Welcome Back, Christine Blasey Ford
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It’s been a little over one year since the Brett Kavanaugh hearings took place, which seems nearly impossible to believe: the dread lingers. But this isn’t about accused men playing victim in some fabricated 21st century witch hunt, as my colleague Emily Alford wrote at the time. It is about Christine Blasey Ford, who on Sunday made a rare public appearance at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California in Beverly Hills to accept the Rodger Baldwin Courage Award. It’s nice to see such a familiar and trusted face, and I don’t mean Judd Apatow who, for whatever reason, presented her with the award.
“I did one thing,” she began in her acceptance speech, “and when I came forward last September, I did not feel courageous. I was simply doing my duty as a citizen, providing information to the Senate that I believed would be relevant to the Supreme Court nomination process. I thought anyone in my position would, of course, do the same thing.”
Blasey Ford then singled out the death threats and other abuses she’s faced in her time since coming forward:
“I was prepared for a variety of outcomes, including being dismissed. I was not prepared for the venom, the consistent attacks, the vilification, the loss of personal privacy, and the collateral damages to my friends and my family. I was not prepared to be physically threatened, or forced out of our home for over three months. I have learned a lot over the past year. I have learned there’s a well-financed attack machine out there ready to flood the internet and the media anytime I raise my head. And I know it’s not going to go away. I’ve also learned that the ethical promise to sexual assault survivors to do no further harm is easily ignored by journalists who selectively abstract meaningless details that are twisted and weaponized against me. And though I underestimated the pain, I also underestimated the love and the support that I have received.”
Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared at an event staged by the far right group the Federalist Society last week, where he and guests were met with protesters who projected Ford’s Senate testimony on repeat.