Anita Hill is more than a precursor; she is present
How she testified against, and questioned, Brett Kavanaugh
Professor Anita Hill, who told the world about Clarence Thomas’s unwanted and wanton ways, also gave an influential testimony against Brett Kavanaugh.
Anita Hill gave America warning words before, during, and after the Kavanaugh hearings.
Following her template, 1,600 men signed their names in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times to express their support for Anita Hill and Dr. Ford. The latest advertisement mirrored the one from 1991 signed by 1,600 Black women to support Anita Hill.
Before the hearings, Anita Hill suggested a nonpartisan entity — with subject experts — should investigate and report their findings about the allegations against Kavanaugh.
In her op-ed in the New York Times, Anita Hill advised lawmakers to not rush the hearings; she said the burden of persuasion is on Kavanaugh, and she said while we can’t redo 1991, we can “do better.”
Later, Anita Hill called what the senators offered an unfair disservice to everyone.
And now, the FBI, in a sudden move, will investigate the accusations against Kavanaugh. The credit for the shift goes to the rogue Republican senators and the persistent protesters.
But if America had listened to Dr. Ford and Anita Hill, there wouldn’t have been the delayed drama of a late-breaking FBI investigation.
The response is more sad evidence of an America that obstructs and resists the testimony and recommendations of original accusers, survivors, and victims.
Onlookers of the hearing also saw Anita Hill in the room in abstract ways.
Perhaps it was a coincidence that two professors, who both took polygraphs, testified in blue suits against a Supreme Court nominee with a Coca-Cola soft drink in the frame.
But there’s no doubt Anita Hill’s presence was in the room.
In 1992, Anita Hill ushered in the “Year of the Woman” that put Senator Dianne Feinstein in the place to question Kavanaugh.
