By SERIAH SARGENTON
Assistant Editor
We listened in silence as Christine Blasey Ford stepped up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to bring to light the incidents that occurred in July 1982 when they were high schoolers.
We heard how the Republicans refused to hear a testimony from any other witness in an effort to bring Ford down.
We watched what might have been the most important judiciary hearing that could change the lives of millions of women everywhere.
It all started when President Trump announced that he would be nominating attorney and jurist, Brett Kavanaugh as the Associate Justice of the supreme court. A bit after his nomination, Ford wrote a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein detailing the events of that night. It was when the media got their hands on the letter that this issue had come to light.
I can only think that after this hearing it will never be safe for a woman to do anything without being accused of anything. Making him the next associate justice would mean betraying the citizens he is hired to protect.
Even if the allegations weren’t true, why would you want to nominate someone who even has the capabilities to do so. In our current administration, men who commit crimes can stay in office for as long as he is rich and can buy people to side with him.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge the kind of bravery it took for Ford to stand in front of those men and relive the events as it happened. I hope that Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault, finds the same strength to stand up too.
Regardless of the outcome of his nomination, these two women will be the face of change for sexual assault survivors throughout the United States.
No-one can understand what it’s like for the victim to live everyday knowing this happened to her. To make this worse, people tell her that it is her fault for dressing too provocatively, drinking too much, or staying with the person even after the incident has occured.
How do you expect someone to console in our justice system when they’re shamed for what’s happened to them? Where a man caught raping two girls only gets 6 months of jail because “he was a good student.” Then to release him three months early since he had good behavior.
“Brock Turners grow up to be Brett Kavanaughs who make the rules for Brock Turners,” said twitter user @emrazz.
This is the twisted mindset of our American Justice System. Women don’t get justice, they get only satisfaction, and even then, that’s not enough. Leaving Kavanaugh alone sends a message to men all over that it is okay to assault women because they will get away with it. In my opinion, this is true.
How many people have been accused of assault and haven’t went to trial. Let’s count. We have Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Fager, and Asia Argento. That’s six celebrities out of 71 that have been accused of sexual assault or misconduct and are yet to step into court.
The only exception to this is Bill Cosby, who was recently sentenced three to ten years for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand fourteen years ago.
Do you know what this means for people like me, a college student who works until 10 p.m. every night in the mall to travel all the way to downtown Albany alone?
Let me tell you. I can’t walk to the bus stop without a man thinking it’s ok to grab my arm and force me to acknowledge his existence because I wasn’t in the mood to speak to a stranger I don’t know.
#WhyIDidntReport, because I know that nothing would have gotten done since we have leader in office who may have done worse things to young women.
