For Immediate Release
Contact: Claudia Smith Brinson, 803-546-1982
27th Annual ‘I Believe Anita Hill!’
More than 20 million watched the Sept. 27 Ford-Kavanaugh hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee via broadcast and cable networks. Then, the FBI conducted a truncated investigation regarding Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of sexual assault. Then, the Senate voted and confirmed Kavanaugh’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, 50-48.
Throughout, there is “I Believe Anita Hill!”
“I Believe Anita Hill!” is likely the nation’s oldest continuous remembrance of attorney and university professor Hill and her 1991 testimony about sexual harassment by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The 27th annual “I Believe Anita Hill!” networking event will be held in Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
The first event was held in 1992 as a way to channel the outrage many women felt about the way Hill had been treated by the all-white, all-male Judiciary Committee. This year, the hosts of Anita Hill have followed closely Ford’s testimony and Kavanaugh’s response, generally agreed to be angry and partisan, at the Sept. 27 hearing; the subsequent FBI investigation; and additional allegations of Kavanaugh’s youthful drinking and aggressive behavior.
“I Believe Anita Hill!” hosts are keenly aware of the many similarities between the 1991 and 2018 hearings. “Twenty-seven years later, we see that men in power still are not listening to women or treating women as equals,” said Barbara Rackes, managing host for the event. “The past few weeks, and the #MeToo movement, are reminders that the work of ‘I Believe Anita Hill!’ is far from finished.”
Over the years, the “I Believe Anita Hill!” event blossomed into a women-supporting-women networking event aimed at helping women be believed and respected. The group, which is nonpartisan, is composed of professional women and activists. The 100 hosts include lawyers, professors (of women’s studies, history, political science), sexual assault counselors, and providers of support and services to sexual assault and domestic violence survivors.
In 2016, 750 women and men joined Professor Hill when the networking event celebrated its silver anniversary. Hill, who limits her public events, also attended in 1997 and 2011. We expect strong attendance again, given current events.
Attendees can speak to S.C. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s five-minute outburst and its effect on his re-election in 2020, can compare aspects of the Hill and Ford testimony, can speak about the abbreviated FBI investigation, can discuss women’s engagement in #MeToo and post-hearing developments, and can reflect on predictions of another “Year of the Woman,” when women are expected to vote in great numbers for female candidates.
The Oct. 23 event will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 701 Whaley Street in Columbia. Admission is free and open to the public. Valet parking is available and free.
For more information, go to anitahillparty.com
Want to talk to prominent S.C. women about Hill and Ford or this “Year of the Woman”? Contact us.