Justice Clarence Thomas -- My Friend

An article by Ellis Washington.

For 16 years I sat patiently, I sat silently while they mercilessly slandered your name. For 16 years I sat patiently, I sat silently while they called you all manner of epithets: "Uncle Tom," "Uncle Clarence Thomas," "marginal," "a joke," "incompetent," "a pornographer," "traitor," "a slave." For 16 years I sat patiently, I sat silently while they caricatured you in blackface as "Aunt Jemima" and a diminutive lawn jockey on the cover of a national magazine (George Curry's Emerge [now defunct]). For 16 years I sat patiently, I sat silently as propagandists like New York Times journalist Adam Cohen explained your 16 years of silence on the bench with claims like: "He is afraid that if he speaks he will reveal his ignorance about the case."