Black History Month: Amazon stops streaming Clarence Thomas film

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in a documentary on his life, “Created Equal.” (Manifold Productions)

It’s Black History Month, but a highly acclaimed PBS documentary on the only African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court – and only the second ever – no longer is streaming on Amazon Prime.

“Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” is available on other sites, but not Amazon, which states on the page for the movie that “the video is currently unavalaible to watch in your location.”

On Monday, Thomas issued a scathing dissenting opinion in which he criticized the Supreme Court for refusing to hear two pivotal Pennsylvania cases challenging the counting of ballots in the 2020 election. The Blaze reported some Democrats have implied that Thomas’ wife Ginni, a prominent conservative political activist who has supported President Trump, influenced his dissent. Some have demanded that Ginni Thomas be investigated to determine if she played any role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

While the Thomas film is no longer available, Amazon Prime has an Amplify Black Voices page that features a “curated collection of titles to honor Black History Month across four weekly themes (Black Love, Black Joy, Black History Makers, and Black Girl Magic),” reports Breitbart News,

Amazon Prime also is streaming two docudramas and two documentaries on the first black Supreme Court justice, liberal icon Thurgood Marshall. There are even two films on Anita Hill, who accused Thomas during his confirmation hearing of sexual harassment.

Breitbart note the DVD of “Created Equal” is still available for purchase on Amazon and is No. 38 of all documentaries on that site. In contrast, the documentary on liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not even in the top 100 but is still streaming on Amazon Prime.

“Created Equal,” which was broadcast on PBS last April, has a 99% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Amazon, the film has a 4.9 rating out of 5 from viewers, with 1,243 ratings.

The film was praised by Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker as “a marvel of filmmaking” in which “two hours pass so quickly.”

“At the end of a screening I recently attended, there weren’t many dry eyes in the room,” she said.

Parker, a Pulitzer Prize winner, called Thomas “an American hero.”

Thomas was born in 1948 in deep poverty in segregated Georgia. His parents had almost no education, and his father left the family before he was 2.

See the “Created Equal” trailer:

‘Inexplicable’ refusal

In his dissent in the Pennsylvania case, Thomas said the court’s refusal to hear the case “is inexplicable,” opening the door for future controversies.

The Blaze reported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine Pelosi tied Ginni Thomas to the dissent.

“I’m concerned that #SCOTUS Justice Thomas dissented — we will have to learn more about the role his wife Gini Thomas played in raising money for Trump’s deadly #Jan6 ‘Insurrection Day,'” she wrote on Twitter.

The left-wing group Duty to Warn, an “association of mental health professionals warning Trump is psychologically unfit,” criticized Thomas for not disavowing his wife’s politics, The Blaze reported.

“Today, SCOTUS refused to hear an appeal from the PA GOP about extending mail-in voting deadlines. Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent. His wife Ginni endorsed the 1/6 protest, demanded an overturn of the election, and sent ‘LOVE’ to demonstrators. He’s not dissented to any of that,” the organization tweeted.

A Twitter user wrote, “Justice Thomas by the very fact that Ginni Thomas participated in 1/6 attack needs to recuse himself.”

Another said that for the “sake of the integrity of the highest court in the United States of America, Justice Thomas must resign.”

“Ginni Thomas must be investigated for her role in the January 6 insurrection. He and his wife are clearly radicalized,” another Twitter user said.

The Blaze noted there is no evidence that Ginni Thomas played any role in the violence at the Capitol.

In an email to the justice’s staff obtained by the Washington Post, she apologized for any way in which her politicial activism might have impacted them.

“I owe you all an apology. I have likely imposed on you my lifetime passions,” Ginni Thomas wrote. “My passions and beliefs are likely shared with the bulk of you, but certainly not all. And sometimes the smallest matters can divide loved ones for too long. Let’s pledge to not let politics divide THIS family, and learn to speak more gently and knowingly across the divide.”

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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

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