By Mary Palmer
Anita Hill's Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence is a powerful manifesto that examines the systemic nature of gender-based violence in America. Drawing on her own testimony against Clarence Thomas and decades of advocacy, Hill argues that this violence, encompassing everything from harassment to physical assault, is not merely comprised of individual acts, but rather is a deeply embedded cultural problem. Hill exposes the devices that perpetuate denial and institutional failures, highlighting how issues like racism and other biases intersect to complicate victims' paths to justice. But Hill also offers a hopeful vision. She calls for a shift in how society views and addresses gender violence, advocating for systemic change and emphasizing the importance of believing survivors as a crucial step toward creating a truly equitable and safe world.
Our group discussed how legislative hearings haven’t changed much since Anita Hill’s experience with an all-white, male committee. Then-Senator Joe Biden led the committee when Anita Hill testified against Clarence Thomas and only recently offered Hill a half-hearted apology for how she was treated. Black and Native women are treated unfairly when they are attacked. Intimate violence is handled as a private issue instead of a public one. The second most common complaint against police officers is sexual violence. Sixty percent of women complain of sexual harassment in the workplace. Female medical students and residents have been accosted or assaulted at work. Violations of individual rights are a precursor to democratic erosion.
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Our next meeting:
We are on our summer break, so our next meeting is on September 10th at 10:00 a.m. at the Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Parkway, St. Paul. At this meeting, we will discuss our summer book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, by Tim Alberta. We will also be choosing books for our next season, so if you can, send your book suggestions to Mary Palmer before September and she will put them in a chart. You can also bring your book ideas to our September meeting.
