The last three days of acrimonious Senate hearings appear to have increased support for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas among the black community.
An ABC News-Washington Post poll, conducted over the weekend and made public Monday, showed that 56 percent of all Americans surveyed said they supported Thomas` nomination. That was the highest level of support the poll has found since sexual harassment charges first were made against the Bush nominee by University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill.
But Thomas` support was strongest among blacks, with 70 percent backing his nomination; 50 percent of whites support him.
Another weekend poll, conducted by the Los Angeles Times, said 51 percent overall believed the Senate should confirm Thomas, down from 54 percent in September. But when broken down by race, the figures showed 61 percent of blacks backed Thomas` confirmation, up from 55 percent in September, while only 50 percent of whites said he should be confirmed.
Likewise, a USA Today poll taken Sunday night showed 63 percent of blacks thought Thomas should be confirmed, while 55 percent of Americans overall supported him.
Roger Wilkins, a law professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., said even though black conservatives make up only a small part of the African-American community, many blacks identify with Thomas because of his race.
''A lot of black people still react only to the color of a person`s skin, and what they apparently think they have seen is a black man under siege by 14 white men,'' Wilkins said, referring to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which conducted the hearings.
''What (black) people out in the country know is simply that this is a man who has risen from poverty to a high position, and now he is under attack. And their experience is that when a black man is under attack, it is usually because of racism and it is unfair.''
Other black professionals agree that the public criticism of Thomas has had the effect of rallying popular support for him among many blacks.
''I know some people who were originally not in favor of the Thomas nomination,'' said Veronica Thomas, an associate professor of human relations studies at Howard University, and no relation to the judge.
''But when all this came down, they said, `Well, I hope he gets it, because they are only doing this to him because he is a black man.` ''
Milwaukee Times publisher Nathan Conyers said support for Thomas was up Monday, judging by customers who dropped by the newspaper`s offices to chat.
''No one wants to see a black man taken down by scurrilous accusations that cannot be proved. It`s a matter of who do you believe, Thomas or Miss Hill. I think the burden of proof in this case rests with Miss Hill,'' said Conyers, whose newspaper is one of two black-owned weeklies in the city.
Several customers, Conyers said, were outraged by the way the process has worked for Thomas. ''It is just the whole notion of them (the Senate)
conducting hearings based on allegations from which the truth is not going to be derived.''
Call-in shows on black radio station across the the nation were abuzz with talk about the Thomas hearings Monday. Chicago`s WVON-AM reported receiving 63 calls between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Of those, 37 were in favor of Thomas, 16 were opposed and 10 were undecided.
In South Central Los Angeles, one of the nation`s largest black communities, sentiment ran overwhelmingly in favor of Thomas.
''I don`t think blacks should be against blacks,'' said Doshie Palmer, an elderly woman who supports the nominee. ''When someone is trying to get up there, I don`t believe the other should drag him down.''
Support for Thomas-and disbelief of Hill-was strong among younger blacks as well.
''Why did she wait so long?'' asked Julie Dotson, 21. ''She kept coming back, so I think she liked it.''
Pamela Reid, a psychology professor at the City College of New York and president of the American Psychology Association`s division on the psychology of women, said: ''A lot of African-American people feel we have to hang together no matter what. It is a very difficult decision to realize that just being black does not mean you have to agree on every single thing.''
Mary Frances Berry, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, attributes the strong support for Thomas in the black community to a lack of knowledge about Thomas` conservative position on key public policy issues.
''You have a lot of people in the community who are as uninformed about this (the Senate vote) as they were about Thomas and his civil rights record,'' she said. ''There are also a lot of black men who are insensitive to what it means for women who have to go to work to have to listen to somebody making all the propositions and suggestions.''
Linda Faye Williams, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, said in all the discussion about lynching and racial stereotyping at the hearings, African-American women were maligned.
''Blacks are forgetting everything they know about history,'' said Williams, a former senior fellow at Harvard University. ''No black man has ever been lynched for doing anything to a black woman. They`ve been lynched for doing things to white women.
''It took (Sen. Joseph) Biden (D-Del.) to bring up the point that if Thomas was getting stereotypical treatment from the committee, the black woman was also getting stereotypical treatment by never being believed about anything having to do with her sexuality.''
Williams said she expects some positive results to come out of the confirmation hearings.
''You will see the more vocal voices of the black female population starting to interact more with the feminist movement in general or starting to create and sustain more black women`s organizations,'' she said. ''It became clear that black women ultimately must bear responsibility for their own gender equality within Black America, as well as America as a whole.''
