When actor Clifton Duncan dared to go against his industry’s orthodoxy on COVID-19, he found out the hard way that the expectations for conformity can be unforgiving. Hounded out of his profession, he took comfort in discovering the work of another celebrated nonconformist, economist Thomas Sowell. While Sowell’s peers were arguing for socialist economic policies to address the alleged injustice of institutional racism, Sowell boldly stood up for free markets and personal responsibility. Like Duncan, he refused to use his identity as a black man as a crutch or an excuse to act like a victim. Now experiencing a career renaissance, Duncan talks to Matt Kibbe about his planned one-man show based on the life of Thomas Sowell and how being “canceled” has actually created new fans and new opportunities for him.