英文精彩演讲的稿开场白集锦公司会议演讲稿开场白

英文精彩演讲稿开场白集
锦 公司会议演讲稿开场
白
Opening Statement
mr. chairman, senator thurmond, members of the mittee, my
name is anita f. hill, and i am a professor of law at the
university of oklahoma. i was born on a farm in okmulgee
county, oklahoma, in 1956. i am the youngest of 13 children.
i had my early education in okmulgee county. my father,
albert hill, is a farmer in that area. my mothers name is irma
hill. she is also a farmer and a housewife.
my childhood was one of a lot of hard work and not much
money, but it was one of solid family affection, as
represented by my parents. i was reared in a religious
atmosphere in the baptist faith, and i he been a member of
the antioch baptist church in tulsa, oklahoma, since 1983. it
is a very warm part of my life at the present time.
for my undergraduate work, i went to oklahoma state
university and graduated from there in 1977. i am attaching

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to this statement a copy of my resume for further details of
my education.
i graduated from the university with academic honors and
proceeded to the yale law school, where i received my jd
degree in 1980. upon graduation from law school, i became a
practicing lawyer with the washington, dc, firm of ward,
hardraker, and ross.
in 1981, i was introduced to now judge thomas by a mutual
friend. judge thomas told me that he was anticipating a
political appointment, and he asked if i would be interested
in working with him. he was, in fact, appointed as assistant
secretary of education for civil rights. after he had taken
that post, he asked if i would bee his assistant, and i accepted
that position.
in my early period there, i had two major projects. the first
was an article i wrote for judge thomas signature on the
education of minority students. the second was the anization
of a seminar on high-risk students which was abandoned
because judge thomas transferred to the eeoc where he
became the chairman of that office.
during this period at the department of education, my
working relationship with judge thomas was positive. i had a

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good deal of responsibility and independence. i thought he
respected my work and that he trusted my judgment. after
approximately three months of working there, he asked me
to go out socially with him.
what happened next and telling the world about it are the
two most difficult things -- experiences of my life. it is only
after a great deal of agonizing consideration and sleepless
number -- a great number of sleepless nights that i am able
to talk of these unpleasant matters to anyone but my close
friends.
i declined the invitation to go out socially with him and
explained to him that i thought it would jeopardize what at
the time i considered to be a very good working relationship.
i had a normal social life with other men outside of the office.
i believed then, as now, that hing a social relationship with a
person who was supervising my work would be ill-advised. i
was very unfortable with the idea and told him so.
i thought that by saying no and explaining my reasons my
employer would abandon his social suggestions. however, to
my regret, in the following few weeks, he continued to ask
me out on several occasions. he pressed me to justify my
reasons for saying no to him. these incidents took place in his

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office or mine. they were in the form of private
conversations which would not he been overheard by anyone
else.
my working relationship became even more strained when
judge thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex. on
these occasions, he would call me into his office for reports
on education issues and projects, or he might suggest that,
because of the time pressures of his schedule, we go to lunch
to a government cafeteria. after a brief discussion of work,
he would turn the conversation to a discussion of sexual
matters.
his conversations were very vivid. he spoke about acts that
he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as
women hing sex with animals and films showing group sex
or rape scenes. he talked about pornographic materials
depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts
involved in various sex acts. on several occasions, thomas
told me graphically of his own sexual prowess.
because i was extremely unfortable talking about sex with
him at all and particularly in such a graphic way, i told him
that i did not want to talk about these subjects. i would also
try to change the subject to education matters or to

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nonsexual personal matters such as his background or his
beliefs. my efforts to change the subject were rarely
successful.
throughout the period of these conversations, he also from
time to time asked me for social engagements. my reaction to
these conversations was to oid them by eliminating
opportunities for us to engage in extended conversations.
this was difficult because at the time i was his only assistant
at the office of education -- or office for civil rights.
during the latter part of my time at the department of
education, the social pressures and any conversation of his
offensive behior ended. i began both to believe and hope that
our working relationship could be a proper, cordial, and
professional one.
when judge thomas was made chair of the eeoc, i needed to
face the question of whether to go with him. i was asked to
do so, and i did. the work itself was interesting, and at that
time it appeared that the sexual overtures which had so
troubled me had ended. i also faced the realistic fact that i
had no alternative job. while i might he gone back to private
practice, perhaps in my old firm or at another, i was
dedicated to civil rights work, and my first choice was to be

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in that field. moreover, the department of education itself
was a dubious venture. president reagan was seeking to
abolish the entire department.
for my first months at the eeoc, where i continued to be an
assistant to judge thomas, there were no sexual
conversations or overtures. however, during the fall and
winter of 1982, these began again. the ments were random
and ranged from pressing me about why i didnt go out with
him to remarks about my personal appearance. i remember
his saying that some day i would he to tell him the real
reason that i wouldnt go out with him.
he began to show displeasure in his tone and voice and his
demeanor and his continued pressure for an explanation. he
mented on what i was wearing in terms of whether it made
me more or less sexually attractive. the incidents occurred in
his inner office at the eeoc.
one of the oddest episodes i remember was an occasion in
which thomas was drinking a coke in his office. he got up
from the table at which we were working, went over to his
desk to get the coke, looked at the can and asked, who has
pubic hair on my coke? on other occasions, he referred to
the size of his own penis as being larger than normal, and he

