A Twisted, Damaged Man

I remember the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that eventually recommended Clarence Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court. I remember Anita Hill testifying, and Thomas testifying. I also watched the 2016 docudrama about it, called Confirmation, starring Kerry Washington as Hill.

But one thing that I either never knew or forgot was a point made tonight by Joy Reid when she appeared on All In with Chris Hayes. She said that polling at the time found 70% of Black people supported Thomas's appointment, despite Hill's allegations against him. And that support is what convinced wavering Democratic members of the committee — who held the majority — to vote to forward his name to the Senate floor. Joe Biden, who chaired the committee, didn't even allow a second accuser to testify.

"And he has repaid Black people with scorn ever since," Reid concluded.

Reid was speaking on the day the right-wing Supreme Court majority drove another nail into the meaning of the 14th Amendment as it struck down affirmative action at Harvard University.

Thomas's concurrence with the Harvard decision reminded me of a More Perfect podcast I listened to called "Clarence X," about how Thomas went from his South Carolina beginnings, through a radical phase in young adulthood, to being conservative enough to be selected as by a Republican president for the Supreme Court. 

There's also a PBS Frontline documentary that covers some of the same territory, and today I learned of a Slow Burn podcast called "Becoming Clarence Thomas," which sounds more critical than the More Perfect podcast.

It's easy for me to say, but he sounds like a twisted, damaged man. I would feel sorry for him, except that he has harmed so many, and lived so well along the way.