Great Barrington — At 1 p.m. on Monday, September 24th, approximately 80 Monument Mountain Regional High School students walked out of class to support Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and to protest the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
The Monument Mountain walkout was part of a nationally organized moment of solidarity. While also to support all victims of sexual assault and harassment, the walkout was specifically in support of Dr. Ford who would be testifying against Kavanaugh despite threats to her safety and life.
Monument’s walkout was organized by Junior Greta Luf who read about the walkout on the official Time’s Up Instagram page, where the event and hashtag #BelieveSurvivors went viral.
Luf stresses the severity and importance of the nomination, saying, “If Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, this will mark the second Supreme Court Justice who was confirmed with a past of sexual misconduct. If our own justice system does not value the voice of abuse survivors, that sets a tone for our entire country to follow suit. We cannot change our previous nominations and confirmations, but we can evolve and grow from our mistakes. If we can stop this confirmation, then we can start to acknowledge and champion the voice of survivors instead of belittling their experiences.”
Luf also stressed the importance of staying politically active and talking about events such as these, saying that if Dr. Ford can put her career and life on the line, the worst thing we can do is ignore it. “She deserves to be believed and she deserves to be seen,” Luf said. “Keep holding our government accountable for its actions, write or call to politicians, and make everyone, especially our government, aware that we will not stand for this any longer.”
