Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas (inspiring new book on his amazing life!)

The black Republican abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, “Without struggle, there is no progress.” Successful people in every walk of life grow in character and ability by seeking new and greater challenges to master.

In Judging Thomas, Ken Foskett shows Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's struggles against poverty and prejudice as well as the determination to earn respect through excellence. Justice Thomas' life has proved his approach correct—hard work prevails over prejudice.

Clarence Thomas came of age when Americans were struggling to rethink their perceptions about race and their attitudes toward blacks. Forced to confront their actions, Americans chose to change their behavior in order to live up to their principles. But today, Justice Thomas and other black conservatives face a subtler, more ingrained prejudice in the attitude of the Left. Foskett notes Thomas's resentment of the condescension implicit in the Left's insistence upon affirmative action, an attitude that only results in personal criticisms of him rather than honest discussion of the merits of his opinions.

According to the book, the Left accuses Justice Thomas of not understanding the struggles of blacks, but their ideology blinds them. He has struggled more than most—living in the segregated South, being the only black person in most of his schools. But he met those challenges and became stronger, wiser, and more resolved to maintain his dignity and self respect by retaining the freedom to rise or fall by his own efforts. His solution to educational disadvantage became studying harder, not more government money.

Outraged that Justice Thomas rejects policies they consider “must haves,” the Left has ignored the personal initiatives he has taken. Thomas was the first Supreme Court Justice to bring inner city DC schoolchildren into his office to help them seize the opportunities of the constitutional republic and free enterprise system. He realized that it is easy to take someone else's money and toss it at a problem, but without the giving of self, it does not provide the guidance, example, and encouragement of those who have faced challenges and found a way.

But, as Judging Thomas points out, Clarence Thomas has thought for himself throughout his life, proving the Left's ideas faulty by his exceptional success. He read the works of black nationalists and flirted with the black power movement, but quickly realized that their methods were neither true to American principles, nor effective for the success of blacks. Instead, he led in actions that were more thoughtful, principled, and personally risky, a mark of courage and independence when just going along with the faulty ideologies would have the comfortable thing to do.

Justice Thomas has earned respect by both his efforts and respecting the freedoms of Americans. In his view, those who disparage him for individual thinking, which has provided success for black and white alike, would rather have him subservient. He understands that focusing on victimization denies the dignity of the individual, and prohibits him from developing to his uttermost.

One thing lacking from Judging Thomas is substantive portions of Justice Thomas's opinions, writings that most people have not taken the time to read. Justice Thomas's writings are exquisitely logical, substantiated by history, straightforward and well written. In fact, other Supreme Court justices and Constitutional scholars have commended the high quality of Thomas's work. Unfortunately, all that people hear about Justice Thomas' work are sound bites like that of Senate Minority Leader Reid, who claimed Justice Thomas's Supreme Court opinions were “poorly written.” He obviously has either not read them, or his standard for quality must be whether or not he agrees with the opinion. Including some of those opinions in this book would have been a great testament to the hard work and individual thinking that has dominated Thomas' life.

Judith Niewiadomski lives in Westchester County, NY and has a BA in Journalism and an MA in English Literature. A former journalist and legal assistant, she is currently a history teacher and mediation specialist in a Bronx public high school. She enjoys traveling, music, dance, political satire, hiking, and demolishing the illogic of left-wingers.

I, for one, will remember the Thomas hearings for the rest of my life. It was the first time that I realized how unhinged and hysterical the "feminazis" are.

Before he turned into a radical lefty, David Brock wrote a tremendous indictment of Anita Hill: The Real Anita Hill. He has since then repudiated a great deal of what he investigated and reported about Hill. I don't buy the retractions. I still believe that the REAL Anita Hill can be found inside the pages of THE REAL ANITA HILL, and I would recommend that if the radical left are going to resuscitate Anita Hill again (as they appear to be doing with her appearance in "O" magazine, about which there is a thread here on FR from circa June 21), then we should start reviving Brock's investigative report. IMO, Anita Hill should be ashamed of herself for having been willing to trash this honorable, decent and tremendously accomplished jurist, just for her pathetic 15 minutes of fame.

