative actions ban, white students, contrastingly, will continue to write self-exploration essays that do not ask them to frame their success within a confined view of whiteness. We had great hopes that when push came to shove on an issue like affirmative action, Clarence would still be that Black young man from Pin Point. This is Savannah, Ga., in the 1950s as Clarence is growing up - very Jim Crow South, very racist undercurrents in everything Clarence would have done coming from Pin Point into Savannah or even in Pin Point, which was largely a fishing village. His latest work is a PBS Frontline documentary about the lives and influences on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni, a conservative political activist. . So Clarence Thomas gets a scholarship to Yale Law School, an elite institution with a lot of very strong traditions, one of very - you know, a smattering of Black students there. Clarence Thomas DAVIES: And so living in this dormitory with a bunch of white boys, that's kind of an unusual arrangement for kids back in the '50s. This is before the actual testimony and hearings. However, he failed his physical examination. WebClarence Thomas and his brother, Myers Thomas, around 1956, dressed to attend St. Benedicts. Primary source evidence proves the claim to be true. WebClarence 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. Clarence Thomas: What to know about longest-serving SCOTUS But few reporters took note - even though it should be the media's job to spotlight hypocrisy. The Media Beat column by syndicated columnists Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon appears occasionally on editorial pages of The Times. Even without written documentary evidence that separately confirms the decision-making behind Thomas' admission, we can be confident that affirmative action was in place and is likely to have had an influence on his placement. And he does do that. Clarence Thomas He was not welcome there. But what's interesting about the new reporting is that this relationship of regular luxury vacation and trips goes back a long, long time.
Chhs Graduation 2023 Tickets, Articles W