In the President George H. W. Bush documentary we watched today, it briefly talked about the sexual harassment charge made by Professor Anita Hill at the University of Oklahoma against then-jurist and a nominee for Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas.
Justice Clarence Thomas was appointed by Present Bush due to Justice Thurgood Marshall's retirement. President Bush stated that he did not appoint an African-American judge to be seated in Supreme Court to replace the first African-American judge, but instead, due to Clarence Thomas' qualifications. However, the addition of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court would bring somewhat equality within the Court, although it is clear that white judges would dominate. As the Supreme Court started to veer towards the conservative side during President Bush's presidency, it was only natural that a conservative judge would be picked.
While many would think that President Bush's choice would be encouraged, majority of African-American organizations protested the nomination of Clarence Thomas. They assumed that if Clarence Thomas is placed in the Court, he would undo the implementations made by Judge Thurgood Marshall, a liberal, for the good of Civil Rights. Since the 1980's to 1990's periods had issues regarding the legality of abortion, pro-women and pro-choice groups also feared that the addition of a conservative would go against the rulings previously made. However, the processions made by the Senate Judiciary Committee went smoothly due to Clarence Thomas' non-declarative position against controversial topics.
Along with the nomination of Clarence Thomas moving to the Senate floor came a testimony made by Anita Hill on October 11th, 1991. Professor Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her years before when she worked as his assistant at Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Some of the reasons for making this sexual harassment charge was caused by reference to pornographic materials and incessant offers to form social relationship. If you would like to read more about Anita Hill's testimony, go to this link (http://mith.umd.edu//WomensStudies/GenderIssues/SexualHarassment/hill-thomas-testimony)
Naturally, Clarence Thomas denied the claim made by Anita Hill. He pronounced the fact that Anita Hill remained his assistant even at his second work and kept contacts with him even after quitting the job as his assistant. Regarding this, Anita Hill stated that it was difficult to transfer or change the work field during the period in which she was working under Thomas. Later, four female witnesses stepped up to support Anita Hill's claim but they were not considered credible.
Some of the accusations Justice Clarence Thomas made on Anita Hill was that she was being delusional, seeking revenge, and acting like a woman. Overall, this sparked the feminist issues and issues of sexual controversy. Before this nation-wide case was presented to the public, most people were unaware of the extent of the seriousness or sexual harassment. Nonetheless, as we all know, Clarence Thomas was implemented as the Supreme Court Justice. However, the Anita Hill Controversy increased the feminist movement and women started to participate even more in politics. Although we may not know the truth behind the Anita Hill Controversy besides those involved, we do know her legacy lives on.
This is Anita Hill's interview
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/anita-hill-her-regrets
and apparently, the Anita Hill Controversy turned into film.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/22/anita-hill-spotlight-anew-film-anita-opens_n_5012568.html
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