Life the roads lead off i gone to seminary, allwhite schools i was never good to be i white, te problem is i could never go back completely to the world i came from were supposed to be revolutionary we were for anybody. I felt when i became lashing out every single thing and i asked god if you take anger out of my heart i will never hit again. And that was the beginning of a slow return to where i started. I want my candidate to unify our country i was under attack were not really doing what we expect black people to do. I will nominate judge Clarence Thomas to serve as a justice of the United StatesSupreme Court. Thats when all hell broke loose. Judge thomas used work situations to discuss. We know exactly what is going on this is the wrong black guy he asked to be destroyed. It did not matter, what mattered was what they wanted. Id rather die than withdraw. I lived up to my oath and did my best. What were we just watching their. Its credit equal, the same title as the book into two hour film. It was released in january i of 2020. A hundred0 and ten theaters and covertly cut it short and it was broadcast nationally on pbs in aimay and it did very well and s in released digitally and is Still Available digitally, on amazon viewers can go to our website with a full list of how to watch it and that was based on a long interview with Clarence Thomas. You. He tells his story in his own words from beginning to today. I interviewed him for over 24 hours over a fourmonth period and jimmy for five or six hours that only interviews in the film thats why Clarence Thomas in his own words, it was a 25 hour video on a two hour film. My coauthors, a longterm friend of the thomases had the idea that we should take some of that material and put it in a book, the book is 95 new material but a policy same pattern of the film it tells his life story from the beginning to the court and onto today. I think this is an important moment for people to understand that Justice Thomas, where he came from and who he is. What was it like to convince a Supreme Court justice to sit down for 24 hours. It was not easy and its about longest interview ever drafted by f willmaker by any Supreme Court justice, let alone one thats reluctant to be interviewed but the film evolved into each stage i was honored to open with them. We were individually planning te do a traditional documentary, interviewed 15 people from all periods of his life, i quickly realized that his voice would be lost and he was the best teller of hiss own story. This what he tells you what he thinks, you can accept or reject this is why pbs was enthusiastic, it doesnt say this is the truth essays this is why Clarence Thomas all his life if you want to understand him in his recent Supreme Court rulings it is worth understanding who he is and who he comes from. He followed the evolution and he committed to doing the film and one of the things about Justice Thomas is very stubborn and he s agrees to do something that he atsticks with it and in spite of temptation to not stick with it, he did stick with it, there is u lot of trust in the filmmaker and he didnt see until was broadcast on pbs. You described him you were a coauthor on the greatest justice of all time. I do not consider myself an expert of the Supreme Court when documentary filmmaker. I think it is true that he is one of the most, a strongtr influence on the Supreme Court many people thought that thomas was related to robert court but i think he is the strongest influence at t the moment. Thats why its important for people to read the book and seed the movie and understand whatever their politics. We really wanted the film to be on tv because we wanted a broad part of america to understand if we wanted that in the book as well. One of the themes that came out in the interview, Justice Thomas likes to take a longer view. I think that is true we call ourselves created equal, his life is based on the way he sees the declaration of independence, the four principles and how to realize in the constitution. I think you can understand if you follow his wifes story, he is born off the coast of georgia. English was his first language and world povertyy his father leaves before hes remembered and he six or seven years old and they moved to savannah and he went from poppy to urban sprawl he moves his mom is working as a maid and she doesnt have enough money for food, there hungry, cold in the winter she brings them to school and he leaves and wanders for treats and after two years she realizes she cannot take care of the kids so she brings to the grandfather to raise an ounce where his first grandfather says the damn vacation is over, what vacation weve been in dire poverty but he gives them hard work he has to work on his grandfathers oil truck have to go to school everyday, and he himself is functionally illiterate lesson a third grade education and insist on sending them back to school it was an allblack school run by the irish nuns who also reflect those values, discipline hard work in a strong curriculum Justice Thomas thrives in the environment and a lot of people, he decided to enroll in a seminary is grandfather was part of him but it was a big financial commitment and after two years in the seminary, the seminaries were all white seminaries he was one of the first integrated, there he experienced racism and reached a peak in 1968 were there watching tv where Martin Luther king jr. Is shot and what of the white seminaries dies. After Clarence Thomas that kept it off felt the church was injured in civil rights and he was wrong about everything and he became an angry black and became radicalized so he didnt want to be reached his grandfather said you can make your own decisions are on your own kicked him out of the house the only father he ever knew kicked him out, he is on his own he has to go wherever he has a p fellowship holy cross massachusetts and there he continues to be radical he helped spread the black student union, engages in a walkout, you remember this. I do in the next is coming back to his grandfathers values and that reaches one of the key moments with the antiwar demonstration in massachusetts and araya and f in the riot and, to get pleasure from of a stratified anticounterfeiting mob mentality for his become and even though when he gets back to the holy cross in the middle of the night he kneels in front of the chapel and says if god will take anger out of my heart i will change thats the beginning of the coming back, his grandfather and his eyes sees him. That plays out over at Yale Law School in years working for attorney general and misery finally he ends up voting for and workingn for reagan and thats his journey back. If we tell that story its a complicated story in the book and in the film but once you become a public conservative black man whose attack byhe the media and he has his battles with the left and that reaches the first peak the confirmation hearing and on today on the court. We tell that story in the film and the book, i should say we let tell that story. He referred to as the radical years but you also bring up the theme where he brings up the theme of circumstances controlling you rather you controlling circumstances. I think he would say that he was left by having a poor upbringing by his grandfather and lees nuns he would not be who he is without them. He is constantly h referencing l important they are to him in the film when he talked about his current father in the book with the pictures of the two of them i think he feels he was left in the circumstances, other people might see it differently he was going to born and i am poverty had to grow up under segregation, many hardships but i think he feels in a way blessed as well as challenged. I think one of the l impressive things that Justice Thomas plays is the civilians are coming back for the face of hardship and feelingll plus thats inspiring whatever role politics. We interviewed and she helps tell his story but he talks about marrying her and what she means to him and he calls her a gift from god and i think they are very close and i think the confirmation battle they were not married that long both of them together to have to go through Something Like that together i think that made them one. Does he address his first marriage to get the ambush . He addresses a little bit i think you can see in the film. I pressed him but he did not want to speak much about it, he spoke a little about it and we tell about it but he doesnt speak much and i think its interesting as a result of the matter hadad a child and sheur wanted him to raise the child. He raised his son as a Single Person without a huge salary in the 80s a very tough thing to do. Is this your first book . Im reallyveve a filmmaker ad ive been making films for decades we made over 14 or 15 films read almost all of them have been broadcast nationally on pbs which were grateful for this is the first one wevetu chosen to turn into a film. My coauthor was the originator of that idea but i think of myself as a filmmaker rather than an offer but i have to say theres something satisfying about being in a book an actual physical book there is something about senior name and a book that is really great. Created equal Clarence Thomas in his own words president of maine a full production inc. , we appreciate you being about tv. Thank you very much. American history tv saturdays on cspan2 exporting the people and events that tell the american story. At 8 50 p. M. Eastern mark lay professor of musicology in American Culture at the university of michigan recounts the history of the starspangled banner and how its meaning has evolved. At 10 00 p. M. 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