Anita Hill Weighs In On Former Classmate Sonia Sotomayor

Anita Hill, a Brandeis University professor and former colleague of Justice Clarence Thomas, attended Yale with famous racialist Sonia Sotomayor. And she told Essence that she thinks she’s a smart lady despite being an angry fire-breathing Latina who eats the newborn babes of white men. 

Hill had some particularly interesting things to say about how Sotomayor’s ethnicity and background factor into her decision-making. And, frankly? We think Hill articulated these points in a more concise and less controversial manner than Sotomayor herself was able to:

 I think she’s a great choice not simply because she’s a Latina. She has acknowledged that as part of her identity, in a way that I think is very responsible and wise.

She has said, “This is the perspective that I come from.” But she has also said, “I understand that perspective, but I try not to allow that to lend itself to bias.”

I like that kind of embracing of one’s own identity, but also self-reflection. It means she’s going to be aware of who she is and understand how that plays in her decision-making, but she is also going to be quite aware of the rule of law and have great respect for the rule of law, and be able to apply it.

We are enriched in the judiciary by having both those concepts in one person, and so what some people have found troubling about her I actually find refreshingly candid and self-aware.

Anita Hill has had some experience when it comes to dealing very publicly with identity and speaking out for what one’s believe in despite folks who would really rather you did not. She is, after all, most famous for speaking out against Clarence Thomas after he harassed her with sexually provocative statements. When the interviewer cites Hill as a source of inspiration for women who are the victims of sexual harassment, Hill notes that her decision to testify against Justice Thomas went beyond her own experience:

I think people hadn’t learned that they had a right to speak out, that this was not something that they needed to tolerate. I keep hearing these stories from women who were inspired by those hearings. That wasn’t why I did it.

I did it because we were choosing somebody for the highest court in the land who was going to be appointed for a lifetime position, and I thought that the Senate ought to consider the information that I had in determining whether or not this nominee was fit for that position.

Hill’s statement is especially poignant given Sotomayor’s experience is taking precedence over her dedication to achieving what is just and lawful according to the United States. Just like Hill’s testimony was more than just about Anita Hill, we hope people behind to realize that Sotomayor’s future as a Supreme Court Justice is much more than just about Sonia Sotomayor’s identity as a Latina. 

Anita Hill’s thoughts on former classmate Sotomayor [CNN]