Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at Benjamin Banneker High School in Washington, and defended his views on affirmative action, among other things. The story is worth reading, although I would have liked to see more on how the students (mostly black) took it. He told the students that they don’t have to base their beliefs on being black, although "we’ve reached a point where people are very comfortable telling blacks what they ought to believe." Nice line.
I am soon going to publish a post on graduation on my blog. I may update it with links to great commencement speeches and other graduation-related materials. But when seeing I read about the topic of this post, I am reminded of a speech by the Honorable Justice Thomas that is in NewsMax.com’s "Great Speeches" section. This commencement address, delivered at the George Mason University Law School on May 29, 1999, is worth a read. I haven’t read through it yet, but Justice Thomas is an outstanding speaker, and a very good man.