Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Sex and Justice

Kawveh Alagheband
AP United States Government and Politics
Mrs. Gordon
March 2, 2016

Sex & Justice

  1. Justice Clarence Thomas exclaims that this trial is a "high-tech lynching" and that the charges against him played into racist and bigoted stereotypes. What Thomas is trying to convey when he says "high-tech lynching" is that his reputation has been killed through these sexual allegations. Lynchings were actual murders against African American people, but the lynching he is referring to is of his reputation, saying that it is forever dead. He continuously referred to the trial to have a major aspect of racism and bigotry, even though both Hill and Thomas are African-American.  During Hill's questioning, she continuously brought specific events and facts of when she considered to be harassed. Some Senators, such as Specter, didn't take what she said into consideration but badgered her on facts and repeatedly questioned her morality as a woman and a legal professional. During Clarence Thomas' questioning, Specter made it very obvious whose side he was on  by literally believing every word that came out of Thomas' mouth. Specter even brought out a book that also a reference to "long-dong silver" that defeated the truthfulness of Hill's testimony. Thomas could only agree with his comments and when actually questioned about actual facts of the case, he continued to be on the defensive and "protect" his name against these allegations. He also brought up racial aspects of the trial, using buzz words and phrases like "high-tech lynching" in order to get attention as a victim and also to get a reaction that forces the Senators assessing this trial to refuse any aspect of bigotry because they were all white-males. Using this word got the Senators on his side using guilt which would definitely cause an inevitable win. The comments towards hill were overall biased against, almost as if Thomas had already won. I believe the fact that the committee came into the trial with a bias against Hill, she never had a very big chance to beat Thomas. 
  2. The Red Scare hearings were held by Joseph McCarthy in the 1950's. Hollywood actors and personal were forced to testify that they were anti-communism and really just "true Americans". Until they did these testimonies, McCarthy and his administration jailed, fined and blacklisted from Hollywood. These actors that refused to go along with these lost all of their credibility that they had  gained while in "show-biz". The Thomas v. Hill case were very similar to the Red Scare cases because they were both highly publicized, but besides publication, there aren't many similarities. 

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