Justice Clarence Thomas has his own movie

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in Created Equal:  Clarence Thomas in His Own Words/Manifold Productions


Comments by the filmmaker, producer, and director after the screening of his new film about Clarence Thomas were almost as interesting as the film itself.

An adoring, practically fawning crowd welcomed the first public showing of Created Equal:  Clarence Thomas in His Own Words last week at the Cato Institute. At the show's end, filmmaker Michael Pack and Cato's Roger Pilon, who served as moderator, answered questions from the audience until there were no more.

Most of the questioners preceded their remarks with "brilliant!" and "excellent!" 

In the film, set for airing by PBS next May, Clarence Thomas sits and faces the camera and talks about his life, beginning with his early childhood.  He and his wife, Ginny, sat for 30 hours of interviewing, Mr. Pack said, and it was difficult to reduce that length to two hours, which left no room in the film for contributions and viewpoints from others.

Mr. Pack hopes law schools and other colleges will pick it up. 

Michael Pack at the Cato Institute Nov. 13, 2019 for the screening of his new film, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Archival videos and photographs made excellent visuals, supplemented with the few Thomas family pictures available.


Several times Mr. Pack said that Justice Thomas's life is a classic American story, a much harder upbringing he had than, say, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (whose RBG has earned nearly $14.5 million since its release in 2018. Mr. Pack sighed).
  
In Pin Point, Georgia, close to Savannah, Clarence Thomas's father abandoned his family when the future justice was a toddler. His mother struggled to earn a living wage and take care of her children who roamed the streets when the boys were six and seven years old.

In desperation, she took Clarence and his younger brother to her parents to live, and the two boys delighted to find indoor plumbing and food on the table every night at their grandparents' home. (Nothing was said about what happened to Mr. Thomas's mother or his sister.)

His grandfather was a disciplinarian who instilled hard work in his grandsons, respect for others, and a keen sense of the value of education. Mr. Thomas says he  "really regretted," not visiting his grandfather before he died to tell him "how much I loved and respected him."

The future justice attended Catholic high school and at age 16, considered becoming a priest. That possibility led him to seminary school until a racial epithet after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. caused Mr. Thomas to leave. That was about the time a door opened at the College of the Holy Cross and from there, it was on to Yale law school.

Justice Thomas describes his career and work for Sen. John Danforth (R-MO). After climbing the legal ladder, Mr. Thomas was nominated to the U.S.Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

Presiding over the Thomas Senate confirmation hearing was Sen. Joe Biden, who, of course, is included at one of his worst moments, to the delight of the laughing audience. 

Mr. Thomas says he had no idea what Sen. Biden was talking about in the hearing when the senator talked about "natural laws," but Mr. Biden announced to everyone present that he and Mr. Thomas knew what he was talking about. (You have to see it.) 

The clash with the testimony of Anita Hill consumed  more in the film than expected. (At least four in the audience were not Thomas fans, including me who believed and still believes Anita Hill.)

When Mr. Thomas learned his nomination had been approved, his response was a sarcastic "whoop-dee-doo." 

Mr. Pack said unequivocally that the justice had not seen the film but Mr. Thomas's wife, Ginny (quoted extensively in it), had.

More than once Mr. Pack said the justice wanted to get his words out.  Clearly, Mr. Thomas still carries a chip on his shoulder which he probably has borne throughout life.

The documentary is an unbalanced portrayal but an autobiography, a hagiography someone suggested today, nonetheless. Mr. Thomas, 71, is now the most senior associate justice on the Supreme Court.

Mr. Pack's company, Manifold Productions, produced the film, with the help of his wife, Gina, a Manifold vice-president, who was also present.  

She urged her husband to shorten Words which is good advice! With redundant scenes of an unmanned boat gliding through Georgian marshes, I say, "cut!"

The banjo and piano made excellent accompaniment in the film as did the guest reception which preceded the showing.

patricialesli@gmail.com



 

At the think tanks: 'A Journey to the Gulag'

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Last week at the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,  Štěpán Černoušek, founder of the Gulag.cz Association, presented A Journey to the Gulag, a film he made of a 2016 trip to a Gulag camp in Siberia.

