I watched the much anticipated movie about the Clarence Thomas hearings last night in no small part because I would watch pretty much anything that stars Wendell Pierce and Kerry Washington. At any rate, it was very good, even though it left me yelling at the tv screen.
When the actual hearings happened, I was pretty much apolitical. I was on active duty in the military and just wasn’t very political. None of us were, really. I don’t remember any serious political discussions from the military other than a reference to Dana Carvey as George Bush on SNL, but that was about it. Times were different then in the army, I guess, plus it was in the pre cable news era and we didn’t have any American channels in Germany, anyway.
I do vaguely remember spending about 15 minutes watching the hearings, because I was home for leave post Kuwait/Iraq for a month. Actually flew into Houston with my buddy Geoff, spent a couple days there, drove to New Orleans for a week, then visited a couple of his buddies at Sewanee College, then came home. But that was about it for me- didn’t follow the hearings, didn’t care. I also sort of feel like the Supreme Court wasn’t quite as politicized as it is now.
So watching this last night, even though it was a movie adaptation of reality, was kind of shocking. It was a straight up smear campaign against Anita Hill. The thing that got me the most, though, was the way that Clarence Thomas wrapped himself up in his African-American identity, with the high-tech lynching language, and then, after his confirmation, has repeatedly voted against the interests that effect African Americans. It really explains why so many black people really, really, detest Thomas. That he was replacing Thurgood Marshall is the cherry on top.
At one point in the movie, there was a line to the effect of “no one on the hill can believe the Democrats have done such a bad job with this” and I thought to myself that some things never change.
Done rambling. Watch it if you can.