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Clarence Thomas Defends “Blackness” Amid Critics’ Attacks

8/14/2026

Summary

Story summary

Justice Clarence Thomas told a Hoover Institution audience that critics question his Blackness due to his race-related views.
He said Thomas Sowell’s *Race and Economics* gave him a “drink of water” that freed him to challenge expectations, and recalled rejecting Sowell’s *Black Education* in 1972 before embracing those ideas.
He warned that pressure labels dissenting Black voices as “not Black” and pledged to keep speaking his mind despite critics’ attacks.

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Story summary

Justice Clarence Thomas told a Hoover Institution audience that critics question his Blackness due to his race-related views.
He said Thomas Sowell’s *Race and Economics* gave him a “drink of water” that freed him to challenge expectations, and recalled rejecting Sowell’s *Black Education* in 1972 before embracing those ideas.
He warned that pressure labels dissenting Black voices as “not Black” and pledged to keep speaking his mind despite critics’ attacks.