This is as close as my sister and I have ever come to being princesses. We were part of the court in a rural Alabama local community theater production of Once Upon a Mattress. I think we were 14ish and 16ish at the time. You know, we were right in the age of Roy Moore’s wheelhouse.
I remember there was a young man maybe late 30s early thirties in the show with whom I shared many jokes. Even in retrospect, I viewed this as an incredibly normal interaction. I was an adolescent yearning to be viewed as witty, interesting, perhaps even attractive. He did find my jokes funny but recognizing I was a minor he laughed and joked with me but maintained a barrier. That is completely normal behavior for two people in those two positions in life.
Roy Moore is a child predator with a now well publicized past. A young woman in Alabama of the ages we are in this picture cannot consent to a relationship with a man. A respectable man would never put them in a position to need to.
Some polls suggest the fine people of Alabama believe this is all fake news perpetrated by democratic operatives. But the reality is quite far from that. This story was broken by real reporters, on the ground covering the runoff, listening to locals, hearing rumors, following leads, finding hidden truths.
And why shouldn’t we believe these women? Most of them were Trump voters. I mean they were spending their formative years in heavily conservative rural Alabama. It isn’t that surprising that they have certain political persuasions. It was on the ground old fashioned journalism that allowed investigative reporters to give these victims a voice.
Most were reluctant to come forward as many victims were in the pre-2017 mindset. The misogyny and sexism that are pervasive in our social and political systems lead many journalists, politicians, and lawyers to shame victims, question the veracity of their statements, judge their appearance and what their wardrobe says about their motives. Their bravery to come forward exposes them to such intense scrutiny that many feel violated all over again. So why would they report? They keep it inside. They blame themselves. They suffer silently.
I have a friend who suffered a similar fate.
He was her teacher. She was his babysitter. The relationship began when she was a young teen, but she was very intelligent, felt she was older than her age and thought she was able to consent. When she ended their relationship as she headed to college, he didn’t accept. He stalked her. She gathered the evidence. She filed a restraining order. She moved on with her life, tried hard to mentally and emotionally suppress the trauma. She became incredibly successful. Then she got the call.
He was doing it again. Or at least members of her small town suspected it. They needed her to be a witness. The police had lost some evidence. It had been almost a decade. So they needed her voice.
Thanks to the constant consistent support of her closest confidants, she found the bravery she needed to be the voice her community needed. She found that bravery based on our continual and unfailing support. But she was exposed. She had made herself vulnerable again. The torrent of hateful comments about her in local paper and media forums sent her spiraling. Though she was a minor at the time of the incident, it was a small town and there were people who spoke her name, because the internet is built for trolls.
She kept her voice strong but only for the others, the suspected unnamed victims who needed her. No women joined her because to do so was to become a figure of public scrutiny. She had to be the strong one for the young girls in his classrooms. She had to break his power for their protection. Though at the time, so many adults knew, her community did not protect her. She had to be better than that.
Child predators know how to find their victims. And they wield their influence and power in young vulnerable females. He was a teacher. Roy Moore was a district attorney. He met one of his accusers in the courthouse with her mother on their way to divorce proceedings. He was banned from the mall for prowling. Banned from the mall!
My friend was alone through it all. At least Moore’s accusers have each other. They will need each other as their integrity is questioned on a national stage, as their abuser is propped up by our pussy grabber in chief and the party he represents.
But Moore’s accusers also have something else. They have a momentum shift. The women’s march, the #metoo movement (Time’s most recent person of the year!), the wave of credible high profile abuse scandals in media and government represent a pivotal moment in women’s history. We are not taking it anymore. We as women will be heard. What she said is starting to shine a light on the darkness of him. What he said is starting to not matter as much, and that is a good thing.
We need to support these women unquestionably until evidence proves otherwise. They need our faith in their truth, they need our tissue for their tears, they need our rebuke of the power dynamic that left them and young women like them vulnerable. Let’s call this approach to the veracity of a woman’s story a much needed equal and opposite reaction.
The RNC is giving Moore money. Senate leaders are saying, “let the people of Alabama decide.” The president has both his Twitter thumbs at the ready endorsing regularly. Seriously? Seriously? At a time when the women of the country are finding the vocabulary word ENOUGH, Republicans are propping up a predator because they need his vote to advance their agenda. This is yet another in their increasingly long list of transgressions for party over country.
But I believe in you Alabama. I lived directly adjacent to you for half of my life. I believe you love conservatism and Jesus and trust you can distinguish when one should supersede the other. It is not enough just to sit this one out or vote write in “on principle” because that is not a principled stance. A principled stance is voting for the only viable non child predator option, Doug Jones, to make sure a credibly accused child abuser does not have an elected position in our government.
Elections have consequences. Make sure you don’t let another predator win one.