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also spoke on some occasions of the pleasures he had given to
women with oral sex.

at this point, late 1982, i began to feel severe stress on the job.
i began to be concerned that clarence thomas might take out
his anger with me by degrading me or not giving me
important assignments. i also thought that he might find an
excuse for dismissing me.
in january of 1983, i began looking for another job. i was
handicapped because i feared that, if he found out, he might
make it difficult for me to find other employment and i
might be dismissed from the job i had. another factor that
made my search more difficult was that there was a period --
this was during a period of a hiring freeze in the government.
in february of 1983, i was hospitalized for five days on an
emergency basis for acute stomach pain which i attributed to
stress on the job.
once out of the hospital, i became more mitted to find other
employment and sought further to minimize my contact with
thomas. this became easier when allison duncan (sp) became
office director, because most of my work was then funneled
through her and i had contact with clarence thomas mostly

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in staff meetings.
in the spring of 1983, an opportunity to teach at oral roberts
university opened up. i participated in a seminar -- taught an
afternoon session and seminar at oral roberts university. the
dean of the university saw me teaching and inquired as to
whether i would be interested in furthering -- pursuing a
career in teaching, beginning at oral roberts university. i
agreed to take the job in large part because of my desire to
escape the pressures i felt at the eeoc due to judge thomas.
when i informed him that i was leing in july, i recall that his
response was that now i would no longer he an excuse for not
going out with him. i told him that i still preferred not to do
so. at some time after that meeting, he asked if he could take
me to dinner at the end of the term. when i declined, he
assured me that the dinner was a professional courtesy only
and not a social invitation. i reluctantly agreed to accept that
invitation, but only if it was at the every end of a working
day.
on, as i recall, the last day of my employment at the eeoc in
the summer of 1983, i did he dinner with clarence thomas.
we went directly from work to a restaurant near the office.
we talked about the work i had done, both at education and

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at the eeoc. he told me that he was pleased with all of it
except for an article and speech that i had done for him
while we were at the office for civil rights. finally, he made a
ment that i will vividly remember. he said that if i ever told
anyone of his behior that it would ruin his career. this was
not an apology, nor was it an explanation. that was his last
remark about the possibility of our going out or reference to
his behior.
in july of 1983, i left washington, dc area and he had
minimal contact
with judge clarence thomas since. i am of course aware from
the press that some questions he been raised about
conversations i had with judge clarence thomas after i left
the eeoc. from 1983 until today, i he seen judge thomas only
twice. on one occasion, i needed to get a reference from him,
and on another he made a public appearance in tulsa.
on one occasion he called me at home and we had an
inconsequential conversation. on one occasion he called me
without reaching me, and i returned the call without
reaching him, and nothing came of it. i he on at least three
occasions, been asked to act as a conduit to him for others.
i knew his secretary, diane holt. we had worked together at

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both eeoc and education. there were occasions on which i
spoke to her, and on some of these occasions undoubtedly i
passed on some casual ment to then chairman thomas. there
were a series of calls in the first three months of 1985,
occasioned by a group in tulsa, which wished to he a civil
rights conference. they wanted judge thomas to be the
speaker and enlisted my assistance for this purpose.
i did call in january and february to no effect, and finally
suggested to the person directly involved, susan cahal (ph)
that she put the matter into her own hands and call directly.
she did so in march of 1985. in connection with that march
invitation, ms. cahal (ph) wanted conference materials for
the seminar and some research was needed. i was asked to
try to get the information and did attempted to do so.
there was another call about another possible conference in
july of 1985. in august of 1987, i was in washington, dc and i
did call diane holt. in the course of this conversation, she
asked me how long i was going to be in town and i told her. it
is recorded in the message as august
15. it was, in fact, august 20th. she told me about judge
thomass marriage and i did say congratulate him.
it is only after a great deal of agonizing consideration that i

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am able to talk of these unpleasant matters to anyone except
my closest friends. as ive said before these last few days he
been very trying and very hard for me and it hasnt just been
the last few days this week. it has actually been over a month
now that i he been under the strain of this issue.
telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life,
but it is very close to hing to live through the experience that
occasion this meeting. i may he used poor judgment early on
in my relationship with this issue. i was aware, however, that
telling at any point in my career could adversely affect my
future career. and i did not want early on to burn all the
bridges to the eeoc.
as i said, i may he used poor judgment. perhaps i should he
taken angry or even militant steps, both when i was in the
agency, or after i left it. but i must confess to the world that
the course that i took seemed the better as well as the easier
approach.
i declined any ment to newspapers, but later when senate
staff asked me about these matters i felt i had a duty to
report. i he no personal vendetta against clarence thomas. i
seek only to provide the mittee with information which it
may regard as relevant.

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it would he been more fortable to remain silent. i took no
initiative to inform anyone. but when i was asked by a
representative of this mittee to report my experience, i felt
that i had to tell the truth. i could not keep silent.





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