Enough is Enough: An Open Letter from Survivors to TIME’S UP
We write to you as a collective group of survivors and victims who believe TIME’S UP is failing the survivor community. We believed in your mission and hoped that your investment in eradicating sexual assault and harassment in the workplace would change the tide to support us as we came forward, but we are disappointed.
TIME’S UP has abandoned the very people it was supposed to champion. The board continues to fail to heed the outcry from survivors. TIME’S UP is failing all survivors.
We were di smayed yet unsurprised to see TIME’S UP leaders Roberta Kaplan and Tina Tchen named in the 165 page Attorney General’s report investigating the allegations of sexual harassment by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. In the detailed report, Kaplan and Tchen, in their roles at TIME’S UP, weaponized their knowledge of survivors experiences to help Governor Cuomo and his office retaliate against at least one of nearly a dozen women who were courageous in speaking up about the myriad of ways he abused his power and violated their bodies in the workplace. Furthermore, we were vexed to see TIME’S UP board member, Hilary Rosen, characterize this breach of trust as ‘a good deed being punished’ and that it’s normal for TIME’S UP to “[do] what they always do, give good advice to politicians to tell the truth and not attack their accusers.” There is a consistent pattern of behavior where the decision-makers at TIME’S UP continue to align themselves with abusers at the expense of survivors. TIME’S UP should be ashamed.
TIME’S UP has prioritized its proximity to power over mission. And now that TIME’S UP’s board members’ and staff’s actions have come to light, you cannot rewrite history by signing open letters to the New York State Senate and Assembly calling on them to remove Governor Cuomo from office when you actively worked to further his defense behind closed doors.
