Over the years, many of Thomas' conservative benefactors have held him as an example of the type of black willing to "stop complaining about prejudice," roll up his sleeves and work for the American dream. Though the memoir has been out for several weeks now, it still remains to be seen how these conservatives will react to their poster boy's persistent bewailing about the levels of discrimination he has endured, including from among conservative ranks. A persistence which far exceeds that recognized as the standard template for the angry black man with the chip on his shoulder. Indeed, Thomas' non-stop complaints indicate an individual prodigiously burdened by chips on not one, but both shoulders.
His gripes are such, that Thomas, who finished second in his class at Holy Cross, seems to fail to comprehend the importance of his own hard work in attaining the law degree he earned at Yale. For Thomas, it's value is diminished by the fact that he earned it as an affirmative action beneficiary. The result? According to Thomas, his prestigious degree sits somewhere in his basement collecting dust along with other items for which he apparently has little use.
Overall, Thomas comes off as one might expect of a person trapped in the shadows of two diametrically opposed cultures, struggling to make sense of it, but not quite sure he likes the picture emerging from the mist.
A sampling of some of Thomas' complaints include:
Conservatives – Thomas complains of how sequestered he felt during his period as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Reagan Administration's Justice Department. He writes: "...you were sort of in this no-man's land, where you didn't fit in...in either camp."
Thomas seethes over the direction, in 1981, of the Reagan Administration's civil rights initiatives. Thus, in his anger – quite amazing, considering the circles in which he travels -- he manages then, to squander a potential moment of serendipity. "I thought I could do some good," he laments. "Again, it's put up, or shut up,' he adds. "You play with the hand you're dealt."
Progressives/Liberals – Thomas is succinctly unequivocal: "These people who claim to be progressive have been far more vicious to me than any southerner. And it was purely ideological." And: "These ideologues that claim to be so warm toward minorities actually turn out to be quite pernicious."
As for his confirmation opponents in Congress; the mainstream media; and Hill and her supporters, Thomas had this to say: "I'd grown up fearing the lynch mobs of the Ku Klux Klan. As an adult, I was starting to wonder if I'd been afraid of the wrong white people all along where I was being pursued, not by bigots in white sheets, but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony."
Get the picture? It seems that Thomas is simply venting in a way that renders pointless, any effort on the part of his detractors to try to reason with him.
Like his presentation during his confirmation hearings, I find his memoir simply disingenuous, persecutory, and hyperbolic. Not that it lacks vividness and drama. But, nor do many of the cantankerous, older retirees I've known in my time.
But I don't take many of them seriously. And, neither should "My Grandfather's Son" be, based on the excerpts I've read of Thomas' venomous Ann Coulter-esque memoir.
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