The camp was one of the labor prisons which originally got their start in 1919 under Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and surged under the leadership of Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) who used them for cheap labor and as a place to stash recalcitrants or anyone who remotely may have been deemed suspicious of Stalin's goals, whatever they were. 

Mr. Hynek Kmoníček, the ambassador of the Czech Republic to the U.S., welcomed guests to the Kennan Institute and introduced Mr. Černoušek/Photo by Patricia Leslie


With a team of photographers and videographers, Mr. Černoušek's group traveled by air, water, and foot to an abandoned camp in a remote region 120 miles from the closest town,  one of four labor camps Mr. Černoušek visited between 2009 and 2016.

On the way, the boat they rented for lake travel broke down, and they had to wait for a passing rescue vessel to carry them on their journey, rushing, since time was limited for them to catch a return flight home before winter advanced.

It is cold in September in Siberia, especially when traveling at high speeds across a lake in an open boat.

From left are Mr. Štěpán Černoušek and Steven Barnes at the Kennan Institute/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Reaching the coast, the men tore their way through the thick  tagia to the site, fearful of bears but none were shown.


In the remote forest they found a ghost site with few remains save broken railway tracks covered by the tagia, and barbed wire, practically hidden by the overgrowth.


The tagia is beautiful, like jewelry treasures of the woods with its stripes of many colors and varying heights and widths, reminiscent of giraffe statues, in contrast to the harsh conditions the former residents lived at the camp.

 The tagia and 'Part of 'Project 503' to build a railroad from Salekhard to Igarka near Turukhansk on the Yenisey River, close to the site Mr. Černoušek and his group found /Photo by  Dr. Andreas Hugentobler - Own work, CC BY 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=818367

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018



At the remnants of the camp's hospital, the men found a prisoner's diary written by an engineer, and a dark, sad solitary confinement cell about the size of a parking space with four high walls and single window near the ceiling, much like today's solitary cells in Virginia prisons. (Thank you, ACLU of Virginia for filing a class-action lawsuit.)

An estimated 20 million persons from Russia, the U.S., Poland, France, the Netherlands, and other European nations were confined in subhuman conditions to the camps.  (Americans ventured to Russia to work on construction projects, Mr. Černoušek said.)
  He finished the film in February.

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia,  a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

Outside Yekaterinburg, Russia, a memorial  to the estimated 130,000 area identified citizens seized in the Gulag/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018

After the Kennan screening ended, a line of guests formed to try virtual "augmented reality" and experience more of the camps through special lenses.

Moscow has a Gulag museum which is not big,  Mr. Černoušek said.  When President Vladimir Putin opened it last year, he never mentioned Stalin's name.

Introducing Mr. Černoušek was Hynek Kmoníček, the ambassador of the Czech Republic to the U.S.

Mr. Černoušek is a Czech citizen and a Russia scholar who, like many enthusiasts, began his study of the Gulag as a hobby, to satisfy his curiosity. 

"I never dreamed [his hobby] would end up in Washington, D.C. at the Kennan Center," he said.  His goal is to "share my experience" using new technologies and 3-D with as many persons as he can.


"It's necessary to speak more about it [now] because it's an international topic," Mr. Černoušek said. 

"Some young people in Russia do not know what the Gulag was." 


He intends to document the sites and educate the world about the Gulag (an acronym for Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp Administration).   

Recently he visited California's World War II American internment camps for the Japanese. 

For him, finding and learning about the Gulag has been "a great adventure" which continues, and his team, all of whom enjoy the outdoors, wants to go back.
  Appearing with Mr. Černoušek were Steven Barnes, associate professor of history at George Mason University, and  Izabella Tabarovsky of Kennan, the moderator.

In 2016 Ms. Tabarovsky discovered  that her great-grandfather, Leonty Briskin, was taken in 1941 from his family to the Gulag.  Fifteen years later he was "rehabilitated" in the "Khrushchev Thaw," and his case closed, which was the same year, 1956, his family learned he died in prison in 1944.  Still, she writes, even today some Russians are ashamed that their family members, although unwilling participants, were part of Gulag camps.


