otherwise engaged

if i am not at the williston federated church today, it's not because i have forgotten them.

today there is a public event nearby where the perpetrator will probably be in attendance, so i'll have to go protest that organization.

it makes me sad because it's an organization i approve of, but their vulnerable population should not be left open to the creepy old pervert. and because nobody else is particularly interested in keeping communities safe from him or even naming what he did, that job falls to me.

someone tried to tell me once that telling what he did in the driest terms was somehow tearing him down.

well, if you think the behavior of sexually assaulting someone is bad, then the problem is with the behavior, not the telling of it.

but nobody wanted to have the creepy old pervert have to be uncomfortable or feel embarrassed for what he did.

instead the blame falls on me for not bearing that more gracefully.

the only thing i can think of to do is to place the shame where it rightly belongs: on the perpetrator himself, on his enabler, and on the institutions that would rather let him and people like him prey on others at will because having a conversation about it would be awkward.

we wouldn't want the perpetrator or the enabler or anyone else to feel uncomfortable.

but you there, the victim: it's ok if you're uncomfortable, but can you please keep it out of our view? your assault is simply too uncomfortable for us to bear. and it would be really, really awkward if we were to have to speak with the perpetrator about it, so can you just be nicer to him? he doesn't understand why you won't talk with him when he follows you around. he doesn't understand why you won't be nicer to him.

this is really making us uncomfortable, and you're going to have to go.


anyway, i have to go today and identify him and his acts at a different venue at an organization i both respect and like. i wrote to them to ask if they were maybe going to not allow the perpetrator to work with their vulnerable population but heard nothing from them, so i have to go with posterboards.

it is frightening and i think the only thing that will ensure my safety will be the presence of the press. i am carrying the cards of reporters in my pocket, and if i have to give them interviews in return for their help, i'll have to do it.

there's always the risk that some asshat will whip up some fear and play the DANGER card and i'll end up arrested and i am totally going to need that news footage to help in the wrongful arrest lawsuit.

see you on the corner.

you know, unless i'm in jail for a legally protected protest in a public space. i have come to trust the williston police, but i do not know the police in south burlington, so it's a crapshoot.

but it's important. somebody has to start making a stand against the rape culture and the culture of silence. we do not get to have the world we want except where we create it.