[Peace-discuss] NYT: Biden Expresses Regret to Anita Hill, but She Says ‘I’m Sorry’ Is Not Enough

[Robert Naiman]

Well, if we can't hold him accountable on Iraq and Yemen, maybe he can be
held accountable on this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jonathan Martin
April 25, 2019

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called Anita Hill
earlier this month to express his regret over “what she endured” testifying
against Justice Clarence Thomas at the 1991 Supreme Court hearings that put
a spotlight on sexual harassment of women, according to a spokeswoman for
Mr. Biden.

But Ms. Hill, in an interview Wednesday, said she left the conversation
feeling *deeply unsatisfied* and *declined to characterize his words to her
as an apology*. She said she is *not convinced* that Mr. Biden truly
accepts the harm *he caused her and other women* who suffered sexual
harassment and gender violence.

“I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I’m sorry for what happened to you. *I
will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability*
and real purpose,” she said.

*She said she cannot support Mr. Biden*, who as chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee in 1991 oversaw the confirmation of Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas, *until he takes responsibility for what he did and
is also troubled by the recent accusations of improper touching*.

“The focus on apology to me is one thing,” she said. “But *he needs to give
an apology to the other women and to the American public* because we know
now how deeply disappointed Americans around the country were about what
they saw. And not just women. There are women and men now who have just
really lost confidence in our government to respond to the problem of
gender violence.”
[...]

Biden has long cast the hearings *in passive terms, as something that
happened to Ms. Hill, not something he and others did to her*. Ms. Hill has
said in the past that Mr. *Biden has never directly apologized for his
actions*.

===

Robert Reuel Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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