| I watched, with much disdain, all of the hoopla surrounding the release of the new book, "My Grandfather's Son," by Supreme Court Justice Clarence 'Uncle' Thomas. The CSpan2 Cable Channel showed footage of a book party given for him last week. It was hosted at the home of Armstrong Williams. Thomas noted, "My wife Virginia helped with all of the edits. The book took a lot out of me. My goal was to get out a positive message for people who are who are trying to live their lives." He said his grandfather taught him how to play the hand that has been dealt to him without being negative. He marveled in the fact that his grandfather never had any bitterness or anger or wasting time to get even. No matter how hard times were, he would always be hopeful. " Justice Samuel Alito was present noting that "'Clarence is a fantastic colleague. I look forward to reading his book -- a true American story." All of the other Justices showed up. Alito noted that "we all get along well." Former UN Ambassador John Bolton was there. The footage illustrated that there was a lot of grinning and skinning on. Stephen A. Smith, ESPN Commentator was there talking sports talk with Justice Thomas. Thomas mentioned that he was a graduate of Winston-Salem Sate where "Earl the Peal Monroe" was known as "the Black Jesus" for his conquests on the basketball court. Thomas joked about the fact that liberals were all upset with his publisher Harper Collins for printing his book. Armstrong Williams mentioned that he was honored to host such an occasion for his good friend and colleague whom he had worked with a number of years ago. Williams and Thomas, two individuals, like Ward Connerly, have used affirmative action and their roles as African American leaders and spokespersons to get ahead and to gain a name for themselves only to use their influence to undermine affirmative action and other policies and programs that served to do good for their people. Resurrected from the dead, Armstrong Williams has been in hiding from the media and the public after it was discovered that he was a secretly paid White House Operative with a no-bid affirmative action contract (aka, the Haliburton track) who was hired to promote "No Child Left Behind" and serve as an "independent" attack dog against any and all African Americans who spoke out against "No Child Left Behind" and other Bush policies. Many of the notable Republican politicos were present. Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff said, "I've known Justice Thomas for a few years. I'm here because I have enormous admiration for him. I'm looking forward to reading his book. The Chief Justice and I were classmates." Darth Vader Dick Cheney and his wife were there. It was disappointing to observe the presence of NAACP Leader Julian Bond who gave much underserved deference to Justice Thomas given his role in doing more than anyone else Black or White to undermine Black Civil Rights. Some who have been supporters of Justice Thomas and Armstrong Williams may cry foul and feel that my critique is not warranted. I remember a conversation that I had with a close colleague at the UW at the time that Thomas was going through his confirmation hearing with the Senate. This dear lady, who will go unnamed, took the position that we should all be happy that an African American was being considered for such an important and venerated position. She took the position that Thomas was doing only what he needed to do, or saying what he needed to say, to get confirmed and that once appointed to the bench, he would become the proverbial "Wooden horse inside the walls of Troy," delivering his vote on behalf of African Americans and others in need of relief on issues of civil rights, etc. Well, I'm sad to say, her optimism has proved to be totally unfounded. Quite to the contrary, Justice Thomas, like an obedient puppy, has followed lockstep in all of his votes (and without comment) with the most conservative and anti-Civil Rights Justice of them all, Antonio Scalia undoing civil rights, civil liberties and progressive causes every step of the way. My guess is that if invited, I probably would have boycotted this party. I would have done so out of my disdain for both Clarence Thomas and his host, Armstrong Williams. For those who have been supportive of progressive issues who made the decision to attend, I hope they did as I had done when I was invited to meet with Ward Connerly on the occasion of his visit to UW-Madison. Consciously making the decision to bypass the invitation to the luncheon, I arrived shortly after they finished eating and asked him one question. I asked Mr. Connerly, "As you travel and meet various types of people around the country, what do you say to the Black and Latino parents whose sons and daughters have now been dispossessed or denied opportunities because of the policies you are advancing nationally?" Mr. Connerly, as I am sure would be the case for both Justice Thomas and Armstrong Williams, viewed his cause as noble and the sad plight of those so negatively affected by the policies that he was advancing as little more than collateral damage. |
| The Literary Divide/Dr. Paul Barrows Armstrong Williams, Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly Three peas in a sorry pod |
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