Anita Hill
Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hillis an American attorney and academic. She is a University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's Studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of Brandeis' Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her boss at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionLawyer
Date of Birth30 July 1956
CityLone Tree, OK
CountryUnited States of America
I am hopeful that others who have suffered sexual harassment will not become discouraged by my experience, but instead will find the strength to speak out about this serious problem.
I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community.
we need to turn the question around to look at the harasser, not the target. We need to be sure that we can go out and look anyone who is a victim of harassment in the eye and say, 'You do not have to remain silent anymore.
But the issue of sexual harassment is not the end of it. There are other issues - political issues, gender issues - that people need to be educated about.
Testifying has helped me understand that one individual's behavior and actions make a difference. That my actions are important to people other than myself
I think there's more support today. I think there's better understanding today. And there's a better appreciation for the fact that if any community is going to prosper, if any community is going to be seen at its best, that the women in that community have to be viewed as equally as important as the men. And [women] have to be able to live outside of boundaries that are placed on them because of their gender. As well as their race or their religion.
What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it
I work every day to live up to my mother's model. She was a very proud woman. And she really prepared me to go off into the world as a proud daughter.
We have a history of gender and racial bias on our court that continues to undermine the system. Excluding individuals based on race is antagonistic to the pursuit of justice.
I'm not sure I can say there is a clean line between me as an individual and me as a lawyer.
One of the things I was taught in law school is that I'd never be able to think the same again - that being a lawyer is something that's part of who I am as an individual now.
I have no personal vendetta against Clarence Thomas. I seek only to provide the committee with information which it may regard as relevant
I see myself as an educator.
During this period at the Department of Education, my working relationship with Judge Thomas was positive.