Bye bye Uncle Thomas

[Kid Berwyn]

55. Clarence Thomas' Lost South Africa Connection

Inquiring minds need to know…



Missed connections and forgotten history from before Clarence Thomas ascended to the Supreme Court:

Judge Thomas's South Africa Connection Needs Clarification

Opinion / LTTE
The New York Times

To the Editor:

Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, has had a disturbing record of affiliations and joint activities with lobbyists for the South African Government, which Congress should explore in his confirmation hearings. The most important of these lobbyists are Jay Parker and William Keyes. According to filings with the Department of Justice, Mr. Parker was registered as an agent of South Africa's Transkei bantustan, or tribal homeland, in 1977-78 and was the official agent of another South African bantustan, Venda, 1981-85. In 1985, Mr. Parker and Mr. Keyes incorporated International Public Affairs Consultants, registered as a lobbying agency for the South African Government, receiving $360,000 a year, plus expenses.

In 1977-78, when Mr. Parker first served as a South African agent, he organized the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, which issued the quarterly Lincoln Review. The institute and review have consistently attacked the African National Congress, sanctions against South Africa and the United States civil rights movement's leadership and ideas.

Mr. Parker and Clarence Thomas served on the Reagan-Bush transition team for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of which Mr. Thomas became commissioner in June 1982. Since 1981, Mr. Thomas has been listed as an editorial advisory board member of Mr. Parker's Lincoln Review. Mr. Keyes has been a contributing editor. Registration filings under the heading "political propaganda" show International Public Affairs Consultants held a reception for its South African client's Ambassador in 1987, when Pretoria was vigorously fighting sanctions. Mr. Thomas, then E.E.O.C. chairman, was listed as in attendance.

In 1984, Mr. Keyes organized Black PAC, Mr. Parker serving as treasurer. This political-action committee worked hard for the re-election of Senator Jesse Helms in 1984, while strongly opposing the "terrorist outlaw" African National Congress and "extremists" like Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus.

In June 1987, the conservative weekly Human Events reported that the leaders of Black PAC were holding a strategy meeting that month "to plan for the important political battles being waged in Congress," those to attend including Clarence Pendleton, President Reagan's chairman of the Civil Rights Commission, and Clarence Thomas of the E.E.O.C.

It is not certain that these two top black officials in the Reagan Administration attended the strategy meeting that was organized by two paid lobbyists for a foreign (and racist) government, but this is something that the confirmation hearings should clarify.

EDWARD S. HERMAN
Narberth, Pa., Aug. 29, 1991

The writer (was) professor emeritus of finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 8, 1991, Section

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/08/opinion/l-judge-thomas-s-south-africa-connection-needs-clarification-858891.html

That’s some of the missing historical context on Clarence Thomas, Esq.