It looks like Isiah Thomas will lose his job as coach and team president of the New York Knicks any day now. Should we care? Absolutely. Not because a brother will be out of such a high profile job, we should care because this brother is finally being forced to suffer the consequences for the disrespect and dishonor he tried to inflict upon a sister. Yes, Anucha Browne Sanders is one of us and she deserved so much more than the $11.5 million settlement she got from the The Knicks and Madison Square Garden, we owe her an apology.
You see when it comes to things we just don’t want to talk about, sexual harrasment is right up there with sexual molestation. We’d rather not acknowledge the sin if it means airing our dirty laundry. So we stay silent and that quiet knowledge causes more and more lives to be destroyed. And so we let Anucha fight her battle alone. Many of us questioned her veracity and thought of her as a traitor because she dared to accuse a brother of such malicious charges. (We’ve got to stick together right?)
We should have learned from the not-to-distant past. During the Clarence Thomas confirmation, it was mostly white feminists who came out in support of Anita Hill. Again we had little to say because although we might not agree with his politic,s we still wanted another brother on The Supreme Court. Oh, and hasn’t he helped us soooo much?
I think we have an issue with sexual harrasment because historically, black women have been objectified and violated for as long as we have been on these shores. Some would rationalize that if we are indeed living better lives these day we can’t acknowledge such unseemly things, let alone discuss them.
Last month, I heard Anucha speak at a conference and her faith and quiet dignity are what shone through. Her upbringing had given her confidence to fight the battle. She didn’t do it for the money, or fame, she went through with the lawsuit because she knew that the only thing that we can take with us is our integrity. It’s time to recognize the ugly truth about ourselves and not let another sister stand alone in the battle.
Note: I would love to link you to the article Essence did with Anucha in the April issue but it isn’t on the site yet. So go out and pick up a copy and read her story.
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