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It is a truism that the people who raise us affect our lives profoundly. In his deeply moving account of a childhood and adolescence spent with his grandparents, Clarence Thomas pays homage to this truism and to the man who, more than anyone else, made him what he is today. It is a story of hardship, mistakes, and estrangement, but finally of hope and love. Although politics plays an important role in the book, Justice Thomas is primarily making an act of thanksgiving that is edifying to people of all persuasions. Thomas spent his early childhood in extreme poverty. His parents divorced, and his father disappeared from his life. In his teens Thomas began studying for the priesthood, but he changed his mind because of racism in the seminary. That decision would alienate him from his grandfather for years. In college Thomas became a radical leftist, but he became increasingly skeptical of the extreme movements of the time with their insistence that society was to blame for all problems. He began to agree with his grandfather’s philosophy of self-reliance and personal dignity; he also married and decided to spend his life helping people like himself succeed. He attended Yale Law School, where he performed well but began to question the race-based affirmative action that caused many to judge him by a double standard. Years of working as a lawyer pushed him further toward conservatism, and because he wasn’t shy about expressing his politically incorrect opinions he became persona non grata among liberals. This ostracism, combined with personal troubles, cast Thomas into a deep depression. But he did reconcile with his grandfather shortly before the latter’s death. He realized that to keep on fighting for his beliefs would be the best way to honor the man who had taught him to do the right thing, not the popular thing. The last part of the book deals with Thomas’ Senate hearing involving Anita Hill and details the immense suffering it caused him. At the end of the day, however, Thomas became a Supreme Court Justice, full of gratitude for his family and friends, but most of all for his grandparents who had instilled in him the qualities that helped him succeed. His memoir is the most inspiring autobiography to come out in recent years. (HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, $26.95) |
Because his mother didn’t make enough money to support Thomas and his brother, she sent the two boys to live with their grandparents. Though poor and badly educated, Thomas’ grandfather, Myers Anderson, possessed a strong work ethic, a love of his country, and an unshakable dignity in the face of racism and hardship. He was determined to pass these qualities on to his grandsons, and so he raised them strictly and maintained high standards of conduct.
