people have been asking, so here's my response ...
Watching the disaster that has been this Supreme Court process, of course I'm horrified. But I'm horrified on levels I'm still processing.
So here you go -
First, as a former law enforcement officer, I'm reminded why I had to get out. The way that survivors are treated is a cruel and taunting game of chicken that has zero comfort for those who are forced to live and relive their experiences. The system is not set up for protection or for belief and the rules are different for everyone.
Secondly, and this ties into the first point - Senator Fienstein said it best: this is not a trial, this is a job interview. And while I firmly believe that people who did harm to others at some point in their lives can in fact change, and I believe that we have to deeply examine the culture of abuse and what we are really discussing, if I went into a job interview and yelled and screamed and blamed others, I wouldn't be hired. Judge Kavanaugh did exactly that. His conduct alone tells me all I need to know about how he will act on the bench. This is a lifetime appointment to the court that decides the fate of the American people every day. An appointment with repercussions that feed out generations later. His conduct during the hearing the other day was not that of a thoughtful jurist but instead of a spoiled child who wants to get his way. To my colleagues who are complaining about this process, I ask you to take a look at what we are really doing here. We are interviewing a man for a position on the bench. This is not that hard. And me thinks my male colleagues do protest too much.
As a survivor of rape and abuse, as a survivor of childhood abuse, this has been a situation that has ... what's the word? Triggered ... the hell out of me. But within that, I find myself asking important questions about who we are, and how we work our way out of these cycles. Because not every dumb ass kid who commits criminal acts at 18 grows up to keep doing it. But we still need to address where it comes from, why we allow it, and who we allow it to happen to.
I will never forget Anita Hill's bravery or how she was so summarily dismissed by men who are now championing the cause. As we call them out for dismissing Professor Hill, how do we still move the conversation forward without getting bogged down in the past?
And that's the problem here with Judge Kavanaugh. Looking at his behavior in the past, he never should have made it this far. But he did because of the system. Looking at his behavior in the moment, he should not receive this appointment. But liberals and progressives, we consistently get bogged down in the past rather than looking to the future. We have this attitude that we can't move on with anything until we get "closure" on something. The truth is, there isn't always that apology or that closure and we have to look at future performance and an understanding of what happened in the past to see how it impacts future performance.
What I am seeing in the hearing room tells me that past behavior is completely impacting future performance. And we need to find ways to have the conversation that don't get us mired in cycles that make it impossible to actually have the conversation.
And, as my daughter would say, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
So here you go -
First, as a former law enforcement officer, I'm reminded why I had to get out. The way that survivors are treated is a cruel and taunting game of chicken that has zero comfort for those who are forced to live and relive their experiences. The system is not set up for protection or for belief and the rules are different for everyone.
Secondly, and this ties into the first point - Senator Fienstein said it best: this is not a trial, this is a job interview. And while I firmly believe that people who did harm to others at some point in their lives can in fact change, and I believe that we have to deeply examine the culture of abuse and what we are really discussing, if I went into a job interview and yelled and screamed and blamed others, I wouldn't be hired. Judge Kavanaugh did exactly that. His conduct alone tells me all I need to know about how he will act on the bench. This is a lifetime appointment to the court that decides the fate of the American people every day. An appointment with repercussions that feed out generations later. His conduct during the hearing the other day was not that of a thoughtful jurist but instead of a spoiled child who wants to get his way. To my colleagues who are complaining about this process, I ask you to take a look at what we are really doing here. We are interviewing a man for a position on the bench. This is not that hard. And me thinks my male colleagues do protest too much.
As a survivor of rape and abuse, as a survivor of childhood abuse, this has been a situation that has ... what's the word? Triggered ... the hell out of me. But within that, I find myself asking important questions about who we are, and how we work our way out of these cycles. Because not every dumb ass kid who commits criminal acts at 18 grows up to keep doing it. But we still need to address where it comes from, why we allow it, and who we allow it to happen to.
I will never forget Anita Hill's bravery or how she was so summarily dismissed by men who are now championing the cause. As we call them out for dismissing Professor Hill, how do we still move the conversation forward without getting bogged down in the past?
And that's the problem here with Judge Kavanaugh. Looking at his behavior in the past, he never should have made it this far. But he did because of the system. Looking at his behavior in the moment, he should not receive this appointment. But liberals and progressives, we consistently get bogged down in the past rather than looking to the future. We have this attitude that we can't move on with anything until we get "closure" on something. The truth is, there isn't always that apology or that closure and we have to look at future performance and an understanding of what happened in the past to see how it impacts future performance.
What I am seeing in the hearing room tells me that past behavior is completely impacting future performance. And we need to find ways to have the conversation that don't get us mired in cycles that make it impossible to actually have the conversation.
And, as my daughter would say, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.