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0:44

Hi listeners, It's me Anita

0:47

Hill. I'll be back next

0:49

week with filmmaker and comedian

0:51

w Kmubell discussing his new

0:53

documentary series We

0:56

need to talk about Cosby, but

0:58

until then, I wanted to share something

1:00

special with you. It's an

1:03

interview I did on another Pushkin podcast

1:06

called Well Read Black Girl,

1:08

with Glory Adam. On

1:11

her show, Adam talks

1:13

to emerging and established authors

1:15

of color about the artcraft, and

1:17

power of the written word. She

1:20

speaks with women like to Rota Burke, men

1:22

Gen Lee, Gabrielle Union, and others

1:25

about how they found their voices, hone

1:27

their skills, navigated the publishing

1:29

world, and composed some

1:32

of the most interesting and impactful

1:34

writing of the day. In

1:37

this episode, I

1:39

talked to Adam about my work at

1:41

the Hollywood Commission, where I help vulnerable

1:44

victims of gender based violence. We

1:46

talk about my latest book, Believing,

1:49

discussing how I researched and wrote

1:51

it and why now was the right

1:53

time to share these stories. You'll

1:57

even get to hear about my life growing

1:59

up and the writers who inspired

2:01

me along the way. I

2:04

hope you enjoy our conversation as

2:06

much as I did. Welcome

2:26

to Well Read Black Girl, the literary

2:28

kickback you didn't even know you

2:30

needed. I'm your host, Glory Adam.

2:35

By the way, Glory, I was gonna wear my T

2:37

shirt, so I

2:39

can't remember where I got it, but I

2:42

did get the black Girl Read T

2:44

shirt and I was gonna wear it. But

2:47

you know how things are. When you get dressed,

2:49

you gotta get ready. It's all good.

2:52

I'm so

2:54

so excited to meet you again

2:56

and have you on the podcast. And congratulations

2:59

on your amazing book. This is I

3:01

have it all highlighted here. It's so

3:04

phenomenal. Why

3:06

did you decide to write this book now?

3:09

And what were you hoping your

3:11

audience and readers would take away from it? Wow?

3:14

First of all, I had

3:16

been working on the ideas for the book

3:19

and the things that were brought out

3:21

in the pandemic inequalities

3:23

and inequities and vulnerabilities,

3:27

including that more people

3:29

were vulnerable to violence

3:31

because they were in their homes. All

3:34

of those things kind of came together, and I

3:36

knew that I had to write the book.

3:39

I knew that gender race violence was one

3:41

of those things that we desperately needed to

3:43

address. And what I wanted people

3:45

to take away was this sense

3:48

of urgency for addressing the problem.

3:50

That it wasn't a problem

3:53

that just was going to go away on its own. It wasn't

3:55

going to go away because a new

3:57

generation would come along and resolve

3:59

it. It wasn't a problem that

4:02

was going to go away because some

4:04

minor fixes. The problem

4:07

was much more complex and

4:10

deserve complex solutions.

4:12

Third thing that I wanted people to understand

4:14

is that it is a larger problem than

4:17

one behavior or

4:19

a few bad apples out there

4:21

that we read about it. It's really

4:23

an everyday problem as

4:25

well as an astonishing

4:28

series of egregious problems,

4:30

and so I wanted people to understand

4:32

that it was real and part of their

4:35

lives or part of the lives of

4:37

people who they know and they care about.

4:40

As I was reading it, it hit me that

4:43

every chapter it feels like a lifetime

4:45

of material. It feels just like

4:47

I'm reading your history and your testimony,

4:50

and not only am

4:53

I processing all of that, but I also see

4:55

just like the light that you have for

4:57

your community and for

5:00

the next generation, you know, and

5:02

like thinking about who you were in

5:05

nineteen ninety one, in that coming

5:07

full circle and seeing everything

5:09

that's happened. What does that feel like?

