For all the virulence that comes forth when the mere name of Clarence Thomas, Justice of the United States Supreme Court is uttered. This book gives some balance to the consternation
some of us feel about the man and his decision process.

This was the big Question for me! Why would a Black man who benefited from  affirmative action. So vehemently now apposes it? It seems obvious enough. Just listen to some of the top  Black Judges and other community leaders, and you'd be quite convinced of it.

But then one day I heard a quote from Thomas where he stated he refuse to accept that "the Black man is inferior to anybody." By now I've moved from the anti-Thomas column to sitting on the fence, curious about this enigma called Justice Thomas.

This book, shall we say, sewed-it-up. Ken Foskett chronicles the life and times of Clearance Thomas through practically every facet of his life leading up to his appointment to the United States Supreme Court.

One of the things you'll discover in this book, if you dare to read it, is that Clarence Thomas was not an enthusiast of the affirmative action from which he benefited.

Quite frankly I think the attempts to view him in a stereotypical light. His passion to be judged on
his own merit Black or not, carries some weight on his decision process.

My feeling is that he agonized over an America that saw [him] as Black first and then on that basis came other judgments. But he knew who he was, his grandfather saw to that.

You'll also discover that through his college years at Holy Cross as a political radical, he has
always rejected being segregated, and was the voice of reason to his more impetuous colleagues. He rejected attempt of Black students segregating themselves from others.

Arriving at Yale Thomas found it different from Holy Cross where he achieved high grades. He now
found him self  among upper crust Blacks whom he resented from their treatment of him back in
Georgia, and at the bottom of his class. How ironic that they who benefited from the civil rights movement and he who came from Georgia's poor ended up in the same place.

On this journey up to being offered a position as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) a job which he initially rejected as a Black position. Clarence Thomas was single minded in purpose not to be pigeon-holed.

There's no confusion here. This man want to be accepted on merit. Proud of his race, but perhaps a little ashamed of it, especially it's leaders. After all the perceptions some have of the lack of Blacks intellectual prowess is affirmed by the need for affirmative action. And of course the other side of the coin, as Steve Wonder puts it "you might have the cash, but you can't cash-in your face." It is this stark reality, I suspect, that draws the contempt of Black leaders toward Thomas.

As you'll find out in this book Thomas accepts the reality of discrimination in America, but rejects our leaders obsession with it to the detriment of our youth.

During his watch at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Thomas was actively Negotiating with companies who had charges of discrimination leveled against them to make good on future accommodations as remedies.

While at the same time the justice department was pursuing a policy he though counter productive to his policies. He did not stand for it. He would later come across a disturbing study on minority youth.

Thomas thinks that the emphasis on affirmative action diverted attention from other problems. Studies showing that up to forty percent of Blacks youth were functionally illiterate...one in six minority teenagers were not in school...what good was affirmative action if Black Americans weren't finishing highschool? What good was it when forty-two percent of Black college students flunked

Does it not stand to reason that if our youth aren't making the grade. Then who do we have in the work place? What was he fighting for? An acceptance that the Black man is inferior.

...Thomas also objected to the way in which the civil rights establishment blamed all problems of Black Americans on racism; he believed that practice convinced Black young people that success was hopeless.

In a 1986 speech Thomas conceded that affirmative action resulted in better opportunities for minorities. But now, he argued, the "negative assumption underlying affirmative action were more pernicious than the economic benefit."

It is assumed for what ever reason we cannot compete with whites when it comes to intellectual pursuits." Thomas said...We are not objects of charity and refuse to be treated as objects of disdain...

I cannot trade what God has given me for what man has promised...I categorically reject any promise of advantage based on selfsame obnoxious, thought now well-intentioned, assumptions. For me, this concession has
been, and will always be, too great a price to pay.

Foskett implies that Thomas' rejection for a job he wanted dearly, during his Yale years was the
reason for his current attitude on affirmative action. I sincerely doubt that so narrow a happenstance could be the basis for such a controversial policy of jurisprudence.

From Holy Cross to Yale, Clarence Thomas has taken on any perceived weakness head on. Foskett give an example where at Yale Thomas was given almost failing grades twice  in property law, but Thomas saw this professor as a challenge. He worked hard and the third time received a high grade.

What I took from reading this book is a man very much influenced by his Grandfather. A man willing to carry the cross of his people, a people misguided by their supposed leaders who are willing to, and have been trading their God given strengths for economic benefit. This is something Thomas swears never to do.