Some of Dakota Garza’s classmates plan to protest Thursday when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at the University of Portland.
Garza is a registered Democrat, but the junior won’t be among those raising a fuss about Thomas’ ultra-conservative judicial record. She has a unique friendship with Thomas, whom she met two years ago celebrating a national scholarship she’d won. Since then, he’s helped her fulfill her dream of earning a nursing degree.
At first glance, they’re unlikely friends — one of the country’s most enigmatic and polarizing public figures and a college student who spent much of her childhood sleeping in cars. Look past politics, however, and their lives aren’t so different.