Why I Love Her: Anita Hill

Anita Hill is particularly well-known for her 1991 sexual harassment testimony against then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. She had worked for him on several different occasions ten years earlier, and her testimony was graphic.

What is undeniably clear about this case is that the courts made Thomas’ case about race, and Hill’s case about sex. And by a narrow margin, 52:48, Clarance Thomas won. His testimony was filled allegations that Hill’s testimony were a subversive way of attacking him because he is black, and were related to previous discrimination he had felt as a black man acquiring power in politics. For shame that he created that possible relationship, thereby diminishing the validity of previous experiences of racism . He openly chastised the court for questioning his behavior towards Hill, using the race card to intimidate the white men into sacrificing a woman’s right to emotional and physical safety for a pat on the back for transcending racism.

Anita Hill is an example of courage, strength, and resolution, who continues to carry with her the stigma some have placed onto her: a liar or a deviant perverted crazy woman who was in love with Thomas to begin with.

During the hearing, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee had refused to let any expert testimony on sexual harassment enter the case. She was questioned as to why she would ever talk to such a man again, if her testimony were true. As June Jordan puts it in here essay Can I get a Witness?: “The senators didn’t seem to notice or to care that Thomas occupied the office of last recourse for victims of sexual harassment. And had the committee allowed any expert on the subject to testify, we would have learned that it is absolutely typical for victims to keep silent.”

Last year, When Thomas’ memior came out, and all of his supporters (including people who think Anita Hill is a liar or crazy person, and including people who think sexual harassment is a fairytale made up by manipulative women–i.e. misogynists) and all of his rage about the case came out into the public again, Anita Hill was faced with the question of whether or not to reengage with the debate that she officially lost in 1991. She courageously stepped up again to defend herself, and ultimately all women. You Go Girl!

It should also be noted that Anita Hill did not originally volunteer her testimony of being sexually harassed by Clarance Thomas. She was pointedly questioned by the FBI for that information, and she was simply telling the truth and following the law by providing the FBI with the information they wanted. Because of her courage, the U.S. culture around sexual harassment took a monumental turn towards exposure and empowerment for women to stand up for themselves.

It’s a shame that almost 20 years later, a lot of us still don’t know what or how to stick up for ourselves and each other when sexist comments and harassments are made. Many are passed off as jokes or harmless. Others are dismissed as unimportant because they are made by strangers we don’t plan to have to deal with ever again.

I believe that woman and men have a significant challenge to expose these things and deny them room in discourse and behavior. Between strangers, colleagues, and even friends and partners.