In a Day's Work by Bernice Yeung

Author:Bernice Yeung
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620973165
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

5

All That We Already Know

In October 1991, a thirty-five-year-old law professor named Anita Hill raised her right hand and swore to tell the truth at the confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas, then a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

With a gaggle of blinking TV cameras and the gaze of fourteen male senators from the Judiciary Committee fixed on her, Hill leaned into the microphone. She testified that while she had worked at the U.S. Department of Education and then later at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence Thomas had persistently asked her out on dates, discussed the content of the porn he had watched, and bragged about his sexual prowess.

“Because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about sex with him at all, and particularly in such a graphic way, I told him that I did not want to talk about these subjects,” she said in an even, measured tone. “I would also try to change the subject to education matters or to nonsexual personal matters, such as his background or his beliefs. My efforts to change the subject were rarely successful.”

No one had ever made such a public accusation of workplace sexual harassment before, and Hill closed her remarks by explaining why she had taken the unusual step of sharing her story. “I have no personal vendetta against Clarence Thomas,” she said. “I seek only to provide the committee with information which it may regard as relevant. It would have been more comfortable to remain silent. I took no initiative to inform anyone. But when I was asked by a representative of this committee to report my experience, I felt that I had to tell the truth. I could not keep silent.”

Hill’s testimony was a watershed moment in the country’s confrontation of sexual harassment in the workplace. A political commentator at the time called it a “national teach-in”; it catapulted the issue to greater national awareness and has had lasting and profound impact for America’s working women.

In making explosive claims against such a prominent individual in such a public forum, Hill knew she would draw scrutiny and resistance. Thomas had categorically denied Hill’s accusations, and he had decried the proceedings and argued that because he is an African American man, the entire affair had become a racialized circus. Though Hill is also African American, he famously described the confirmation process as a “high-tech lynching.”1 He said he was disgusted by the way that his good name and integrity had been tarnished by what he contended were Hill’s baseless allegations.2

Hill offered historic testimony, but the process also devolved into a political soap opera that has generated unfortunate legacies. The tone and manner in which Hill was questioned reaffirmed a narrative that we have not entirely abandoned: Victims of sexual harassment—like victims of any kind of sexual violence—should expect to have their credibility questioned and their stories doubted.

The hearing was not meant to be a trial, though it was an overt effort to make a determination about Hill’s allegations. The political stakes were high because White House officials under President George H.

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