Justice Thomas on Monuments: I Didn’t Grow With ‘Iconoclasm’

During an interview broadcast on Wednesday’s edition of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Justice Clarence Thomas discussed the removal of historical monuments by stating he didn’t see “iconoclasm” growing up in Georgia and the people he grew up with didn’t fall into the modern belief that others can’t have ideas or opinions that cause discomfort.

Host Laura Ingraham asked Thomas, “Were any statues torn down during your time as a young boy in the South? Did you see any big historical monuments ever, or taken down?”

Thomas answered, “Well, I didn’t see that much iconoclasm. I think there was all kinds of — there were all sorts of other problems. But, you know, I think we in — when I grew up, and where I grew up in Savannah, the people I grew up with were a different people.”

Thomas explained, “Well, when you think of people like my grandparents, these were people who had been through quite a bit, and had a calmness and a contentment about life. And they understood putting things in context, what was important, priorities. What battles are you going to fight today? What decisions you’re going to make, what decisions you’re going to make today will result you being able to eat, those sorts of things. And, long-term, that these two boys they were raising will be educated and that they will have good manners and go to school and be polite to the neighbors, etc. I think that today, we seem to think that everything has to be one-size-fits-all and people can’t have opinions that make us uncomfortable or ideas that make us uncomfortable or that we don’t agree with. They would not tolerate that.”

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