I wanted to ask Mr. Černoušek about the source of his funding.

patricialesli@gmail.com 

At the think tanks: Russia's political prisoners, a talk

/

 Izabella Tabarovsky, the moderator, and Sergey Davidis at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., April 23, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 At the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on Tuesday afternoon, the head of Russia's Political Prisoners Support Program said the nation has 263 "political" persons in jail, arrested on vague charges stemming from Russia's Criminal Code. 

It is an “incomplete number,” said Sergey Davidis, also a member of the Council at the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow. Since “we are conservative in our approach,” the actual number is probably two or three times 263, he said.


The prisoners support group determined the number 263 by researching official documents and other materials.

Among those jailed are two journalists and many persons from Ukraine.  One prisoner, Mr. Davidis said, has been sentenced to 20 to 22 years for participating in the "Chechen war." (Wikipedia identifies two Chechen wars: 1994-1996 and 1999-2006.)

Another prisoner, a “random person,” was sentenced to eight to ten years.  Researchers have identified four others on the list who are jailed for “random” reasons. Some have lawyers.

Of the 263, 186 have been identified as religious minorities; 60 are affiliated with Jehovah's Witnesses. So far, the maximum prison sentence has been 24 years.

None of the prisoners condone violence, often mentioned in the Russian Federation Criminal Code as a reason for arrest. The prisoners have expressed “no signs of violence.” They practice opposition peacefully, Mr. Davidis said, when they disagree with authorities.

“The aim of the state is scare the society …and frighten people,” he said. “It’s important for the state to send [the people] a signal.” Persecution in the Russian Federation is “rather uneven.”

Izabella Tabarovsky, the moderator, and Sergey Davidis at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., April 23, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He cited several articles from the Criminal Code which are used to arrest political prisoners: Article 212.1 is related to punishment for those engaged in “mass riots,” and Article 318, for violence against an officer.

Article 354 ("Public Appeal to Unleash An Aggressive War”) is "seldom used" to arrest anyone, but still it is “obviously dangerous” and can be used to arrest those who attempt to incite the public.

Articles 280 and 282 (“not widely cited”) concern extremist activity, behavior, and freedom of expression. Article 205 describes acts of terrorism, punishment and recruiting others to commit terrorist activities. 

Questions from the audience were invited near the close of the one hour session. One person asked if Russia has prisoner quotas and Mr. Davidis answered that several factors are involved but sometimes, yes, there are “real quotas” which “vary from region to region.”

Another questioner asked about prisoner exchanges between Russia and Turkey. Mr. Davidis confirmed that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had exchanged two Russian criminals jailed in Istanbul for murdering four Chechens, for two Tatars jailed for religious beliefs, an uneven exchange the questioner noted.

The Kennan website states: Mr. Davidis was educated in sociology at Moscow State University and in law at Moscow State Law Academy. For many years, he was a participant and one of the organizers of the democratic opposition movement. His research interests are closely related to activities to support political prisoners in Russia, and he studies the sociological and legal aspects of politically motivated deprivation of liberty, in particular, in the context of world practice and international norms.

patricialesli@gmail.com

At the think tanks: the Romanian Ambassador to the United States

George Maior, Ambassador of Romania to the United States, speaking at the Hudson Institute, March 19, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie


"I am a diplomat," said George Maior, ambassador of Romania to the United States, answering a question about NATO at a talk he gave at the Hudson Institute Tuesday.


"NATO functions well despite differences," and its members "have values and common interests. We should work for creating harmony" rather than talk about disagreements, said Mr. Maior, 51, whose nation in January began its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.
  
Europe faces "many challenges on a global scale," Mr. Ambassador said.


The E.U.'s main concern is the upcoming departure of the United Kingdom from its ranks, a topic of utmost interest at the Hudson.

Ambassador Maior said the E.U. will "remain just as strong without the U.K." but countries in north central and Western Europe "really, really consider [Brexit] a great loss," and "we must face this pragmatically."