5:12

Well, first of all, it's it's

5:14

feels probably pretty odd, because,

5:16

as I explained in the book, I tend

5:19

to think of myself as a very private person,

5:22

and so with that

5:26

really richness reflecting on my

5:28

own life on me, it's

5:31

something that I have a hard time really

5:33

doing. But I did want

5:36

for people to understand in

5:38

getting their stories and

5:40

telling them that I

5:42

was sharing some of myself too,

5:45

that people have been so generous

5:48

and sharing their feelings that

5:51

it was just important for me to share

5:54

some of my own sense of who

5:56

I am and to help

5:59

them to understand that what I had

6:01

experienced, while it's never

6:03

the same as what other people experience,

6:06

was very real in my life, and that

6:08

I really understood the consequences.

6:11

And I had been walking

6:13

in the steps of people who

6:16

had been abused by

6:19

individuals or systems in one way or the other,

6:22

and I was trying to

6:24

be as generous as people were

6:26

to me in my own way,

6:28

and still maintaining my own sort

6:30

of authenticity of who I am. It's

6:33

hard though, it is challenging,

6:35

but you definitely feel your generosity on

6:37

the page. That is one

6:39

thing that really shines through. And

6:42

it made me also think of your first book,

6:44

Speaking Truths of Power. What

6:47

was the process from that book in nineteen

6:49

ninety seven to this Was there

6:52

a big difference in your writing process?

6:54

Yeah, well, you know, I call it a thirty

6:56

year journey because

6:59

there are things that I have come

7:01

to understand in the past thirty

7:03

years that I

7:06

wanted to add to this book. The

7:09

process, to me was not

7:12

only about telling about me

7:14

without letting my ego be too

7:17

much a part of the story, but

7:19

it was also about how

7:21

do you integrate and

7:23

the stories of other people whose experiences

7:26

are very different from your own into

7:29

a narrative, and

7:31

how do you address

7:34

the skepticism that some people have because

7:37

oh, they want data,

7:39

so that you want to put the data

7:42

in the book, but you don't

7:44

want the stories to

7:46

get lost. You don't want the feelings,

7:48

the emotion, the harm, the pain,

7:51

and in some cases the joy to

7:54

be lost. You know, it's funny.

7:56

As a lawyer, we have to

7:58

tell stories. We

8:00

tell stories about our clients cases

8:04

in the courtroom. We tell

8:06

stories when we're teaching. You use

8:08

hypothetical sometimes and sometimes the real

8:10

stories. And we learned very

8:12

early on its lawyers that how

8:15

we tell the story really

8:17

can't impact what

8:20

people take away from it. In

8:23

your book, you referenced your mentor Judge

8:25

Higginbotham, who once said to

8:27

you, I never talk about race without

8:29

talking about gender equality

8:32

and black women in general. We tend

8:34

to receive so much criticism

8:36

when we try to tell our stories. How

8:39

do you say, the course not losing

8:41

sight of talking about gender equality and

8:44

race in your work, right? Yes,

8:47

well, it's so intuitive

8:50

to make because you know, identify,

8:52

of course, both with my gender and with

8:54

my race. And in nineteen ninety

8:57

one, it was very difficult after the

8:59

Commis hearings because I felt

9:02

though I were being excommunicated

9:05

from the black community, and

9:07

that was very hurtful. So

9:10

part of the reason I wanted to write this

9:12

chapter in particular, was because

9:15

I wanted to again

9:18

put light on some of

9:20

the limitations that we have even

9:23

coming forward to talk about

9:25

what happens to us. How

9:28

many limits are placed on our ability

9:30

to talk about our experiences, And that

9:32

was the point of view I was coming from. It's

9:35

like, what can I say

9:37

that will make

9:39

it easier for people to

9:41

stop up and to be present

9:44

and to be open about

9:49

the pain that they've experienced. To

9:52

look at the

9:54

problem of violence of any

9:56

type simply through one lens

9:59

means that we're going to lose people, that

10:02

we are not going to hear people.

10:05

And then so then the question is, how

10:08

can we as a community be

10:11

open to hearing all of those

10:13

perspectives. How

10:15

do we get rid of this idea that when

10:18

black women tell about their experience

10:21

it's harmful to the community,

10:24

And how can we get

10:26

us to the point of acknowledging

10:29

that, in fact, our community

10:31

cannot be strong if

10:35

over fifty percent of the community

10:38

can be targeted and

10:40

abused because of how

10:42

they identify in terms

10:45

of their gender and because they are

10:47

women, or because they are trans.

