Speaking Truth to Power - Anita Hill [141]
Brock was very adept at getting many of his reviewers to view me through the same warped prism from which he views me. They, like Thomas’ political supporters, do not relish facing the hard question of what acceptance that Thomas was untruthful means. Would journalists have an obligation to demand his removal from the Court? Would journalists have then to consider that their own role in covering the hearing may have contributed to the likelihood of the confirmation? Unwillingness to address these questions provides incentive to believe both Clarence Thomas’ and David Brock’s dishonesty. That same history and culture make it easier to believe mine.
All of Brock’s false claims, accusations, and theories fall into a void about black women, another void about women who raise harassment claims, and still another, even larger void of misogyny. Brock’s claims made about a black woman and supported by an expert of black social behavior in the context of claims of sexual impropriety presented a perverse and incredibly burdensome obstacle for me to overcome. In the context of the hearing, false rumors about my behavior and wishes flourished. One source falsely asserted that I did not want Angela Wright to testify because I feared that her more “openly sexual” demeanor might negatively reflect on my testimony and my more reserved demeanor. One colleague from Oral Roberts University, who ascribed overtly sexual intentions to my behavior, suggested that my reserved demeanor was intended to be a sexual come-on.
Angela Wright’s reaction of denying that Thomas’ comments bothered her and even my reaction of trying to maintain a cordial relationship are ways of coping with years of these combined stereotypical definitions of our sexuality. At one point in preparing for her testimony, Wright was told to borrow a skirt because the pantsuit she was wearing was not demure enough. Perhaps Thomas relied on our vulnerability to these stereotypes when he targeted Wright, Hardnett, and me—three young, single, workplace subordinates—for this kind of attention. Certainly, consciously or not, the Republican senators and some analysts relied upon them when they attacked our charges about the behavior.
Ironically, the community gives women and girls a guide for “handling” sexual harassment. We are urged by our culture to put harassers in their place or ignore the harassment. No matter how inadequate that guide is, it was at least available. The community chose Thomas as the black male to represent the race. Consequently, I had to be rejected. And there was no guide for handling the community shunning I received for my testimony. No one offered me a map to help me find my way back into the community.
The accusation that African American women bring down men is one that typically cuts deep to the quick of those accused of such behavior. It was a clever and calculated use of the politics of the African American community and our sensitivity to racism. The idea that I was a woman used by liberal whites and in particular feminists to bring down Clarence Thomas certainly had that very visceral effect upon community members.
The extreme to which this may be carried was tragically demonstrated in the Mike Tyson rape trial. Desiree Washington, the eighteen-year-old black beauty pageant contestant who accused Tyson of raping her in his hotel room, hit the barrier of community politics late in 1991 when she made her claim. Despite the fact that she, too, is African American, the community, led by a group of ministers, threw its support to him. In his defense, even while the facts of the incident were being discovered, they asserted that Mr. Tyson was a victim of his own success. Accordingly, in combination with racism