An offering of flash nonfiction that points to a jarring lack of accountability for the privileged and powerful…
by: Carol E. Anderson
After Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme court
After Anita Hill exposed him as a sexual predator
After he talked about pornographic materials depicting men with large penises
After he spoke of his own sexual prowess
After she spoke her truth in a controlled and dignified manner
After Thomas weaponized the accusations calling the hearings a “circus” and a “national disgrace”
After Senator Orrin Hatch accused Hill of having a delusional sex addiction
After the group of 14 white male senators decided Anita Hill, a black woman, was a liar
After Thomas was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice
After those same senators comforted him for being unjustly accused
After Anita Hill received menacing phone calls, insults, and death threats
After she received a notice that a bomb had been placed at her home
After the stench of injustice smelled like old white entitled men
After the smell lingered like a canopy of smog for twenty-seven years
Part II
After the “Me Too” Movement exposed the truth about the danger of being a woman
After Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court twenty-seven years after Clarence Thomas
After Christine Blassey Ford came forward with charges of sexual assault against him
After she described the floor plan of the house, how she was ambushed on her way to the bathroom and heard the sound of the two boys laughing as Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, fumbled to remove her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.
After she said she was “one hundred percent” certain it was Kavanaugh
After she testified in a calm and respectful manner
After Kavanaugh screamed and ranted and weaponized her accusations with his tantrum
After a poll found that 45% of respondents thought Ford was telling the truth
After 33% believed Kavanaugh.
After the all-male, Republican, white men at the hearing defended him
After they voted to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court
After the senators confirming him apologized for the suffering he and his family had endured
After Christine Blassey Ford was shamed, stalked, and threatened
After she and her family were driven from their home, bullied by death threats
After critics smeared her as a two-bit political operative and sneered at her sexual history
After she was still standing
Women around the world fell to the floor in silence, once more.
Carol E. Anderson’s publications include You Can’t Buy Love Like That: Growing Up Gay in the Sixties, a memoir, and other work has been published in The Huffington Post, Hippocampus, Bending Genres, and Metaworker.