10:49

So those are the things that I was thinking about,

10:52

and I don't think that I have all of the

10:54

answers, but what

10:56

I wanted people to take away is that

10:58

it is in the entire African

11:01

American community's best interest

11:04

for us to be able to tell

11:07

about our pain because that's the

11:09

only way that we are going to get

11:11

to solutions. I

11:13

agree. One when it comes to

11:16

this level of vulnerability

11:19

and being open

11:21

to share the difficulties. I've

11:23

experienced it in my own life, not being

11:26

able to tell my full story

11:28

and feeling that restriction. And when

11:30

you can tell your story, it's such a liberating

11:32

feeling. But it's not only you, it's like the people you

11:35

encounter. It's your family, it's your friend's, your

11:37

larger community. It actually shows

11:39

them that it's possible. And I feel

11:41

like that is the one thing your book Believing

11:44

does. It just gives us another level of possibility

11:47

and it presents the questions

11:49

to us so we can talk amongst ourselves.

11:52

I want to talk to you about

11:54

your experience with

11:57

the Me Too movement and when

11:59

you first encounter those words me

12:01

too. When you learned about Toronto Burke. You write about

12:03

it in the book, But what struck you about

12:05

it? Were you excited and exhilarated?

12:09

Did you think like it's about time you

12:11

know that these things are meaning knowledge? What was

12:13

your first reaction to the Me Too

12:15

movement? Well, I think I was just

12:17

astonished because it happened so quickly,

12:20

and you know, it was global, and

12:24

I didn't know about Toronto Burke's

12:27

work beforehand, but

12:29

I do recognize that it was

12:31

worked by Toronto

12:34

and many others

12:36

that allow that Me

12:39

Too movement to happen to

12:42

afford to become a social media movement,

12:44

where as with her, it was her

12:47

personal movement in trying

12:49

to help young black and

12:51

brown girls heal. So

12:53

first of all, I thought, you know, this is amazing

12:56

because we see

12:58

how the seed gets planet, but we

13:00

don't necessarily know when it's going to grow

13:03

and really become bigger and involve

13:06

so many people. And so I was very

13:09

excited about the fact that it

13:11

was happening. But the other part of me says

13:13

that I think the media, in

13:16

presenting it, initially presented

13:19

it as the experience of

13:21

white women. In

13:24

fact, it took off

13:26

in part because many of the women

13:29

involved were RV. Weinstein

13:32

victims, and

13:35

they were Hollywood stars,

13:38

and so that became the face in

13:41

some instances, And so

13:43

I knew that we still had a lot of work to

13:45

do to expand, to be inclusive

13:48

and to understand that

13:51

what was happening to bipot

13:54

women were working

13:56

women low income women.

13:59

It was just as important and

14:03

should have just as

14:05

much air as

14:08

an attend as what was happening

14:11

to the women in Hollywood. I

14:13

know you oversee the

14:15

Hollywood Commission. He talked

14:17

a little bit about that. Yes, Well, the

14:20

Hollywood Commission came about because

14:22

a woman named Kathleen Kennedy, who

14:24

is a producer. She is the head

14:26

of Lucas Films, made an announcement

14:29

after the Me Too movement

14:31

surface that Hollywood

14:34

needed some kind of commission

14:36

that would build the standards

14:39

for treatment of

14:41

the abuse that was made evident by

14:43

Me Too. So she

14:46

and Anina Shaw, who

14:50

is an attorney in Hollywood,

14:52

and a nan Rita Caper Klein biden

14:54

me to join as the chair of

14:56

this commission. We didn't know exactly

14:58

how we were going to do this work, but we knew

15:00

that we had to bring in people

15:02

from all different sectors in the

15:05

Hollywood community, because this was

15:07

not just an individual problem,

15:10

or it wasn't even just a behavioral problem.

15:13

It was an industry wide problem

15:16

that had historical routes add

15:19

that had been built into

15:21

the structures the way people were hired

15:24

and the way people got top

15:26

billing. And so we knew

15:28

that we needed just about every segment

15:31

of the industry, or as much

15:34

as we could get them represented on the Commission.

