Mistake. Now that the cancel culture mob is out to get Justice Thomas, all kinds of false and disingenuous attacks on him are standard fare. That includes the so-called “balanced” PBS documentary. As John Danforth described it, “The resulting show was far from nuanced, and it wasn’t really a documentary. It was a two-hour hit job of Clarence Thomas.”
Danforth then proceeded to share warm memories of Justice Thomas that eloquently spoke to his true character. Those memories rekindled in my own mind an encounter my mother and I had with Justice Clarence Thomas during the time I served as president of Chapman University.
Justice Thomas had graciously volunteered to speak at Chapman at the dedication of our Donald P. Kennedy Hall, which would serve as the new home of our Dale Fowler Law School. At the reception following the formal dedication, I introduced the justice to my 90-year-old mother, Carmelina Doti. During the lengthy talk they had together, I noticed that in spite of all the people wanting his attention, Justice Thomas stayed focused on my mother and seemed delighted to learn more about her background.
My mom told him that she had immigrated to America from Catania, Sicily, with her mother and five brothers and sisters. Sadly, they had to say goodbye to her oldest brother, Nino, who was married and couldn’t get a visa. Her mother—my grandmother—cried all the way across the Atlantic, thinking that she might never see her oldest son again. In fact, she never did.
As a result of all her crying, my grandmother developed an eye infection and was detained at the Ellis Island hospital for two weeks. My mom told Justice Thomas how she would never forget standing on the Ellis Island playground at an agreed-upon time every day, waving to her mother, who stood by the hospital window waving back.
After relating this account of her family history, Justice Thomas asked her if she had ever gone back to visit Ellis Island. When she told him she hadn’t, Justice Thomas made my mom promise that she would make that trip.
Before Justice Thomas left the campus, he took me aside and made me promise as well that the Ellis Island trip would happen. He even called me several times later to remind me of the promises we made to him.
We finally made that trip. While we toured Ellis Island, she stopped to stare at the Statue of Liberty. With tears in her eyes, my mom told me that when she first saw “Lady Liberty,” it seemed like she was looking right at me saying, “Welcome to the free land of America.”
My mother wrote to Justice Thomas, thanking him for making her promise to take that trip. She wrote that the experience brought back vivid memories that now, at the twilight of her life, meant so much to her. In her letter to the justice, she enclosed a photo of her standing on the very same spot where she’d waved to her mother while she was in the hospital.
Sometime later, I visited Justice Thomas in his Supreme Court office. Under the glass on his desk, I noticed he had included the photo of my mom in front of the Ellis Island hospital.
It’s been said that the true measure of a man is not in the big things but in the small things that define a person’s true character. My mom passed away not long after our trip, but she would often reminisce about our trip together to Ellis Island, always reminding me that it was her good friend, Justice Thomas, who made it happen.
