This is a picture from Monday afternoon at 1:00 pm, when there was a national walkout in support of Christine Blasey Ford. Many of us posted pictures of ourselves wearing black on social media, with the hashtags #BelieveSurvivors and #stopkavanaugh Another action is taking place now, as she testifies.
I remember the Anita Hill hearings thirty years ago, against Clarence Thomas - a man completely unfit for the Supreme Court. Hill was vilified and Thomas was confirmed; he's been a terrible justice ever since. It's inconceivable to me that this many years have gone by and we are in a similar place yet again, led by a cabal of white men who think they are entitled to treat women as objects.
It says something that most of my women friends are posting today about the courage of Christine Blasey Ford and how difficult and deeply discouraging these days are for them, while most of the men -- even the liberal ones -- are posting...well, let's just say, the usual stuff. For many of us women, it is impossible to look away or to think of much else right now. There is a disconnect between the sexes that goes very deep in our society, just as there is a deep disconnect between the races, and until that changes fundamentally, we will keep repeating the pain. I have appreciated the men, like my own husband, who have expressed their understanding and dismay, and I would ask that those of you who haven't please try to put yourselves in our places as people who have endured behaviors, harassment and assaults that have affected us all our lives - and yet we have tried our best to forgive those who hurt us, to love and trust other men, and enter into full, loving relationships with them. Please try to think about that, and what it takes.