15:36

And it's long been my theory that if

15:39

you can provide equity, and

15:41

you can provide safety and protections

15:44

for the most vulnerable, then

15:47

the rest of the populations are going to be taken

15:49

care of. Yes. And so one

15:51

of the things that we have done is to do

15:53

a survey of Hollywood workers to

15:55

know and learn who are the most

15:58

vulnerable. There is a lot of work

16:00

going on, and I think it

16:03

is that kind of work that

16:06

will ultimately change the

16:08

behavior and the culture and

16:10

the structures that caused

16:12

people to be harassed

16:14

and discriminated against. I

16:26

want to get back into believing

16:28

because everything that you're saying is

16:30

about like resources and like execution

16:34

and ways to really take these

16:36

ideas and theories and put them into practice.

16:38

And I want to talk about

16:41

the practice of writing for you. Was

16:43

there a particular chapter

16:45

or was there a moment as you were writing

16:48

this that you felt a breakthrough or

16:50

what moments really made you feel proud

16:53

of this work. Well, one

16:55

of the places where I did it initially

16:59

was in the chapter

17:01

about What's happening in our schools

17:04

to children. When I

17:06

read it at the end,

17:09

I said to myself, if we

17:11

read no other chapter, please

17:14

read this. If people are saying,

17:16

you know, where do we start and

17:18

they have to pick one place, let's start

17:21

with children because they

17:23

are the most vulnerable,

17:25

and they're so vulnerable to

17:27

the pain and the harassment

17:30

and the taunting and just

17:32

us your brutality, the

17:35

physical brutality as

17:37

well as the emotional and psychological based

17:39

on who they are. That's where we,

17:42

I think, begin to see the most damaging

17:44

behavior where it can continue

17:47

lifelong. And so if

17:50

you had to pick one and you

17:52

had to do away with all of the others, that

17:56

would be it, because that's where the urgency

17:58

is. And so I guess

18:00

that was the chapter I look at and

18:02

said, this is why

18:05

the book was worth writing. I

18:08

love that I know

18:10

we share a common love for Paul

18:12

Murray, and

18:15

I think she is so iconic

18:17

and I want more folks to know

18:19

about her work and her poetry and

18:22

just her life. Her life is just so outstanding.

18:25

And there was a poem that you

18:28

had referenced, Hope is a song in a weary

18:30

Throat that I wanted

18:32

to just read two lines of

18:34

the last stanza, give

18:37

me a song of Hope and love

18:39

in a Brown Girl's heart to hear it. Can

18:43

you tell us how she inspired you

18:46

and if there are any other writers like her that

18:48

give you inspiration or hope

18:50

or just a creative surge. Yeah. I

18:52

mean, she was so bold about

18:55

her ideas and

18:57

her intelligence. She never tried

19:00

to hide how smart she was,

19:05

and she was

19:07

bold about making

19:09

sure that she put their intelligence

19:12

to good use in

19:15

terms of the things she cared about, which

19:18

was racial equality

19:20

and gender equality. But

19:23

she was also very bold about

19:26

who she was at

19:28

a time when we really weren't

19:30

having conversations about people being

19:33

trans the

19:35

idea that she had

19:38

thought very carefully about

19:43

her identity and was

19:45

certain that she was born in

19:47

the wrong body and was certain

19:49

that she was going to do whatever she

19:51

could to change that to

19:54

correct that, and you

19:56

know, tried to get medical

19:58

attention to help produce so m

20:03

But I think it was it was because

20:06

she was just so certain about

20:08

which he had to offer the world,

20:12

and she wanted to be able to do it

20:14

as her authentic self. And

20:18

I take that away from her

20:22

story because it's just so impressive.

20:24

If you think of all of the challenges

20:26

that she faced and spaced and and

20:28

the way she just went after them. I mean,

20:30

she she challenged a

20:33

Philip Randolph,

20:35

who was like the dean of the civil

20:37

rights movement. Before there

20:39

was a Martin Luther King, there

20:41

was a Philip Randolph and she

20:45

yeah, oh yeah, she

20:47

challenged his sexism at

20:50

a time when you know, in

20:52

the March on Washington he had excluded

20:54

women from speaking roles. There

20:57

are so many more Tony Morrison

21:00

what I wrote believing

21:02

as I was putting the other proposal that

21:05

she died and I

21:07

was on an airplane and I a

21:10

documentary about her, and it

21:12

was so clarifying in terms of who she

21:15

was. And the real takeaway from that was intentionality.

