This story about Clarence Thomas and his lovely wife Ginny, reminds me of an counter I had with Mr. Thomas back in 1997.

I was in Borders Bookstore in Fairfax, Virginia with my father, we had just wrapped up lunch, and we decided to pick up a few books before parting ways. I surprisingly headed to the sports section of Borders, while my father preferred to set up camp in the history section. After about 10 minutes, I found the book I wanted (Dark Witness by Ralph Wiley) and I headed back towards my dad, who was now standing and talking to this interracial couple.

The man he was talking to was a bit portly, but had a deep, booming voice, and the woman was just flat out unattractive. I know its bad to talk about men's wives, especially when her husband is a Supreme Court judge, but come on...when you see her, the first thing you say is "Her?"

Anyway, as I got closer I realized this was THE Clarence Thomas, and I wanted to introduce myself, but he and my father were knee deep in conversation about various things. I distinctly remember Thomas saying he was shocked my father went up to him, because most black people either a)ignore him or b)cursed him out. My father said he wasn't that shallow, and just wanted to have a discussion with him, and Thomas appreciated that and opened up..leaving me to talk his wife about the book I had chosen. When I told her my book was called "Dark Witness", Ginny had this weird, uncomfortable look on her face and said, "Oh that's nice", and then proceeded to tell her who Ralph Wiley was, and why I loved his writing, and she did not give a goddamn about what I was saying, which was fine, because I was reaching for conversation anyway.

Finally, my father wrapped up his conversation, introduced me as his son, and the thing I remember about Thomas was that his handshake nearly broke every bone in my hand. I tried to shake his hand hard right back, but it was too late, he had gotten the best of me and then some. And then that was it..we parted. When my father and I got back in the car, he told me that while we may not agree with this politics and personal views, the man is still a Supreme Court justice and deserves a certain amount of respect..which is true..

Still, I wonder how many times he's looked at his wife and had the type of thoughts I had this past Tuesday