One of the things I appreciate about Justice Thomas is that he doesn’t make comments just to be making comments. Generally speaking, he has a way of bringing out facts in ways I never considered.
His speech is available at https://www.civitasoutlook.com/research/justice-clarence-thomas-remarks-on-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-declaration-of-independence-b1d62423-c04b-4aae-aab3-b35d648f9209
He points out the Declaration of Independence established the principles that led toward freedom and equality across the world: “Even in this time of questioning and criticism of our founding, we should not forget that the Declaration established the principles that produced – despite all of our imperfections, miscues, and tragic mistakes – the freest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation in the history of the world. It provided the moral principles by which Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. could criticize the institutions of slavery and segregation. The Declaration is, in fact, along with the Gospels, one of the greatest antislavery documents in the history of Western civilization. It did not establish a form of government – that was the job of the Constitution that followed – but it stated the purpose of government.”
Thomas described his grandparents in 1955 – Gullah (or Geechee): “Think of my grandparents who heroically, quietly, without fanfare sat my brother and me down at the kitchen table in August of 1955, and committed the rest of their lives to us so that we would have a chance. They said: “We didn’t have no education and no chance but you boys are going to have a chance. But, we goin’ to devote the rest of our lives to you boys.” It was their devotion, their love, their dedication to raising us right that has made the difference — not the words — though the words expressed as best they could what they intended to do.”
Go ahead. Click the link. Read what Thomas said – and recognize through his eyes what a great document the Declaration of Independence has been for the past 250 years.
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