From police brutality to sexual harassment, the lawyer fights to ensure black women’s experiences are not ignored. So why are her ideas being denounced?
It was October 1991 and Anita Hill was testifying against Clarence Thomas. At the judge’s US supreme court confirmation hearing, Hill, his former aide, claimed he had sexually harassed her. Kimberlé Crenshaw was assisting Hill’s legal team and felt dejected and exhausted. As she left the capitol building in Washington DC that day, she saw a group of African Americans, mostly women, gathered at the bottom of the steps in a prayer circle. She let out a sigh of relief and walked towards them.
“I thought: ‘Oh, thank God, a place we can go and embrace each other, because this is a struggle,’” Crenshaw says. It was the day before Thomas’ confirmation, and she felt the future of the civil rights movement was on the line. But when she reached the group, she saw they were wearing T-shirts proclaiming their support for Thomas. She watched with dread as they sang songs of praise and called Hill a jezebel. “It was like a horror film,” she says. “You think you’re safe, but it turns out that the people you’re running to are actually infected with whatever you’re running from.”
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