I did what my conscience told me to do, and you can't fail if you do that.
One of the things I was taught in law school is that I'd never be able to think the same again - that being a lawyer is something that's part of who I am as an individual now.
We have a history of gender and racial bias on our court that continues to undermine the system. Excluding individuals based on race is antagonistic to the pursuit of justice.
I resent the idea that people would blame the messenger for the message, rather than looking at the content of the message itself.
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.
What I wanted was for everyone listening to understand that these things mattered - not necessarily for me, but in this particular forum they mattered in terms of whether of not we were getting a person who should sit on the Supreme Court.
The real problem is that the way that power is given out in our society pits us against each other.
But the issue of sexual harassment is not the end of it. There are other issues - political issues, gender issues - that people need to be educated about.
Because I was extremely uncomfortable 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.
In July of 1983, I left Washington, DC area and have had minimal contact with Judge Clarence Thomas since.
What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it.
When I think of what has happened in a larger sense, beyond myself, then I would not change anything.
But I think it would be irresponsible for me not to say what I really believe in my heart to be true - that there are some serious inequities that we face as women and that we can work to address these inequities.
Certainly my life will not ever be as private and discreet, and perhaps I should even use the word insulated, as it was before.
I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community.
I am really proud to be a part in whatever way of women becoming active in the political scene. I think it was the first time that people came to terms with the reality of what it meant to have a Senate made up of 98 men and two women.
The FBI has had a history of sex discrimination complaints brought against it, as well as race discrimination.
During this period at the Department of Education, my working relationship with Judge Thomas was positive.
For my undergraduate work, I went to Oklahoma State University and graduated from there in 1977.
I became the messenger who had to be killed.
