#12booksof2020 #day5 #fivegoldrings
@Andrew65
390pts #teamreadnosedreindeer #wintergames2020 @StayCurious
Andrew65 Good choice. 4y
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Speaking Truth to Power | 
#12booksof2020 #day5 #fivegoldrings
@Andrew65
390pts #teamreadnosedreindeer #wintergames2020 @StayCurious
pickI was in high school when the Thomas hearings happened. I picked up this book after seeing it here on Litsy so I could get a little more background than what a typical teenager would get from the evening news. After reading this I am so frustrated that things don‘t seem to have changed yet (but are hopefully heading that way.) Hill was only doing her job, and it changed the course of her life.
#CYOReadathon book 4 #Scarathalon2020 #TeamSlaughter
After finishing the #TruthToPowerBuddyRead last month, I wondered how she felt about both the Kavanaugh hearings and how she felt about Joe Biden‘s candidacy now....guess that answers one, even for her Trump is a bridge too far.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/anita-hill-joe-biden-voting/index.html
pickSo good! This story is frustrating and maddening, but I‘m so glad she wrote it. The parallels with the recent Kavanaugh hearings are numerous, and since Thomas & Kavanaugh are now lifelong coworkers, I can only hope that Hill & Ford can at some point talk because only they truly understand the horrible gauntlet we ask citizens to go through, and the fallout that follows for years afterward as their statements become fodder for partisan politics.⤵️
I had completely forgotten about this (maybe I blocked it out) without evidence they decided she suffered from a very rare De Clarembault‘s syndrome/Erotomania, basically obsessing a relationship with someone (a famous case had happened with John Hinckly trying to assassinate Reagan, for Jodi Foster). They accused Hill of being obsessed with Thomas and that her details were so vivid because of her fantasies about him.🤮
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“Lack of time” can‘t call them...
I‘m having serious Kavanaugh Deja vu here...more women come forward (can‘t talk to them), and remember when they called in an “expert” to question Ford, but then dropped that for Kavanaugh‘s testimony...it wasn‘t going the way they wanted, and of course...no time!
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OMG! If you thought trolling wasn‘t invented until the internet...wrong!
Seriously, how many of them went on to work in Washington, I wonder? Maybe some became Senators themselves... 🤢🤮
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🙄...well at least with #MeToo I‘m hoping we‘ve moved past the idea that it‘s (only) a class issue, or that black women wouldn‘t be worried about harassment (I don‘t even want to delve into the racism of that idea😑)
#TruthToPowerBuddyRead
And again, other women come forward with their own stories...but they would never be given a chance to testify.
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“The campaign continued with the Republicans taking the position that they had “to win at any cost.” Senator Danforth would admit later that he pursued this strategy with no regard to fairness for me. To suggest that he had no regard to fairness for me also indicates a lack of regard for fairness to the confirmation process itself, as a fair process generally requires fairness to all sides involved.”
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So ironic, as he has since voted against things like the Voting Rights Act, because they aren‘t necessary anymore.... so it obviously didn‘t change his view on things too much. 😕
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“Thomas further charged that my statement and testimony were the product of a conspiracy by “someone or some groups.” Though he failed to assert who or how the conspiracy evolved, this statement, like so many of the Republican senators‘ statements, went unchallenged.“
The “He delivered his most angry and intimidating remarks about the process” & it all must be a conspiracy....sounds so familiar!
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You want to think they are clueless, and then you read some of the same similar tactics...used about 20 years ago...and realize it‘s a tried and true public manipulation game.
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That sounds really familiar....
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If only congressional hearings had rules...what a novel idea that would be.... hmmm🤔
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I could have chosen a lot of quotes from this book, but went with this one as it sounded like Anita was optimistic about the future when she wrote it.
#integrateyourshelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn
Oh, they excel at that! Currently whole careers are based on that, in my opinion.
Honestly, I‘m feeling a bit nostalgic here, for a time when both Anita and I held public officials to a higher standard...or were naive enough to think they held themselves to one.
#TruthToPowwrBuddyRead
Reading this I feel like I could literally change the names and this would be the Kavanaugh hearings (except of course for some of the Senators who are literally the same people)!
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Makes me think of the ladies that pleaded with Senator Flake at the elevator for an investigation, to, if nothing else, show that they believed women enough to at least INVESTIGATE a claim before going ahead with a vote.
She published this in 1997 by the way, over 20 years before Kavanaugh‘s hearing...which makes it even more eerie to have it play out so similarly.
#TruthToPowerBuddyRrad
“The double standard casts harassment as “personal behavior” rather than behavior that reflects on professionalism.”
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This look at it from the view of a lawyer is so interesting... the law perspective from Hill, the psychology one from Ford, we really couldn‘t have picked 2 women better suited to explain the problems with the system than these two. I hope after it was all over they were able to connect, only they really understand the process...
