MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

Re: Malcolm X and Clarence Thomas.

It is informative to contrast the experience of Malcolm X in the Book Review of Sept. 8 with that of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, as contained in The Times of Sept. 11.

When Malcolm X confessed to his public-school teacher his ambition to become a lawyer, the teacher allegedly said, “You’ve got be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer--that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.”

Clarence Thomas, however, was taught by the Catholic nuns. In his Senate testimony he stated: “The nuns gave us hope and belief in ourselves when society didn’t. . . . Sister Mary Virgilius, my eighth-grade teacher, and the other nuns were unyielding in their expectations that we use all our talents, no matter what the rest of the world said or did.”

In this age of Catholic-bashing--and stage performances denigrating the efforts of our Catholic nuns--this contrast shouts for recognition. Who knows, had Malcolm X been taught by the nuns, he might have been a Supreme Court nominee, and shaped our laws for greater equality for all races.

JEREMIAH J. FLANIGAN, LONG BEACH