It’s time to stop looking for excuses for sexual harassers based on political party. We must push for zero tolerance.
The allegations are coming so fast now, it’s like a wall tumbling down — a wall that existed between painful silence and righteous declaration.
But with each new allegation of sexual assault or harassment now comes an attitude that can only be described as stupid: That a person’s guilt should somehow be based on his or her political party.
The new parlor game is to compare the latest accused harasser with sexual predator Roy Moore, who not only should be subject to criminal investigation but who should be joined in court by all of the officials, law enforcement officers and mothers in Alabama who thought it was all right for him to date children.
Women and men have decided to #Tell. Women and men have cried out #MeToo.
So the question we face now is: What’s next?
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What should come next is an attitude of zero tolerance as victims stop calling news conferences and head straight to police stations and lawyer’s offices.
We must move from #Tell to #Act.
It’s time to stop looking for excuses for sexual harassers based on political party. We must push for zero tolerance, whether the offense seems prankish or is criminal.
The need for action comes as the worst charges besides those against Harvey Weinstein, whose scandal started the avalanche, and Moore, who is just going to hell, are that newscaster Charlie Rose has admitted harassing women and U. S. Rep. John Conyers has admitted settling a sexual harassment claim.
Conyers said he did it “with an express denial of liability — in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation,” according to a statement released Tuesday.
That does not matter.
It does not matter that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken was only joking when he allowed himself to be photographed with his hands above a sleeping woman’s breasts.
It does not matter that Louis C. K. apologized.
It does not matter that Kevin Spacey is seeking help — for not revealing he was gay until accused of assaulting a child and is probably in France with Roman Polanski.
None of these actions or alleged actions can be treated as minor incidents. None should be treated in comparison to others. And no one should be looking at partisan politics or whispering about charges against Democrats while screaming about charges against Republicans. When the Franken news broke, my Twitter feed was filled with people seeking leniency for Franken, an outspoken critic of the GOP and darling of the left, saying he wasn’t as bad as Roy Moore.
That shouldn’t be the conversation.
I’m not interested in parsing partisan punishment and debating whether Franken’s actions were a misdemeanor while Moore’s were a felony.
Zero tolerance should mean zero tolerance. No woman, or man, should feel unsafe, whether they work on a sound stage like the actor Terry Crews or for an auto company as did U. S. Rep. Debbie Dingell.
There should be zero tolerance of sexual assault and harassment whether it’s at the Waffle House or the White House — or on Capitol Hill.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has called for an Ethics Committee investigation of Conyers after he confirmed that he paid a settlement to a former aide in 2015 who alleged sexual harassment.
There will be tiptoeing around the Conyers scandal because he is the longest-serving member of the House, the dean, supposedly one of the good guys.
Unfortunately, and it pains me to write it, that doesn’t matter.
Every allegation of sexual misconduct — whether leveled against a Democrat or a Republican — must be thoroughly investigated. Every allegation that is proved should lead to criminal charges where possible.
And every person who doesn’t get it, after the avalanche we’re enduring, should, from now on, get what they deserve.
Contact Rochelle Riley: rriley99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @rochelleriley. Order her book ” The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery” (Wayne State University Press, 2018) from Wayne State University.