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So after her confidential statement was leaked to the press, and the press contacted her...she gave a public statement....then all hell broke loose, and surprising it‘s almost the exact same story as the one earlier this year...the harassment by strangers, one‘s who thought she defaming their guy, and the senators themselves....
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A statement that isn‘t shared, then shared widely, then it is indeed leaked to the press.... and then the attacks in the woman‘s character by Senators begins.....that pattern sounds so familiar it about makes me sick.
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🙄 so many parallels with the most recent hearings....
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“Instead I became more determined”
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#NeverTheLess
The more I read the more this sounds a lot like the Kavanaugh story... I‘m left thinking that instead of learning from the Anita Hill Hearings, they adopted those as policies on how to get rid of stories they didn‘t like or want to hear.
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This book covers so many topics, this little bit between when she stopped working for Thomas and when he‘s was being considered for the Supreme Court, made me think of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and sadly, the disparity woman of color still see in doctors taking their condition and pain seriously. Again, I problem we still are trying to address over 30 years later!
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Some of this background, about her work for Thomas before he was nominated to the Supreme Court is so interesting... in light of the current admin I‘m finding the info about loyalty pledges & the difficulty of filling charges to those in charge of handling them very interesting. It‘s a problem we are still combating today, I can‘t help thinking of sexual harassment in the military that we‘ve been trying to get out of the chain of command.
It‘s so interesting to get into this book and the case that really started the discussion about sexual harassment that we are still dealing with today as #MeToo
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bailedHaving to bail on this one unfortunately - I give a book 100 pages and if I'm not enjoying by that point, I bail!
I would recommend reading this if you're already familiar with the court case, but I wasn't and I think that's why it's just not gripping me💔
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A part of history I hadn‘t heard much about until the recent Tulsa Rally, Juneteenth mess and the info that came out about that period of history afterwards. Another reason why I should have read this book sooner.
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Territory. Several viable black townships sprang up with the help of the railroad. The best known is Boley, Oklahoma, which, in its prime, boasted a post office, 2 banks, and its own city government. Prior to statehood in 1907, rumors that the federal government might set aside all or part of Oklahoma Territory as a freedmen state encouraged even more blacks to come. These talks reportedly went all the way to the secretary of state in Washington.”
#TruthToPowerBuddyRead Wrap-up
Well it‘s been a month, and I‘m sorry to say I‘m behind on my own read along...I probably won‘t finish up until later this week. Sorry for dropping the ball their ladies and gentleman. I‘ve seen your reviews though and it looks like, so far anyway, I‘m in agreement. It‘s a very interesting and sadly still very relatable read.
@moll @ramblingsofareader @samanne @sb3626 @jenniferw88 @j9brown @maria514626
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
1. Cooking
2. Tagged, plus The Secret Piano
3. Helena Bonham Carter!
Tagging @kezzlou85 @crimson613 @TrishB @Megabooks @DebinHawaii @JoyBlue @TheBookbabeblog84 @nelehelen @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
About 45% in to this memoir. I loved the first part of the book where she writes about her great-grandparents grandparents, and parents, and what prompted her family to flee Arkansas for Oklahoma, only to find that they weren't escaping racism and violence there either. Her family story is straight out of Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. Now getting into the Thomas hearing saga. #TruthtoPowerBuddyRead
#julystats. Have tagged the most interesting one!
Also this ends my lockdown reading challenge - total books read 46. You can see them all here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222546637351074&id=1125150677
pickWow. All I kept thinking was "oh my God nothing has changed." A powerful read, though, Anita Hill is so strong and brilliant.
Looking forward to our #truthtopowerbuddyread chat!
For everyone who wanted check in‘s or reminders, we are about a week into our group read. Has everyone picked up the book yet (if you didn‘t have it already), have you started reading yet. Or maybe rushed through and finished already?
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@moll @ramblingsofareader @samanne @sb3626 @jenniferw88 @j9brown @maria514626
pickI loved this and raced through it for the #truthtopowerbuddyread - I‘ll hold my detailed thoughts for when we discuss it at the end of a month but I‘m really keen to discuss! Love Anita Hill and have so much admiration and respect for her.
Hello #truthtopowerbuddyread friends! I knew that Joe Biden was involved in this incident somehow but I wasn‘t expecting him to be the first three words of chapter one! I guess this is more topical than I even realised! I heard about Hill vs Thomas a little bit at school as background to a text I studied for A Level but as it happened before I was born I was always hazy on the details.
Fulfilling my solemn obligation to keep the Foyles cafe in business by making a start on the #truthtopowerbuddyread while drinking tea, eating chocolate cake and listening to Patti Smith. If only I could afford to do this every day I‘m in London it would be heavenly. The cafe is completely empty so it‘s like having a living room to escape to while my boyfriend commandeers our room as an office.
Just a reminder the #TruthToPowerBuddyRead hosted by @Emilymdxn and myself officially begins today! We‘ll be posting reminders weekly to anyone interested in receiving them and having a causal discussion in a month.
