EXCERPT OF ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT, DAVID H. SOUTER 198 1 2 3 the question, David Souter, are you a racist? Judge Souter. The answer is, no. Senator Simpson. A crazy question to ask, is it not? 4 Judge Souter. Well, far be it for me to say that a 7 8 Senator Simpson. No, do not. Just stop right there. 9 Senator Simpson. Do not listen to them, just go ahead 10 11 Judge Souter. In a way, I think that answer might have been impressive to some people if I had grown up in a place 12 with racial problems, and some people have pointed out that I 13 14 15 16 did not. The State of New Hampshire does not have racial So you can ask, well, what indication is there, really, as to whether you mean it or not. And you did not provoke 17 this thinking on my part by your question immediately because 18 I thought of it before I came in here. I can think of two 19 things to say. 20 21 The first is something very personal and very specific to my family. In a way, it surprises me when I look back on the years when I was growing up that never once, ever in my 23 house that I can remember did I ever hear my mother or my 24 father refer to any human being in terms of racial or ethnic 25 identity. I have heard all the slang terms and I never heard Proprietary to the United Press International 1983 December 31, 1983, Saturday, AM cycle SECTION: Regional News DISTRIBUTION: New Hampshire LENGTH: 260 words HEADLINE: Discrimination Charge Upheld DATELINE: CONCORD, N.H. KEYWORD: Nh- Discrimination BODY: The New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld a state Commission on Human Rights' decision that a New Hampshire construction company discriminated against a worker because he was black. In a three to one vote friday the court ruled in favor of a suit filed by Leonard Briscoe. The court ordered E.D. Swett Inc. to pay Briscoe $2,338.56 in back wages and $750 in attorney's fees. Briscoe had filed suit with the commission after he was passed over for work on a 1979 project in Lisbon. Briscoe said that he had worked for Swett before, and was qualified to do the work. The company instead hired three workers who they had not employed before, although the company had a policy of giving preference to former workers. Officials of the commission said Friday they are pleased to have won one of the few discrimination cases to have come before the state's courts. ''The commission's general way of evaluating discrimination cases has been upheld here,'' said Merryl Gibbs, the commission's executive director. The commission had originally awarded Briscoe $1,000 in compensatory damages in addition to the money awarded by the court. The decision not to award the compensatory damages was the basis for the lone dissenting opinion. Justice Charles Douglass wrote in his decision, ''Pecuniary loss and mental anguish can be the effects of discrimination. The award of compensatory damages will serve to eliminate the effects of discrimination, discriminatory practices, and ensure that victims of unlawful are made whole.'' prevent future discrimination DISTRIBUTION: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, LENGTH: 408 words HEADLINE: Thomson says South Africa making progress BYLINE: By DEIRDRE WILSON DATELINE: CONCORD, N.H. KEYWORD: Nh-Thomson BODY: Former Gov. Meldrim Thomson, just back from a trip to South Africa, Monday Bishop Desmond Tutu is willing to embrace communism to end the white minority rule of his racially torn nation. said The ultra-conservative Thomson, who toured South Africa for 17 days last month, said he met with the Nobel Prize winner in Cape Town and Tutu said he was more interested in full political power for blacks rather than just eliminating apartheid. ''Tutu doesn't have any trouble socializing with communists and I think he rather likes it,'' Thomson said in a telephone interview from his home in Orford. He said the religious leader would risk civil war and communist intervention to bring full power to the nation's black majority. Thomson returned from South Africa and went directly to Washington last week to lobby against U.S. economic sanctions. He said South African blacks oppose the sanctions, which survived a presidential veto. ''They know they will lose their jobs,'' Thomson said. ''We're nuts. They have been our friends and allies since World War Two.'' Thomson said the South African government had made ''tremendous strides toward eliminating apartheid'' since his visit in 1978, when he was serving his third term as governor. Thomson, 74, who once ordered state flags lowered on Good Friday, stirred controversy during his first trip to South Africa when he described the black ghetto of Soweto as a ''wonderful place'' and proclaimed Prime Minister John Vorster a ''great world statesman. He said his latest tour found ''marked improvement'' in black housing. He also said blacks' rights and working conditions had improved. Thomson said coal-to-oil converting plants and uranium mines offered ''fabulous,'' high-paying jobs for black South Africans. 39-454-91-16 PAGE Services of Mead Data Cetrietary to the United Press International, October 6, 1986 He described the poverty-stricken Cross Roads section of Cape Town as ''rather terrible,'' but said the government was working hard to provide food and medical services for black residents. In his weekly Monday column in The Union Leader newspaper of Manchester, Thomson said South Africa needed patience and understanding, not the ''dirty game'' economic sanctions approved by Congress last week. He described South Africa as a ''peaceful, hard-working little nation of less than 30 million.'' Africa. He represented the Thomson said he financed his own trip to South 3 PAGE 4 Services of Mead Data Central 20TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format. The Associated Press The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. February 19, 1978, AM cycle LENGTH: 240 words DATELINE: CONCORD, N.H. KEYWORD: Thomson-Carter BODY: Gov. Meldrim Thomson accused President Carter of making a "false statement" about Thomson's position on South Africa and demanded an apology Sunday. In an open letter to the president, who visited New Hamsphire on Saturday, the conservative Republican governor challenged the administration to a debate on U.S. policy concerning South Africa. Carter, addressing high school pupils in Nashua on Saturday, had said Thomson is "the only American leader that I know who has endorsed, in effect, apartheid and condoned or approved the attitude of the South African government." Thomson, national chairman of the Conservative Caucus, recently toured white-ruled South Africa. He praised the government of Prime Minister John Vorster and said South African blacks have more economic and political freedom than blacks in other African nations. "I have never endorsed, condoned or approved apartheid, and no one in America can point to a word that I have ever written or said that would give that impression," Thomson said in his open letter to Carter. "In the American spirit of fair play and decency, I respectfully call on you to retract your false reference to me." Rex Granum, deputy press secretary to Carter, said Sunday that the president "stands by what he said. I would further direct you to other comments the president made. . . when he said, "There are very few matters upon which your governor and I agree.'" |