The U.K. exit can become "lose, lose" for the E.U. and the U.K.

High on the agenda at a May summit will be E.U.'s future, said Mr. Maior.

At the crowded afternoon session, Mr. Maior addressed the relationship between the E.U. and the U.S., stressing the importance of cooperation and "shared values."

"European and American destinies have always been and need to be interconnected" to "benefit both."

The U.S. and the E.U. share "a great track record" which "has made a difference to people around the world."

Europe "needs more, not less" U.S. involvement in Europe, based on the agreement of the Transatlantic Partnership, the ambassador said.

On left is Walter Russell Mead of the Hudson Institute with George Maior, Ambassador of Romania to the United States, at the Hudson Institute, March 19, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie


After Ambassador Maior's remarks, there was time for a few questions and answers, some about Turkey, which, moderator Walter Russell Mead noted, is "an important part of Romania's economy."

"From NATO's point of view," said Ambassador Maior, "Turkey's presence is vital for the alliance." 

And how about reported human rights violations in Turkey?

"We are concerned everywhere in terms of the rule of law and human rights."

He labeled the area around the Black Sea, "a region in turmoil," affected by the war in Georgia and Russia's "illegal annexation" of Crimea.

A man who identified his organization as the Russian News Agency asked about missiles in Romania which belong to the U.S.*

"I do not agree [with the question]," Mr. Maior said. The missiles do not belong to the U.S. "but they are a NATO project" for protection for Europe against missiles from the Middle East.  "They have nothing to do with Russia."

The ambassador talked about 45 minutes in this chapter in the institute's "Ambassadors Series."

*When it woke up this morning, missiles were on Russia's mind. See comments by the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, at the Stimson Center, March 4, 2019.
 
patricialesli@gmail.com  

At the think tanks: the Russian Ambassador to the United States

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov at the Stimson Center, March 4, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He came not to brandish a sword but to bring peace and understanding.

He came not to praise so much as to complain.

"We are in crisis," said Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov at the President's Forum at the Stimson Center Monday afternoon, speaking of arms control and nuclear disarmament.  

They were his favorite topics of the day (and the subject of his dissertation), but the moderator and the audience had other ideas.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov at the Stimson Center, March 4, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

(What's this new chapter in U.S-Russia relations? Have the Russians decided that talk is better than social media?)

We are waiting, waiting, waiting on the U.S. to make decisions, Ambassador Antonov, age 64, said.

Can't we just talk? He invited discussion.  He wants discussion. 
  
The ambassador said talking can achieve much progress between the U.S. and the Russian Federation (calling it always, the "Russian Federation" and the U.S., the "United States").

His message was a constant refrain: "Please, I just want to talk this through" and stop this lover's quarrel between my nation and yours.  Can't we advance cultural understanding?

Talking with help soothe frayed nerves, he seemed to say, and simplify the task of getting things like visas.

Russian artists, academicians, "our sportsmen"... "cannot come" to the U.S. because they can't get visas, he moaned. Can't you do something about it? 

"What is more important than just only dialogue between the United States and Russia?" I ask you! And urge you to "relax the tension," at least, in this sphere which can help solve problems in other areas.

Rather than the bullying personality he receives at Wikipedia, Mr. Antonov was personable and inviting (part of his negotiating skills), willing to sit down and iron out arms control, a subject he strove to accentuate the entire hour, but Stimson president and moderator Brian Finlay and audience members would have little of it.

Early in the session Mr. Finlay tried to steer the ambassador's history lesson on post-World War II and the U.N. Security Council back to the future, but, the ambassador would not give up his quest.  

He said he was "very upset when the United States decided to withdraw" from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the "Iran deal." Iran has followed all the rules and regulations required in the agreement, he said. 

Mr. Antonov quoted a Japanese proverb: "It's very easy to destroy a castle but it will need three years to erect a new one," and he hopes the U.S. will reconsider. (The U.S. Department of State's website has not been updated for more than three years (!), failing to show Trump's withdrawal from the deal, perhaps because no one is left at the State Department to change it.  Go to Wikipedia for current information.)