21:18

I knew I could never match her voice

21:21

in terms of her writing, but I

21:24

did try to channel her

21:26

spirit in terms of really

21:29

honing my own voice

21:32

to polishing it so that I

21:34

could be clear in writing

21:37

believing. So those

21:39

are two people, two writers

21:41

that really influenced me for

21:44

different reasons. Again, there's

21:46

just so much beautiful information in this book.

21:48

What was your research process, like, how

21:51

did you like, curate and put the book together?

21:54

Well? I had a

21:56

general outline of every chapter.

21:59

But you know it. As a

22:02

teacher, we're always

22:04

researching. So I had stories

22:06

that I plugged in. I had research

22:08

to that booked in, but I was constantly

22:11

to the end, always

22:14

trying to verify and confirm and

22:16

refine the points that I wanted to make

22:19

with my own thinking,

22:22

but with the thinking of others,

22:25

and so the process was really

22:28

iterative. When

22:31

did I finished writing the book? I finished

22:33

writing the book when

22:36

I put the last period on. The sentence

22:39

was I didn't finish run chapter.

22:41

I mean I was always going back to chapters

22:44

to make sure that I had it right

22:47

in, to make sure that the

22:49

chapters fit together. I

22:51

didn't write a chapter and then put that away.

22:54

I was constantly going back to them

22:56

and reconciling things.

22:59

But I'm also I have to say I was

23:02

a completely messy writer,

23:05

and so I had brought on

23:07

someone who helped me edit

23:09

my mess, cleaned up my mess,

23:12

and that was that was definitely

23:14

a part of what allowed me to

23:17

get the book completed. But

23:20

the research. There was some research

23:22

that I had help with in the

23:24

past, but when it came down to writing

23:26

it, I did most

23:28

of the research. And there is a lot

23:31

in there because the

23:33

thing that I wanted to be intentional about was

23:35

I didn't want anybody to walk

23:38

away and say, oh, you know,

23:40

she's just talking about herself. These

23:42

are just her ideas. There's no evidence,

23:44

there's no logic, and I

23:46

wanted it to all come together. And

23:49

even though I knew there'll be criticisms, it

23:52

was just important that I have all

23:54

of it. Maybe that's the lawyer

23:56

in me, but I wanted to make the

23:58

case as strongly as I could. Yes,

24:02

I love the titles of your books,

24:04

you know, speaking Truths of Power Believing. They

24:07

just leave such a like a strong impact

24:09

on the reader, and you can't forget

24:11

those titles and the past. You've said,

24:14

the title believing comes from your inherent

24:16

belief that we deserve better. Our families,

24:18

our colleagues, our institutions deserve better.

24:21

What is better? Can you tell us what better

24:23

looks like for you and for our communities.

24:26

Well, better is for us to develop

24:30

a response to the

24:32

violence that so many people are experienced

24:36

that attempts to preventive.

