WASHINGTON — When Judge Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court, black Americans wrestled to sort out the conflicting political and racial concerns set loose by the selection of a black, conservative Republican.
Now, in the wake of Prof. Anita Faye Hill's allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her, black men and women are asking themselves a new round of probing questions. This time, the debate centers on a far more personal and frustrating topic--black sexuality.
Just as African-Americans failed to find common political ground when Thomas was nominated, many are torn by the new focus on sexual harassment charges. But aside from the conflicts, there are issues of common concern. One is that the accusations will provide the white community with a titillating peek into the private lives of African-Americans. Other concerns are that Hill's charges will affect relationships between black men and black women and that they will give new life to old stereotypes about black sexuality.
Hill's shocking description of a scorned Thomas who bragged of his sexual abilities and suggested that she watch pornographic films with him proved to be an almost unbearable public spectacle, many black men and women said Friday.
"For us as black people, anything that occurs within the race, whether in the workplace, within our families or private lives, it's a deeply personal and private affair," said Kim Crenshaw, a professor at the UCLA Law School. "For that to be made so very public is a sense of violation of our collective privacy."
As both Thomas' and Hill's reputations were debated in front of 14 white men on the Senate Judiciary Committee and in front of countless others in homes and offices across the nation, many black Americans said that they felt as if their collective souls were being exposed.
Reflecting an often-expressed view, Donna Ball, an administrator for New York City, concluded that the nationally televised questioning "smacks of a peep show to entertain whites at black people's expense. We all know how somehow (white) people will use this against black people."
Some even see an internal concern generated by blacks attacking blacks.
"The dynamic of seeing one black person testify against another on an issue as important as the Supreme Court is very painful for black people to witness," Gail Wyatt, a UCLA professor and clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, said of Hill's testimony against Thomas. "We know so many negative statements are made about black people, and it hurts to hear yet another."