Maps?  if anyone needed map clarification, the ambassador  brought colored ones made by a Russian Federation defense agency (where he went to school) to show how much of Europe (all of it) and Russia would be susceptible to missiles shot from...the U.S.?

When pushed obliquely to criticize the "Hanoi Summit," all Mr. Antonov would say was "North Korea is our neighbor," and "we are in favor of peaceful solutions for all problems we face today in that region," but "that's not so easy." 

He mentioned Trump's name only twice without criticism. Or praise. (My count of "Putin" utterances was four; nothing worth writing home about.) 

The ambassador complained about the Russian prisoner Konstantin Yaroshenko held in a "Kentucky" (sounds like Connecticut) prison for eight years (he said nine), badly needing medical treatment.  

Help! I've lost my teeth, and I cannot eat, the ambassador quoted the convicted.  I am not asking that he get out of jail free, the ambassador said (paraphrasing), but can't you people please get this man some medical treatment? Some medicine? Can't you reach out to the authorities and request aid? In the name of human decency (like what's practiced in the Motherland), I call on human rights activists to provide medical assistance!  

(Obviously, the ambassador is not familiar with U.S. medical treatment. This is not Russia, Mr. Ambassador, where a doctor comes to your house on the first day you report a cold. For teeth, the waiting period in the U.S. is eight plus years!)

(Mr. Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence in a Connecticut prison, not CONtucky which Ambassador Antonov said twice, actually pronouncing it correctly.  However, he may know something we don't know, and may have revealed a top state secret.

Mr. Yaroshenko was caught in a drug bust in Africa in 2010. Wave if you've heard this one:  His arrest was "set-up.") 
 
The two nations do agree on one topic, the ambassador said:  Syria (with little discussion).


After about 45 minutes of ambassadorial talk, Mr. Finlay invited questions from the audience which came from reporters from ABC News, the Guardian, and the Washington Post.

The ABC News reporter asked if the "Kentucky prisoner" could be a possible swap or "gotchas" with Americans presently held in Russian prisons: businessman Michael Calvey and former marine, Paul Whelan.

The ambassador said there was really no comparison since Mr. Whelan's case was still being investigated, and his innocence or guilt has not been determined, so, no, a trade or swap is out of the question. (Maria Butina's name never came up.)

At the end of the talk, Mr. Finlay asked Mr. Antonov to please identify missing topics from the afternoon discussion, and the ambassador said simply: "Afghanistan" (without elaboration).

He offered to visit any group and answer any questions.  
He smiled often and seemed quite at ease, making the audience laugh on several occasions.

 Ambassador Antonov said he had been "lazy" and visited the University Club near the Russian D.C. residence where he was surprised, during the World Cup, to find Americans watching the competition and supporting the Russians. (During the afternoon, our Washington Capitals championship hockey team, many whose stars are imported Russians, never came up, possibly because the Washington Post's coverage of them is quite lame, and the ambassador might be unaware of Russian heroes in the District of Columbia.)

Mr. Antonov said it appeared the audience was all journalists (there were several empty seats), save one woman shaking her head and waving an object (a white feather?) in the air, but she was not called upon for a question.
  
Neither was I who wanted to ask him to name, please, the Russian preferred U.S. presidential candidate(s) for 2020.

He said Russians have recently blocked three million U.S. attempts to hack into its I.P. addresses, but do we hear about those? 

Can't say that we do!  Welcome, Mr. Ambassador, to global exchange and trade!

For video and precise language of the session, see C Span.

P.S. My first draft of this carried a Tass link on Mr. Yaroshenko, but my computer went haywire after a while, flashing messages of concern, and the security system required immediate attention, so I deleted the Tass connection, thinking that might be the cause, and inserted instead (now that my computer likely has a "Russian virus"), a link to Mr. Yaroshenko from ABC News. Things have settled down.  It's almost like getting a new set of teeth.
  
patricialesli@gmail.com