Justice Clarence Thomas is granting a rare flurry of interviews this week to promote his newly released memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, providing the public with an unusually detailed glimpse into the life of a member of the Supreme Court. Thomas openly discussed the controversy that has swirled around him since the first President Bush nominated him in 1991, saying that his critics want to see him “destroyed” because he doesn’t “follow in this cult-like way something that blacks are supposed to believe.”
Sixteen years after Anita Hill told senators that Clarence Thomas had subjected her to sexual harassment, said USA Today in an editorial, “the truth remains indeterminable.” But one thing is clear: “Thomas carries a huge chip on his shoulder.” In his memoir, he “comes off as a strikingly angry man, and not just about Hill.” He also seems to be angry that Reagan and the first Bush gave him “plum” jobs “in part because of race.”
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