On View : The Issue Was Race : DOCUMENTARY MAKER LOOKS AT HILL VS. THOMAS AND ITS IMPACT ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS

A year ago, Americans sat transfixed to their television sets watching the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, which culminated in Anita Hill’s sexual harassment charges against her former boss.

Newspapers and television played the Hill-Thomas hearings as another chapter in the never-ending battle of the sexes. Thomas eventually was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, and Hill became a heroine to many women because she brought the previously taboo subject into the spotlight. The sexual harassment issue galvanized women around the country into running for political office this year.

But to the African-American community, the issue of the hearings was race. The new “Frontline” documentary, “Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill: Public Hearing, Private Pain,” explores how the hearings affected African-Americans.

Emmy-winning producer Ofra Bikel spent nine months interviewing dozens of male and female African-Americans--including ministers, politicians, civil-rights leaders, journalists, college students and writers--to comprehend the painful impact of the hearings.

Bikel, who is white, said when she watched the Hill-Thomas hearings, “I got mad like everybody else.” In fact, she set out to make a documentary on the battle of the sexes angle of the controversy. But 10 days into production she scrapped her original plans after interviewing a middle-aged black woman.

“I said to her, ‘Isn’t it wonderful? Race didn’t play any part in the hearings. It didn’t matter.’ She said, ‘It didn’t matter to you. But it mattered to us.’ She was angry and contemptuous. Then by chance, I interviewed a couple of more blacks and I was so stunned by the difference. Everything they said was a surprise to me.”

When President Bush nominated Thomas in June, 1991, to replace the only black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, Bush insisted race was not an issue. Thomas said it was not an issue. But it was to many in the black community.

“There were blacks who were opposed to him,” Bikel said. “The senators were afraid to question him. (Thomas) used race to make a point, (saying) how poor he was.”

Liberal senators were seen as too timid in asking difficult questions, especially on Thomas’ stand on abortion. They didn’t press him when he gave unspecific answers, such as when he said he didn’t recall his opinions 20 years earlier on Roe vs. Wade.

Attorney Lester Johnson, a childhood friend of Thomas from his hometown of Pinpoint, Ga., admits in the documentary: “I think Clarence Thomas knew he was getting an easy ride because he was black. That’s why he answered the questions the way he answered. I think he probably got a kick out of the fact...”

Roger Wilkins, a George Washington University professor, says: “The Democrats didn’t how know to oppose a black guy. They were afraid to offend black voters. We’re so screwy about race in this society, they did not feel like they could oppose a black person who many people, I among them, thought was unqualified, clearly, to sit on the Supreme Court.”

But when Anita Hill brought up her charges, the black community’s feelings toward Thomas altered radically.

“There was this horror of being exposed in front of the white community, which (blacks) couldn’t stomach,” Bikel said. “The white senators dealing with a black man and a black woman’s sexuality. Many of them told me they never suffered that much than what they suffered in those days.”

Especially black women. “They said (to me), ‘My God, sexual harassment? He just talked to her.’ They didn’t want to hear about sexual harassment. No one said she was lying actually. It didn’t matter. The big thing is she should have shut up.”

A vast majority of the women told Bikel they saw Hill as a traitor because she betrayed a black man and thus betrayed her race. “They were all horrified that it happened,” she said. “Most of them, of course, think she was in love with him; she wanted him.”

If a white woman had brought up charges against Thomas “he would have dropped out like a hot potato from the race,” Bikel said. “If they were both white, they would have gone into executive committee. (The African-Americans interviewed) all say that. They say it wouldn’t have gotten the publicity if they were white. There wasn’t one black person who doesn’t think there is a conspiracy against the black community and black men.”

Bikel, who was born and raised in Israel, said she didn’t feel uncomfortable or unqualified to explore the problems of black America in the documentary. “I really felt like a sister,” she said. “I felt so much empathy with (the black women). A lot of what they said I knew. I knew because of Israel, because of the besieged tribe. No one really made me feel uncomfortable, though one woman said, ‘Why doesn’t a black do this show?’ I don’t know what I answered.”

Her feelings about the hearings changed after spending nine months on the documentary. “I thought it was ludicrous what the white feminists did,” she said. “It was crazy. Night after night, those white faces explaining Anita Hill. I really understand why they were mad. Many said, (Hill) made money. She made a career out of it, which, you know, she did in a way. She is a celebrity.”

“Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill: Public Hearing, Private Pain” airs on “Frontline” Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on KVCR and 9 p.m. KPBS and KCET.