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[274-words]

Current Words This Year: 7,420

Current Deficit: 22,172

Yikes... 

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Joe Biden, Tara Reade, and the Faltering of #MeToo

This article was co-written with another writer for the West Chester University Quad newspaper. It describes a detailed allegation of sexual assault against current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Please be advised that the article may be disturbing and upsetting to some readers.

“Believe all women.”

That is a phrase used widely by activists who claim membership among the #MeToo movement. It’s a striking, useful, and good-intentioned one - when it comes to sexual assault, victims all too often do not see justice done to their abusers. The #MeToo movement has striven to change that, but it seems even it has its limits.

Some weeks ago, Alexandra Tara Reade, a former staffer for Joe Biden’s Senate office  during the 1990’s, came forward with an account of how the Democratic presidential candidate sexually assaulted her in 1993. One could assume that a serious, credible accusation against the then-Democratic primary frontrunner would have been covered extensively by major American news outlets, but one would be mistaken: not one story appears on the websites of any 24-hour cable news network or those of the large national newspapers. And as if the silence of major news outlets wasn’t enough, the Legal Defense Fund of Time’s Up - a movement dedicated to aiding sexual assault victims and helping them tell their stories - declined to provide assistance to Reade, according to reporting done by the Intercept.

However, some smaller news organizations have given the allegation the reporting it warrants. In interviews conducted with Reade by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Krystal Ball of the Hill, Tara explained the incident occured when she was working as a staff assistant for Joe Biden’s office in 1993. Speaking to Goodman, Reade described the events that led up to the assault: “I was approached by my supervisor. She handed me a gym bag and said, ‘Hurry, Joe wants this, so get it to him. He’ll meet you down towards the Capitol.’ And I went down the stairs, and I don’t remember exactly where I was, because there’s connections between the Russell Building and all of that and the corridors, but we were in a semi-private location. It wasn’t a room. It wasn’t, you know, the Russell Office Building — I mean, in his office. It was down in the corridors. And I handed him the gym bag.”

Reade alleges the assault happened after she delivered the gym bag to then-Senator Biden. As she explained in her interview with Ball: “When I gave him the gym bag, it happened all in one motion, almost. And he had me against the wall and then his hands were down my skirt, and up my skirt, and I wasn’t wearing anything. And then with his hands went from there and entered me, and as he was trying to kiss me, and so when I tell you it’s hard because everything happened at once… He was trying to kiss me and I was trying to pull away, and what I remember of that time is feeling really trapped…” 

Reading and listening to these interviews with Reade, this article’s authors were deeply emotionally affected. So with such a serious, credible allegation, what justification exists for the near-blackout of the story in America’s major news media? The allegations against Harvey Weinstein exploded in the news immediately, as did the allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process. Neither of those men were running for President of the United States; surely anyone who is deserves even more scrutiny in cases where they have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Activists have also remained silent, such as actor Alyssa Milano and Biden senior advisor Symone Sanders, who have recently scrubbed their Twitter bios of the hashtag and deleted their tweets about Brett Kavanaugh. In sharp contrast, actor and activist Rose McGowan has been vocal in her support of Tara Reade, and has recently made scathing criticisms of Milano for her silence about the seriousness of the allegations against the Democratic candidate. Milano finally broke that silence last Monday, but spoke in sharp tonal contrast as compared with her outspoken words against Harvey Weinstein. In an interview with SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, she said, “I did my work and I spoke to Times Up and I just don't feel comfortable throwing away a decent man that I have known for 15 years.” 

One more wrinkle in this story inspires a move from disappointment to downright suspicion: in the weeks following Time’s Up’s decision not to support Reade’s allegation, public affairs and political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker - which employs Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund co-founder Hilary Rosen as a political strategist - was paid a total of $587,478.73 over four payments by Biden for America, according to the Federal Election Commission’s website. Since there is no disclosure of the reason these payments to SKDKnickerbocker from Biden’s campaign were made, speculation is all that is available, but the timing and amounts of the payments are dubious, to say the least.

Silence and suspicion. Until now, no one could believe these to be a part of the #MeToo movement. In such a short length of time, it has made great strides in changing how our society sees and deals with sexual harassment and assault. But now, at a critical juncture, when it could be argued that the work of #MeToo is more important than ever, the movement seems to have faltered. And for what? To coronate a certain candidate as their party’s presidential nominee, to promote him as seemingly-pure and unimpeachable, even at the cost of justice?

Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee for President - that became true last week, when Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign - but should he be? Is there no true moral imperative that dictates allegations such as this one against Biden be fully investigated, and if it is discovered that the allegation is true, that the man responsible be, at the very least, barred from running for the highest office in the land? Should a man accused of stealing the freedom of a woman in such a heinous act be allowed to serve as the leader of the free world?

Joe Biden’s incumbent opponent, President Trump, is of course such a man, but Democrats should challenge him with someone who is truly morally superior. If Tara Reade’s allegation is to be believed, then as lamentable as it is to acknowledge, Joe Biden represents no moral difference from Donald Trump.

Biden for America did not respond to a request for comment.

Link: https://wcuquad.com/6016678/op-ed/joe-biden-tara-reade-and-the-faltering-of-metoo/

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Jesus, We’re Already Halfway Through April

I haven’t updated this blog since I detailed my New Year’s resolution to write 100,000 words for my novel in progress. Well. I have a few updates:

1. That goal is no longer just novel progress. I’ve been spending a lot of time writing for my university newspaper - mostly political op-eds - and I’ve decided to count the words I’ve written for them as part of this 100,000 word goal. I’m not sure what the total is at this point, but I’ll go through my documents and compile the total and report it here.

2. I’m going to share my political op-eds here, with links to the online publication for my school paper. I feel it would be a good idea to share the things I’ve worked on, and they’re also simply things that I feel proud of and think are important for people to read.

I appreciate any and all of you who are following my writing progress. I am still planning on doing whatever writing I can for my novel (I just recently had a spark of inspiration that I need to flesh out), so there will still be updates on that here as well.

I’ll be posting my most recent op-ed here soon.

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274 Words

274. The number of words I need to write per day, on average, in order to have written 100,000 over the course of the coming year.

Writing a novel is the single creative pursuit that I have wanted to accomplish more than any other. After attempting NaNoWriMo several times - and failing each time - I made a resolution for 2020 that I would write 100,000 words this year, more thoroughly fleshing out the concept on which I’ve been working. 

Hopefully, by the end of the year, I’ll have a presentable portion of a novel, one that touches people, immerses them in its world, and makes them think about the one in which they live.

I’m incredibly pleased and honored to have anyone at all following my progress. If you’ve read this, thank you, and I hope to be worthy of your attention and support.