Congratulations to the Garden Cinemas for generating free publicity in the name of Black History Month. It seems curious to me though that a documentary featuring Clarence Thomas was chosen when it “has not played in any New England theater.” Certainly, Thomas qualifies as an historic figure, but I’m wondering why the particular choice of this man was made to honor Black History. I would never purport to speak for any community — especially one I was not a part of. And I won’t here. But I wonder did the theater reach out to civil rights leaders about ways to honor the struggle for equality, voter rights, unequal incarceration and shootings of unarmed civilians?
I think it would be wonderful to offer local representatives from these struggles a chance to introduce and discuss the movie if they so chose — given that Thomas has something of a controversial reputation on these fronts, plus several others. There’s still time.
There’s just something that seems provocative to me about putting this particular film up in honor of Black History. But what do I know?
What I do know, however, is that as a journalist I will skip the film based on Thomas’s recent remarks about curtailing free speech and the press in a stab at long-standing First Amendment freedoms supporting the public’s right to know. Thomas appears to be echoing the slandering, name-calling, proven liar and bully in the White House. Trump — the second grade name-caller — wants to choke down press freedoms by squeezing down libel thresholds.
Karl Meyer
Greenfield