December 21, 2017
Dear Senator Franken,
It’s very disappointing to learn you have accusers coming forth to cite incidents of sexual harassment. I believed in you. Guess what, I still do. And implore you to keep your seat and use this opportunity to exercise ever more leadership, leadership that we so desperately need.
Sexual abuse,harassment and violence is a sick and deplorable part of our American tapestry. It is a tight weave. Crafted on a loom with knots so tight,victims remains captive, suffering, mostly silent. Until now.
On one part of this continuum, I served as a counselor in a family crisis center, I worked to peace together women and children fleeing from violence. I learned that too often retreat and safety is fleeting. Options are few so women return and face the threat, hopefully shielded by a plan for more protection when violence erupts again. Fact is, most lack the financial means to leave an abuser. Reality dictates least worst options. A restraining order is not made of kevlar. I came to believe, that needing such shelters is a disgrace in itself.
Then count victims on multiple levels of abuse. These are crimes with some‘acceptability”. This is attitude as much as action.
Sexual abuse and violence takes it’s quiet, polite place down the list of other social ills, all begging for dwindling funds meant to remedy these critical troubles. Tolerance, indeed, should be zero, so ‘doghouses’ for women and children do not need to exist. This would start by treating actions against women as crimes, with outrage.Then, justice and punishment for the guilty. How often does this occur? I fear most often, there is no redress. Senator Franken, we do not seem to know how. We do not know what justice looks like in view of these crimes. Or worse, we don’t care. This is not a women’s issue but one of the entire society.
This is the time and place we need you; why you must stand firm in your position exercising the leadership you are capable of. There are few if any others on a growing list of offenders who are willing or able. Simply leaving your position to disappear in disgrace serves no one. Be willing and show the nation how. Demand the investigation, as you have, until it happens; In public, impartial and with dispatch. Hear the women who have accused you until they are satisfied that justice has been served. Let the punishment fit any offense you are judged to have committed. If it is then determined, that you must leave your seat in congress, let it be so. Quoting Cornell West,” justice is what love looks like in public”.
Despite being my fervent wish, and the nations’ need, we will not address rampant gun violence with a ban on all guns, ie. zero tolerance. Neither can we expect to purge society entirely of this ill against women in an instant. Your resignation is that instant. It also steals the hope that we will learn how to fix this and carry on with the urgent work congress has before it. I still believe in you and implore you to lead us out of this darkness.
Most Sincerely,
Boty,