I was Catholic. You talk about a minority within a minority within a minority: a black Catholic in Savannah, GA.
Interpretation
Clarence Thomas reflects on his identity as a black Catholic in a culturally complex and challenging environment.
In this quote, Clarence Thomas is highlighting the layered complexities of his identity, being a member of three distinct minority groups—African American, Catholic, and a resident of Savannah, Georgia. This unique positioning shaped his experiences and perspectives, emphasizing how cultural, racial, and religious identities can intersect in profound ways, offering both challenges and insights.
In practice
During a speech on diversity in faith communities, this quote can illustrate the importance of representation.
Even as someone who's labeled a conservative - I'm a Republican I'm black, I'm heading up this organization in the Reagan administration - I can say that conservatives don't exactly break their necks to tell blacks that they're welcome.
We've talked more about civil rights after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than we talked about it before 1964.
Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.
When I was a kid, we said that we were precluded from going to certain neighborhoods because of the color of our skin Now the neighborhoods are the neighborhoods of ideas, youre not supposed to be there because of the color of your skin.
The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.
Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker ... the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.
[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community.
It is impossible to survive in a prolonged state of reality, at least for human beings. We spend a good part of our lives dreaming, especially when we're awake.
What if the counterculture was only a stumbling beginning, rather than the best that could be hoped for?
Act in the moment, live in the present, slowly slowly don't allow the past to interfere And you will be surprised that life is such an eternal wonder, such a mysterious phenomenon and such a great gift that one simply feels constantly in gratitude. So this is my message for you: live in the moment, herenow. That's why I call it divine purity
Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it.
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