Anita Hill Sees ‘Outright Smears’ in Thomas Book
It’s Anita Hill’s turn.
Reports on Justice Clarence Thomas’ new book yesterday highlighted his anger at Hill, the woman who accused him of sexual harassment during confirmation hearings. Thomas called Hill his “most traitorous adversary” in his new memoir, My Grandfather’s Son.
Today, Hill defended her testimony in an appearance on ABC News’ Good Morning America and in a New York Times op-ed.
Hill writes that Thomas’ books “offers a litany of unsubstantiated representations and outright smears that Republican senators made about me when I testified before the Judiciary Committee—that I was a ‘combative left-winger’ who was ‘touchy’ and prone to overreacting to ‘slights.’ A number of independent authors have shown those attacks to be baseless.”
Hill says those accused of sexual harassment often attack their accusers. “Often the accused is a supervisor, in a position to describe the complaining employee’s work as ‘mediocre’ or the employee as incompetent,” she writes. “Those accused of inappropriate behavior also often portray the individuals who complain as bizarre caricatures of themselves—oversensitive, even fanatical, and often immoral.”
