Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas became emotional recalling a promise he made to honor his grandparents after their sudden deaths in 1983. Thomas shared the sentiment during a conversation with Hoover Institution fellow Peter Robinson, where he also discussed the influence of economist Thomas Sowell on his thinking and views regarding Black Americans.
"When both my grandparents died suddenly in 1983, the decision I made was to live the rest of my life as a memorial to theirs," Thomas said during the discussion. He paused, gathering his composure, before adding, "And the point I'm going to make is that is the way I feel about Professor Sowell."
Thomas was raised by his maternal grandparents in segregated Savannah, Georgia, after his father left when he was seven years old. His grandfather, Myers Anderson, had nine months of formal education, and his grandmother, Christine Anderson, had a sixth-grade education. Thomas described them as influential figures who instilled in him the importance of self-reliance and hard work.
"It wasn't taking the measure of what you don't have. It wasn't to complain about that, but to develop the capacity to do things that you needed to do in order to… improve your life," Thomas said, reflecting on his grandfather's teachings.
He recalled his grandfather often responding to his childhood complaints with the saying, "‘Old man can't is dead. I helped bury him.’ And the old man can't was buried many times in our house."
Thomas stated that his grandfather, who was raised by a freed slave and had limited formal education, never complained. "He did it. He was a — he was just a great man. Now what do you do? How do you complain when he had nothing, no education? What do you say to it? But he sets this example of how you live your life."
Thomas found parallels between his grandparents' values and the ideas presented by Thomas Sowell, an economist who is also Black. He explained that Sowell's work, particularly "Race and Economics," resonated with him because it emphasized attitudes such as self-reliance and self-discipline as crucial for achieving difficult goals.
"Where did I first hear that? I heard from my grandfather, the single greatest man I've ever known, my grandmother, a saintly woman, my nuns. Same thing. It's the exact same thing," Thomas said.