Clarence Thomas breaks his silence in theaters nationwide

David W. Almasi

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas typically sits silently through oral arguments. He has gone a decade between instances of speaking from the bench, and it’s news when he does. But the tight-lipped justice has plenty to say about his life and beliefs in the new documentary “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.” In it, Thomas describes his rise from abject poverty, brushes with racism and radicalism, and how his political beliefs have made him an “enigma” to liberals wanting to “destroy” him for not fitting their narrative. It’s a shame that “Created Equal” didn’t get the big opening that a Michael Moore or Al Gore documentary might have received. Director Michael Pack delivers an engaging and emotional two hours — using movie clips and creative analogies such as an oyster boat trip — that would inspire many if it could get on more than two dozen screens nationwide. In the documentary, a drawing of abolitionist Frederick Douglass is seen hanging behind Thomas’s desk, but a more important figure looms over him. His grandfather, Myers Anderson, was a truck driver who was arrested for allegedly wearing too much clothing. Thomas’s calling to a legal vocation was stirred as he realized how powerful — and dangerous — laws could be in the hands of those responsible for their interpretation. Thomas embraces the concept of “natural law” found in the Declaration of Independence. Unlike those who would altogether discard the document’s advocacy of basic, inherent rights because of its slave-owning authors, Thomas recognizes slavery and discrimination are antithetical to the ideals of America’s founding principles and wants to right those past wrongs...MORE