Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality.A NEW TAKE ON HILL & THOMAS While Court of Appeal stands strong as a record of reactions, Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill For other persons with this name, see . Anita Faye Hill (born July 30 1956) is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management , Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist and has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991. He is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall. , and the Construction of Social Reality, edited by Toni Morrison Noun 1. Toni Morrison - United States writer whose novels describe the lives of African-Americans (born in 1931) Chloe Anthony Wofford, Morrison , stands tall as a collection of reflections. These 18 essays by such distinguished academicians (black and white) as Nellie K. McKay, Manning Marable and Patricia J. Williams Patricia J. Williams (b. 1951) is a prominent law critic and a proponent of critical race theory, an offshoot of 1960s social movements that emphasizes race as a fundamental determinant of the American legal system. were, with one exception, commissioned for this book, and the contributors were given - or took - space to stretch out on their opinions and ideas. "For insight into the complicated and complicating events that the confirmation of Clarence Thomas became," writes Morrison in her introduction, "one needs perspective, not attitude; context, not anecdotes; analyses, not postures." And on this count, the book doesn't disappoint, whether it is Michael Thelwell's insightful meditation on the wrongheadedness and insidiousness of black conservatism, or Gayle Pemberton's review of the hearings from James Baldwin's perspective, with prophetic words on race, race relations and our freedom quest. Like Court of Appeal, Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power drives home important truths. These include: Stereotypes about black men and women are as pervasive as they always were; sexual harassment sexual harassment, in law, verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, aimed at a particular person or group of people, especially in the workplace or in academic or other institutional settings, that is actionable, as in tort or under equal-opportunity statutes. is not taken seriously by most people; racism, sexism and classism class·ism n. Bias based on social or economic class. class  ist adj. & n. are very
much alive and thriving; and the real winners of this Clash of the
Bourgies were white people left, right and center.
These essays move readers to look beyond the spectacle and study the larger issues and forces. The book is challenging, but if you stick with it, at the end you care less about who was lying and more about what you can do to counter racism and sexism. |
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