My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas

Author:Clarence Thomas [Thomas, Clarence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs, Cultural; Ethnic & Regional, General, Lawyers & Judges
ISBN: 9780063235922
Google: OSs6EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-10-12T05:27:43+00:00

7

“Son, Stand Up”

The sight of my name on the front page of the Washington Post the next morning sent me into something close to panic, but the article itself, announcing my nomination to lead EEOC, was fairly ordinary. Only one detail stood out: a Hispanic critic claimed that I’d been “insensitive” to Hispanics during my time at the Department of Education. Over time this charge would blossom into the allegation that I was prejudiced against Hispanics as a result of an incident that supposedly occurred in law school. It was, of course, a fabrication, but there wasn’t anything I could do to disprove it, since the original source of the slander had been some anonymous person who didn’t have the courage to put a name to his claim. As a result it became part of the public record, available forever after to be regurgitated by anyone who disapproved of me. Cynics had long told me that perception was more important than reality in Washington, and stories like this made me fear that they were right.

Secretary Bell asked me to suggest a replacement for myself. I knew he’d need somebody who was bright and independent, so I recommended Harry Singleton, a Yale classmate (and my son’s godfather) who was then a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Commerce. Harry agreed to take the job, and he also agreed to keep all of my political appointees—as well as Anita Hill. But she told him the same thing she’d said to me: I was a rising star, and she wanted to follow me to EEOC. I wasn’t pleased that she’d turned Harry down so tactlessly and started to have second thoughts about considering her for a position, but Gil Hardy intervened yet again. I said that I needed someone with experience in the field of employment discrimination, but Gil insisted that I should “give a sister a chance,” attributing her behavior to naivete and the fact that she didn’t know Harry.

For the moment I put aside the problem of what to do with Anita and concentrated on the immediate matter of getting myself confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It proved easier than I’d expected. The Senate confirmed my nomination by a unanimous voice vote on May 6, and a week and a half later I was at work. Even before Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Senate committee that oversaw EEOC, warned me that the agency was in disarray, I’d taken the precautionary step of asking an Education Department career manager named John Seal to go over to EEOC and assess the situation there while I was waiting to be confirmed. John’s report was full of bad news. EEOC, he said, hadn’t reconciled its books in ten years and lacked an accurate accounting system, meaning that no one knew how much money the agency had on hand. Bills were paid so late that vendors would only do business with EEOC on a cash basis.

As John ticked off one piece of trouble after another, I slumped in my chair.

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