Brother Clarence Thomas the speaker began, before he was stopped by a half-dozen incredulous shouts from the audience.

Justice Thomas, he corrected himself, only to be interrupted again by a louder and an even more incredulous chorus.

Okay, okay, the speaker replied, finally getting it to the audience’s satisfaction. Clarence Thomas.

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The nation’s oldest and largest civil-rights group ended its annual meeting in Minneapolis Thursday, and no subject was more sensitive than Clarence Thomas. He was called a traitor to his community, a pimp, and Clarence ‘I don’t want to be black’ Thomas. In her opening speech the group’s chair, Myrlie Evers-Williams, read a long, sarcastic poem in his honor:How did his mind get so

twisted. And who does he think he is And how can be imagine he is able

To be anything but black?