Sojourner Truth Lecture: Anita Hill

I really enjoyed going to Anita Hill's lecture, "Re-imagining Equality: Gender, Race and Finding Home in America". Sadly, I wasn't too aware of who Anita Hill was going into the presentation. I may have heard about her before, but I honestly didn't remember.

The issue of sexual harassment is such a major one, especially in the workplace. For the longest time, people weren't speaking up about for a number of reasons I'm sure: too afraid, too ashamed, knowledge that nothing would happen if they did so why even bother. But Anita Hill made a stand that many other people, especially women, didn't make at that time: she spoke out. For years women had simply suffered in silence, but because of her boldness and willingness to risk everything for the basic human rights of everyone in the workplace, now women have a voice to speak out. What Anita really emphasized was the need to rejoice in improvement. Of course we shouldn't settle for just improvement when the issue is still at hand, but too often we forget to celebrate the victorious battles even though the war is raging. It is going to take years to overcome all the years of oppression, harassment, etc. in the workplace, much less the nation or world; but the encouragement is really needed for people to continue fighting.

Anita's speech was more of a rally in my opinion. She was encouraging all of us to rally together for this cause and begin to do our part to make change happen. "We need people who are fearless and better legislators" - said Anita. "We need to not be able to have people file a claim when they are sexually harassed, but assure them that they won't need to file a claim!" That second quote really hit me and inside I was like "YOU'RE RIGHT!!!" The point isn't to make sure that people get justice when they are harassed or attacked (although that is definitely the first step), the point is to make sure that harassment is ended in the workplace altogether. As she was closing Anita said "If you're really committed to a change, it has to be a lifetime one!" and I really liked that statement because so often we get rallied and excited for a cause and we start pursuing for a while and then slowly it dies off and we go right back to normal. The commitment Anita made was for life: a lifetime devotion to fighting sexual harassment in the workplace. She is fighting through her speeches and campaigns and other similar means. Not all of us will have the opportunity to reach out in that way, but we can make a lifetime commitment to fight for the important issues in our lives through our actions such as: supporting (or not supporting) specific organizations, people, etc. It's always encouraging to see people like me, African-American women, making a difference in the world simply through their boldness. It really encourages me to do the same!