• About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • 2020 Alumnae Achievement Awards Held Virtually; 3 Awardees Honored
      2020 Alumnae Achievement Awards Held Virtually; 3 Awardees Honored
    • Students Remember the Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
      Students Remember the Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
    • First-Year Students Reflect on Their Expectations for College, One Semester In
      First-Year Students Reflect on Their Expectations for College, One Semester In
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • No image
      You have no valid reasons to oppose raising the minimum wage
    • No image
      Free the pee: cut the hygiene theater and let us use other bathrooms
    • Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
      Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • “Judas and the Black Messiah” subverts, soars as Civil Rights story
      “Judas and the Black Messiah” subverts, soars as Civil Rights story
    • Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations for BHM!
      Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations for BHM!
    • Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
      Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
  • Health and Wellness
    • COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
      COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
    • No image
      Athletic impacts of Covid-19
    • No image
      A new kind of PE
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • Miscellanea
    • No image
      Remote students experience existential crises; change class years in email signatures
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
      Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
    • The Artichoke
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Emma Burke OpinionsMay 9, 2019

Joe Biden’s apology to Anita Hill emphasizes how little the United States cares about black women

Photo Courtesy of Slate

Former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden announced on April 25 that he will be running for president in 2020. Rumors of Biden’s candidacy have been circulating since the end of the Obama administration; once it was finally confirmed in his campaign video, Biden received an 11 point bump in the polls. Recently, Biden has become increasingly vocal about his poor handling of the Anita Hill testimony during the confirmation hearings of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. Notably, weeks before his announcement, Biden reached out to Hill in order to apologize, however, she publicly acknowledged her dissatisfaction with their conversation and has since shared she does not consider his words to be an apology. His timing for reaching out is at the very least suspect, and considering he remained virtually silent on the issue for 25 years, it is fair to assume Biden hopes to rid his closet of any and all skeletons that may cast a shadow on his campaign.

Why is this important?

As the 2020 presidential election creeps closer, American voters must hunker down and seriously decide who they would be willing to cast a vote for. I say “willing” because the United States has a much lower voter turnout than other established democracies. Low voter turnout is generally attributed to political disengagement and a belief that no matter which candidate takes office, little will be done to create change; according to FairVote, since 1916, no more than 63.8 percent of eligible voters have participated in a presidential election. This statistic could be partially explained by both historical and current systematic issues of illegal voter restriction (i.e. Jim Crow, felony disenfranchisement), however, when looking at the pool of Democratic candidates running alongside Biden, a good portion of voters can’t help but feel uninspired. As of May 6, 2019, the former vice president had a 32 point lead in the Democratic presidential race. The reality of Biden’s past and current political success reeks of injustice alongside his “apology” to Hill. Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot, who will soon be the first black woman to lead Chicago, commented: “I don’t think Anita Hill needs his apology. But give an account of your behavior with a lot of hindsight.”

When pressed by co-host on The View Joy Behar to explicitly apologize so as to “clean this up,” Biden responded with: “I said privately what I said publicly, I am sorry she was treated the way she was treated.” His inability to plainly apologize for his role, and not simply for the way she was treated, is indicative that Biden is truly unaware of the damage he caused. Beyond publically vilifying a survivor of sexual harassment, he was active in Clarence Thomas’s ascension to the Supreme Court.

Biden’s behavior marks him as a questionable candidate, however, respected positions in the United States government have been held by equally if not more controversial figures. If we were to look at the last presidential election, the two frontrunners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, were heavily criticized for their pasts and rightfully so. As Biden climbs the polls, however, it becomes evident why his track record with Hill is doing little to diminish his political currency.

If anything was learned from the Hill-Thomas debacle, it was that the United States government does not believe or care about black women. The dismissal of her claims and that of other women Thomas harassed, coupled with the racist- and sexist-motivated backlash endured by Hill, cannot be remedied with a half-hearted apology. Hill’s bravery was unprecedented and her actions can most recently be compared to that of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who similarly took to public testifying against her abuser –– current Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh.

The country watched, as they did in 1991, as the United States Senate once again made clear they didn’t believe or care about not just black but white women. As white women are a group with clearly more privilege than their black counterparts, Kavanaugh’s confirmation catalyzed the popularization of the famed #MeToo movement. A much needed widespread conversation was finally started –– although only after the victim was white –– about whether or not the American public cared about survivors of sexual assault/harassment. In light of this history, it will be difficult for people who care about this issue to vote with a clear conscious for Biden, but the question is whether or not the people who care outweigh the people who don’t.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleDr. Steady’s symposium proves to be not only a display of appreciation but also of cultural appropriation
Next articleA letter from the Editors-in-Chief

You may also like

You have no valid reasons to oppose raising the minimum wage

Free the pee: cut the hygiene theater and let us use other bathrooms

A piece of pizza missing topings.

Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?

3 Comments

  • Bog Gemale says:
    May 9, 2019 at 8:38 AM

    So how about that Clarence Thomas: “He is currently the most senior associate justice on the Court following the retirement of Anthony Kennedy. Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall and is the second African American to serve on the Court. Among the current members of the Court he is the longest-serving justice.”

    Have his old-fashioned ways disappeared from black communities? Does anyone in the black community really care if their rap idols boast about living the life of Clarence in word and deed?

    Reply
  • Jackary says:
    May 9, 2019 at 6:38 PM

    Very good analysis coupled with great historical background.

    Reply
  • Stephanie R. Baldwin says:
    October 13, 2019 at 4:56 PM

    American government and society have never cared for Black women. Society tend to see us as stereotypes and objects instead of real people with voices and feelings as well as agency. Both law enforcement and the judicial system tend to dismiss sexual assault and domestic violence complaints by Black women seriously. So, it’s no surprise that the U.S. Senate judiciary committee disrespected and dismissed Anita Hill along with three other Black women when investigating the allegations against Clarence Thomas. Anita Hill and the Black women were harassed and assaulted by the media, the government, and the general public and still are to this day.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Free the pee: cut the hygiene theater and let us use other b...
  • COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
  • Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
  • Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations fo...
  • You have no valid reasons to oppose raising the minimum wage

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top