From Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas
Going From Legal Giant to Grifter
I saw the movie Marshall on the first day of its widespread release in 2017 and was assaulted with impressions. I went to a matinee in a dying mall in West Orlando, where audiences tend to be mostly black. There were thirty people at this showing, mostly in their 50s and older, people familiar with Thurgood Marshall, at least as a Supreme Court Justice. It starred the late Chadwick Boseman, and if you’re a fan of his and haven’t seen it, I’m sure it’s streaming somewhere.
The movie itself was very entertaining, humorous in parts, and revolved around an actual trial in Bridgeport, CT, where a black man was accused of the rape of a white socialite. I hope that those who watch the film will not only cheer the heroic Marshall in the movie but go on to learn more about the fantastic work he and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund did to fight for the rights we now take for granted. I want them to read the Pulitzer Prize-winning Devil In The Grove about the Groveland Boys case in Florida. I wish the film to be a jumping-off point to learn more about history, more likely to be whitewashed than brought forward.
