Book Review - Supreme Discomfort

Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas is written through the lens of race and is an unauthorized biography written by co-authors Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher, who are reporters for the Washington Post. Merida and Fletcher are thorough; Justice Thomas turned down their request for an interview so they talked to hundreds of people who know him. This book is neither a tribute nor a character assassination of the man they say “has turned himself into the most successful victim in America.” The authors tell of his generosity to friends, his serving as a surrogate father to the son of a nephew who is currently serving a thirty year prison sentence, his willingness to help young Blacks, his loyalty, his insecurities, his resentment of light-skinned Blacks, and his ability to hold a grudge. Supreme Discomfort gives a mostly chronological narrative of Thomas’ life, including his upbringing in Georgia, his years at Holy Cross and Yale Law School, his “meteoric rise” in the Reagan Administration, and the searing 1991 confirmation hearings on his nomination to the Supreme Court. As the authors put it, 'This book examines Thomas’ entire life, but it relies heavily on the racial prism. For it is that prism through which Thomas often identifies himself. He is in constant struggle with his racial identity – twisting, churning, sometimes hiding from it, but never denying it, even when he’s defiant about it.” The book revolves around the question of Thomas’ blackness. How can a Black judge issue conservative rulings that go against such black tenets as affirmative action?

Merida and Fletcher report the complexities and contradictions but never quite succeed in getting a handle on Thomas. As the authors put it, “He is not an uninteresting man. Maddening sometimes, but not uninteresting.” It does appear that this man, however intelligent he might be, has been so deeply damaged, both emotionally and psychologically, that his decisions are almost always reflective of his very painful and personal racial experiences and this damage was in place long before the infamous confirmation hearings. What materializes is a picture of a man who has almost always lived a dual life, thus the title of the book. Thomas is according to Merida and Fletcher, “a welter of conflicting personas.”

Justice Thomas’ connection to his birthplace, Pin Point, Georgia is “tenuous at best” notes the authors. This is interesting because during his confirmation hearings there was a great deal placed on the fact the he was born in this poor rural community and had to pull himself up with his boot straps. Yet the authors are careful to point out that he went to live with his grandparents in Savannah, Georgia when he was six and that this afforded him a middle-class upbringing as well as parochial schooling.

A luminous biography of the man many Blacks call an ‘Uncle Tom’ due to his eliminating the equal protection measures that afforded him the opportunity to prosper in a racist society. Supreme Discomfort allows the reader to understand, even if they don’t agree with, this right-wing bureaucrat who was willing to be promoted or placed on display whenever the Republicans needed a Negro yes man and his current willingness to rubber stamp the efforts of his fellow Republicans on the Supreme Court in order to overturn the civil rights decisions gained by people like his predecessor Thurgood Marshall. Thomas insists that he not be judged based on race and is adamant with regards to color blindness. However, according to the authors, Thomas won’t hire blacks as law clerks if they have taken “that Afro-American studies stuff” as undergraduates. It is troubling, though not surprising, to see how many former law clerks to Justice Thomas have ended up in the Bush Administration as authors of policies supporting unrestrained Presidential power [a position Thomas has aggressively endorsed in several Supreme Court decisions].

And what about Anita Hill? Was she telling the truth during his appointment hearings? Was Thomas? Ms. Hill made a very credible witness testifying about sexual harassment she experienced at his hands during the period she was employed by him. The book reports that many of his classmates and associates have heard him make crude sexual jokes and that he has a propensity for pornographic movies, as well as the fact that there was a second woman prepared to testify against him. In the end, the authors go with the argument of Thomas (he) say Hill (she) say.

In any case, Supreme Discomfort is a great read and it offers its readers some insight into Black conservatism. The book will not however change the reader’s perception of the man.