24:40

Right now, what we have is a system

24:42

that says, okay, here's how we

24:44

were respond If you can

24:46

get through the gauntlet of reporting

24:49

we can change our culture and our

24:52

thinking. I believe

24:54

to eliminate this problem

24:56

from happening. Prevention should

24:59

be our goal, not

25:02

waiting until people are

25:05

harmed to say,

25:07

let's think about what the solution will

25:09

be to their harm. Better

25:12

would be for there to be

25:14

a national commitment to that

25:16

prevention, where we actually

25:19

have a president that says that

25:21

this is a public issue that

25:24

I want to commit my presidency

25:26

too. Doesn't mean that you have to

25:28

exclude everything else, but

25:31

this, to me is an issue

25:33

that deserves the thinking at the national

25:35

level. If you think about all the ways

25:38

that our institutions are implicated,

25:40

whether our colleges and universities,

25:42

or workforces, or

25:44

our military, or even

25:46

our Congress in the Supreme Court, all

25:49

have been implicated in gender

25:52

violence issues in ways

25:54

that cause people to have less confidence

25:56

in our systems. I think that's a public

25:59

crisis. And then finally, better

26:01

would be engaging survivors

26:03

and victims and solutions. Really

26:06

engaging them, then beyond

26:08

having calm and tell them about their paying,

26:11

really trusting them and asking, now, how

26:14

do we solve this? So believing

26:17

for me, was believing that this

26:19

was the right issue to take on,

26:22

and that I had

26:24

a special place in addressing

26:27

it. Thank you so much. This

26:29

conversation is just so fortifying,

26:32

and I know everyone listening will feel

26:34

just the love and generosity that you've offered

26:36

us and the tools you've also

26:38

offered us. You're also just so calm.

26:41

I love like you're just so calm and collective.

26:43

Me. It's a lawyer in you as well. Do

26:46

you have like a guiding principle that you

26:48

live by, or like something that just gives

26:51

you, like a mantra or something.

26:53

I would love to hear a Professor Hill,

26:56

because because I just feel

26:59

like you just wake up like assured

27:01

every day, like you just have this energy.

27:04

Well you know I you

27:07

know, I come from this family of thirteen

27:09

children, growing up on a farm

27:13

in Oklahoma. And and

27:16

when I'm not when I'm talking farm, I'm not talking

27:18

about you know, one hundred thousand

27:20

acres in big machinery. You

27:23

know, I'm talking about a subsistence farm.

27:26

Um. I wake up thinking

27:29

what a privilege I

27:32

have to be able to be

27:35

alive and to be able to talk about and

27:37

to use the skills and

27:41

my energy and time. That's

27:43

what allows me to get up every

27:45

morning. Um in it and it comes from a

27:47

lot of different sources. I saw up. It comes

27:50

from the fact that I look at the life

27:52

that my mother had and that her mother had

27:54

and realized how much more

27:57

that I have, and so to honor

27:59

her. And I just feel

28:02

that you're

28:04

on the earth for a

28:06

short time and that you

28:09

have to use

28:11

that time in the

28:13

service of others,

28:18

um and use

28:20

what has been given to you. And that

28:23

comes not only from my parents, but it comes from

28:25

my siblings and all of the hope and

28:27

the faith that they have in

28:29

me. And that's that

28:32

keeps me going. Hello,

28:53

I'm Anita Hill. Thank you for

28:55

listening to well read black

28:57

Girl. So

29:05

we're going to do what we like to call rapid

29:10

Oh gosh, I'm so bad with rapid

29:12

fire up, but I'm gonna try. They're

29:15

fun. They're fun. First one is

29:17

named three items on your

29:19

desk A light for video

29:23

conference me always

29:26

there is a pad and pencil because

29:29

you don't. I don't like to type everything.

29:31

I like to write things out. It's part of my process

29:34

and typically a big battle

29:36

of water they

29:38

hydrated. We like that. Yes, favorite

29:41

comic book character, Oh,

29:44

oh gosh, I don't have a

29:46

favorite character, but let me tell you I was

29:48

a big fan of Stanley, you know. Oh

29:51

yeah, and I and one of my wishes,

29:54

but Stanley would make a comic book

29:56

character out of me. Oh

29:59

god, it's okay. So this goes to the next questions.

30:02

If you were a superhero, what

30:04

would your superpower be? Oh? I

30:06

have thought about that, and that

30:08

is we have superheroes

30:10

where they can like look into the future.

30:14

My superpower would be every

30:16

time that I met someone that

30:19

I would be able to glimpse their past.

30:22

Oh that's a good one. Yeah,

30:25

because I think if we know their

30:27

past, you understand

30:30

how they behave and why.

30:33

Oh that's a good one. Oh. I might have to borrow that superpower

30:35

because you know, I encounter

30:37

some people it's like wow, and

30:40

then then you find out and about

30:43

them and you're like, oh now I get

30:45

it. Sometimes

30:47

you're really lat Okay,

30:51

that's a really good one. Um okay, this

30:53

is going to take you back to Oklahoma.

30:56

I want to know about Little Anita.

30:59

What was your favorite game to play at

31:01

the County Fair. Oh?

