“’If you still doubt her
truthfulness, call her back, question her again. I am sure she would not
object.’ ‘I – that – not –‘blustered Fudge, fiddling with the papers before
him. ‘It’s – I want this over with today, Dumbledore!’ ‘But naturally, you would
not care how many times you heard from a witness, if the alternative was a
serious miscarriage of justice,’ said Dumbledore.” – J.K. Rowling
I am so
angry.
But worse,
I am so disappointed.
We have
been asked time and time again to put our faith in a system that is broken, a
system that favors only those who have already been grandfathered in. And who
is that? Who are those favorites upon whom “fortune” smiles? The cohorts. The comrades.
The fellow men who get away with saying what they please and acting how they
please, all while giving a knowing smirk and secret wink to the fellow members
of their club.
There were
two possible scenarios here.
In
scenario #1, Dr. Ford, Ms. Ramirez, and Ms. Swetnick are liars and Judge
Kavanaugh was viciously maligned during what should have been the most exciting
point of his career: a Supreme Court nomination. In this scenario, while
hearing the lies told against him, Judge Kavanaugh lost his temper. Was this a
display of righteous indignation at being falsely accused? Righteous
indignation would have been more than understandable for a falsely accused man.
In
scenario #2, Dr. Ford, Ms. Ramirez, and Ms. Swetnick are victims of sexual
assault at the hands of Judge Kavanaugh, bringing these revelations to light
before he can taint the highest court in the land with his depravity. In this
scenario, Judge Kavanaugh lost his temper not in a pique of indignation, but in
a full-blown temper tantrum because he had been caught out on the cusp of his
achievement. A temper tantrum often results from being a victim of justice.
So which
scenario is true?
There are
some who say it doesn’t matter, that it was 35 years ago and what a person does
at 17 doesn’t mean anything when they “grow up”. If this is true, then why do
we sentence some 17 year olds to life in prison? Why must some 17 year olds
register as sex offenders for life? It is because the choices people make will
follow them through life.
Judge
Kavanaugh’s demeanor during and reaction to questions leaves some heavy
questions about his temperament. How able will he be to leave emotions out
of the courtroom? Certainly, people are going to try to push his buttons, and
from what we saw, it didn’t look that hard. He was not master and commander in
there. He was a pissy little boy who was mad because someone was threatening to
take away his toy. His were not the sophisticated rebuttals of an educated
lawyer. It was a red-faced, spit-talking diatribe from a man who has never had
to be a victim of anything in his life. And he did not like the way it tasted.
Make no
mistake: his privilege shielded him in this. I know people are tired of that
word. But consider this: did Dr. Ford have the privilege of losing her temper?
Did she have the luxury of crying to release her emotions? No, she did not. Any
semblance of credibility would have been destroyed. But Judge Kavanaugh cried.
He yelled. He lost his temper on national television, and it was perfectly
fine. He was not discounted. He was listened to.
It didn’t
matter that his classmates came forward and said he lied under oath about his
drinking. They were waved off as inessential. Because Judge Kavanaugh is in the
club, and the women are not.
It was
difficult for me, as a rape survivor, to watch them grill Dr. Ford. I can
understand the holes in her memory. There are parts you don’t remember because
the trauma itself is so large that it blots out smaller, less important
details. While you may remember with disturbing clarity the attack itself,
other things are gone. I don’t remember how I got home that night. I know I
drove because my car was in the garage and my keys were in my purse. But I don’t
remember it. I wouldn’t be able to swear to it under oath. I get it, Dr. Ford.
So many of us get it.
At least
Justice Thomas and the newly minted Justice Kavanaugh will have a lot to talk
about in the cloakroom.