If you have the luxury of having cable television then you might have heard about Ryan Murphy’s latest piece of FX that details the events of the O.J Simpson trial. Saturday brings yet another feature television event, this time to HBO. And just like The People v.s OJ Simpson, this one is cloaked in racial issues and gender conflicts.
It stars Kerry Washington (Scandal) as Anita Hill and Wendell Pierce as Clarence Thomas. Just like the OJ trial, these were real events. Many of us aren’t old enough to know what they are now but just like they were relevant then, they’re still relevant now. Anita Hill was a law professor who received a phone call asking if she’d been a victim of sexual harassment or abuse from her former coworker, Clarence Thomas. At first, like many women today, she declined to speak about her experiences however, she eventually took the stand. When she did, she was thrown into the circus that made the 1991 sexual harassment case so enticing. But, by coming forward with detailed accounts of inappropriate behavior and abuse, Hill was met with what all women who come forward with their stories are met with— shock and disbelief. By telling people what happened to her, she was made into a victim by prosecutors and the public alike. Today we call this victim blaming, then they called it a fair trial.
The film opens up discussion for topics that have always existed but we tiptoe around them. The question posed however, is how far have we come since the infamous trial? Sure, colleges and work places have sexual harassment orientations but, what good is an orientation if we don’t follow through with punishment. Many more women are coming forward with their stories but of those women only a small percent actually make it to court. A smaller percent of the people accused are found guilty. Our judicial system still allows colleges to ignore rape claims and it has never supported women who accuse upstanding men. The Hill versus Thomas case and the retelling of it to a younger audience shows that not only has it been almost twenty-five years since it happened, but that not much has changed since then. We need this movie, and we will probably always need this movie; until something changes and we don’t.
Confirmation is available to watch on HBO and HBO GO.
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