31:05

Well, I always got you know, look

31:07

aout those little things where you crank

31:09

where you're trying to pick off something that I

31:12

always felt like this should be you

31:14

should be able to do this mechanically.

31:17

Uh, And I never could. I never was

31:19

so, but that was my favorite thing to try

31:21

to grab that toy with

31:24

the crank in the in the

31:26

inside the box. Yeah, with the box,

31:29

and it never works, but

31:31

it was kind of fun to always try. So

31:35

the last one. So I'm curious

31:37

to hear about your childhood nickname.

31:40

The only person that ever did use

31:43

a nickname was my father's I could said.

31:45

I was the youngest of thirteen and he

31:48

was perhaps the only person I think

31:50

of who ever called who called me baby

31:52

girl? So

31:55

sweet. That's sweet, that's sweet. That's

31:57

the only nickname you need. Yeah,

31:59

that's the only thing I needed. Wait,

32:08

Anita, before you go, you have

32:10

a podcast of your own coming out soon,

32:12

right, Yes, so wow, I have a podcast

32:15

coming and um

32:17

and I and I know you have your podcasts

32:20

and you of a generation

32:22

where you know that's so familiar

32:24

to you. From me, I feel a little

32:26

bit like a dinosaur and

32:28

I'm trying to channel I'm trying to channel

32:31

people like you young people, uh,

32:33

to to really get the knack of

32:35

it. But I have a wonderful team. They're

32:38

they're working hard on me. You are doing

32:40

absolutely wonderful. You listen,

32:42

I just like I just told you, your voice is so calming.

32:45

I think that's like ninety nine percent of it.

32:47

Like get having a good voice when you're you

32:49

know, sharing the stories or listening

32:51

or interviewing people. Your voice is very calming.

32:53

It's like very soothing. I know when I listen to

32:55

podcasts, that's what I'm looking for.

32:58

Like, I like, like the richness of someone's voice.

33:00

I don't know how my voice.

33:03

Oh it's great. That's great. It's

33:05

like I think some people were made for it.

33:08

But so that's very exciting

33:10

for me. I'm going to continue to do to

33:13

work with the Hollywood Commission you've talked about. I

33:15

continue to teach. And I'm

33:19

very proud, if I must say so, myself,

33:21

of the book Believing, and

33:24

I just want to thank you and all

33:26

of your readers. We are proud too.

33:29

It's so wonderful. I mean,

33:31

I literally there's so many highlights

33:33

in this book. I wish I could like show you. It's

33:35

just it's like it's in terms

33:38

of being a memoir and a resource in

33:40

just a history. It's like living

33:42

history. And and I'm going to tell

33:44

you that I don't take any of that for granted.

33:47

I do feel, like I said, I'm quite privileged

33:49

to be where I am today because

33:52

I know that there were so many people that would

33:54

never have thought that I

33:57

would be even

34:00

known. And in fact, I had one journalist

34:03

say, oh, you know, in six months, nobody

34:05

will remember your name. They

34:07

were wrong, they were wrong. So

34:10

thank you. Thank you. Speaking

34:25

your truth, especially as a victim

34:28

of gender based violence isn't easy.

34:31

It's even harder for black women if the

34:33

person being accused is a black man.

34:36

About one in three women experienced sexual

34:38

or physical violence in their lifetime.

34:41

We need to keep talking to one another in the

34:43

black community and to be open

34:45

to having these tough conversations in

34:47

order to be stronger together. Thanks

34:51

to Anita Hill, we are a step

34:53

closer. Speaking

34:56

with Anita Hill, I'm reminded of what a

34:58

big impact she had on my own life

35:00

as a young person, seeing her on

35:02

TV speaking to the entire

35:05

country, becoming a heroine

35:07

for so many. Like

35:09

Professor Hill said, these issues are larger

35:12

than just her one story. Taking

35:14

them on is about all of us.

35:17

Read believing our thirty

35:20

year journey to end gender violence.

35:22

It's out now. You

35:36

can hear more episodes of Well Read

35:38

Black Girl wherever you get your

35:40

podcast, and I'll see you

35:43

back here next week. On

35:45

Getting even