A Pencil and a Dollar Bill
Dr. Clarence B. Jones served as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lawyer and speechwriter.
Clarence Jones got up from his chair and grabbed a towel to help his mother, Mary Tolliver Jones, dry the dishes. Mary snatched the towel from her 11-year-old son and said, "go back and sit on that chair boy."
Before Martin Luther King Jr.'s former speechwriter and attorney concluded his retort—"But momma, I'm only trying to help you...”
—Mary cut off her son, repeated her first statement, and ended with, "The only thing I want to see in your hand is a pencil and a dollar bill."
Roughly 83 years later, in a sit-down conversation with former New York Knick Allan Houston and Wade Houston, the first Black head coach in the SEC, a 94-year-old Jones recalled the impact of his mother's words on his journey.
" I remember that," Jones said with his right index finger raised for emphasis and a smirk on his face.
"So here I am," Jones said while gently swaying his body side to side. He then discussed former President Joe Biden's awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2024. The comment wasn't to boast; rather, the opposite.
Two military service members escorted the medal-awardee Jones during the ceremony at the White House. Jones said he gave one of the young officers a "brief précis" about his parents.
" I will never forget the look of one of those young men who went to the naval academy," Jones said. "This young man started to tear up. He said, "'you have some journey, Dr. Jones. I am so honored they assigned me to be with you.'"