Char

"Thanks for pinging me, Char!!!"

I noticed that you were quite active on another thread concerning Clarence Thomas, so I made up a small list of all those energetic participants in that thread, and notified all of you about this post!

As for whether or not this book has been "out for awhile," I'm not sure when it was published, but it's not "old news."

What I'm now advocating is that we conservatives bring back THE REAL ANITA HILL for large scale publicity, in the event that the feminazis and other liberal groups decide to trot out this old horse, Anita, for another Thomas-bashing circus. IMO, she LIED through her teeth during her entire testimony. Two Senators - Hatch of Utah and Alan Simpson of Wyoming had the real goods on Hill. They both made it clear to her that they had her number, and I was deeply disappointed that they didn't spill all that they knew - but they kept most of the information to themselves.

There were also 3 former colleagues of Hill's who flew in from Texas to present testimony to the committee which largely refuted Hill's claims, and placed her entire prepared smear fest into question. But the Democrat machine delayed their appearance until past midnight (LIVE), and so few people heard their damaging information, alas.

Thanks for your interest, paulat!

Char :)

HAVE A HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY ! !

This reminds me of the time, several years ago, when my sons and I went to Chilies restaurant on a Saturday afternoon. We were seated at a booth. We had just gotten our food (the fajitas are great when you get a good batch), when a couple and a little kid were seated at a booth right next to us. I glanced over, and had to take a double take. Was that who I thought it was? Then the man laughed, and that was the conformation, we are having lunch with Justice Clarence Thomas!

I had, for several years, had my oldest son watch Justice Thomas whenever he would make speeches on C-Span. I would explain to him that this was a good strong man. After a few years, my son started to inform me when Justice Thomas was on TV. His intelligence and down to earth demeanor always inspired us.

I leaned over to my son, as he was gobbling down his nachos and asked him if he recognized who was at the next table. His eyes grew wide and glassy, his face turned red and he said “its…its…its..” And I said “that’s right, isn’t it fun living in Fairfax Virginia?” My son didn’t eat much after that. Well we were almost finished, and the table was cleaned and we were waiting for the check. I knew that this was it, and I had to say something. I turned toward his table and said “Justice Thomas”. He looked over at me, with a look of surprise, and I then said “When are you going to convince your associates to actually read the Constitution, and enforce the 10th amendment?”. There was a second’s pause, where you get to reflect about what a fool you are potentially creating of yourself. And then it happened, Justice Thomas laughed, that big resounding laugh. I made Clarence Thomas laugh, how cool is that?

We talked for a few moments. For some reason the subject of C-Span came up. Justice Thomas related how he was watching C-Span that morning, and how this crabby woman called, and was complaining about how the government should be doing all of these things like health care and saving the environment, etcetera. After the woman was done with her tirade, the moderator of the show told the woman that she should call here congressperson and senators. The moderator then asked the woman who her representatives are. And the woman did not know! We all had a good laugh over this. About that time, their food came, so we shook hands, and bid them goodbye. I told the boys to meet me at the front of the restaurant in a few moments, as I swung around to the kitchen area, and told the waiter I wanted to pay the tab and tip for the booth next to us. The transaction was processed, and we left. As we walked to the car, my son asked me what I had done while they were waiting for me. I said “I just bought lunch for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas”. Thus I went up several points in my “cool dad” status that day.

After a couple of hours, I went back to the restaurant and asked the waiter what had happened after we left. He said Justice Thomas was at a loss for words when told that someone had paid for their lunch. The waiter said he just kept on repeating “Thank you, Thank you” over and over again.

True story.

Justice Thomas ordered Buffalo wings as an appetizer. I can’t remember what his entrée was, sorry.

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