The survivors remind us that they were children when powerful men hurt them.
“I was fourteen years old.
I was sixteen years old.
I was sixteen.
Seventeen.
Fourteen years old.
This is me.
This was me.
This is me-
-when I met Jeffrey Epstein.
This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein.(instrumental music plays)
There are about a thousand of us.
It’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It’s time to shine a light into the darkness.
Their voices were silenced for decades.
But now they remind us that justice only comes when the public refuses to look away from the truth.
In truth, practically every man, woman, and child in this country has either been a victim of sexual abuse or knows someone who has suffered such abuse.
If you need facts, the National Institutes of Health reports that nearly a quarter of adults were sexually abused as children, with women being more likely than men to have suffered abuse.
What’s hard for me to fathom is just how huge the incidence of sexual abuse is.
We got a preview during the “me too” movement, when women were asked to raise their hands and say that it happened to them and to name those who were guilty.
But the facts are chilling.
The NIH study suggests that one in four women were abused as children and one in five men suffered childhood abuse.
But as long as adults make excuses for the abuse, it’s makes it more difficult to end it.
Fox News host, Megyn Kelly came to the defense of serial rapist Epstein by saying he “liked the very young teen types that could look legal to others”.
That’s when 14 year old Eloise came forward to correct the so called adult in the room.
“Hey, Megyn Kelly. I’m Eloise and I’m 14 years old. I wasn’t even gonna say anything because the topic is an adult one. My mom even made a video about it yesterday because we didn’t feel it was an appropriate topic for a child to speak about. But after hearing you go on camera and explain that Epstein wasn’t into 8-year-olds, just the barely legal type, like 15, I realize you might need an actual reality check from a literal child. So let me help you out. Megyn, people in my grade are turning 15 right now. Some of us still have baby faces. Some of us still have braces. Some of us still call our parents when we’re scared at night.
Some of us still look like middle schoolers because we basically are. And the fact that a grown woman needs a teenager to explain that is honestly terrifying. Here’s the part you seem confused about.
Under federal law, anyone under 18 is a child. No asterisk.
No, but they hit puberty. No, older kids don’t count. Anyone under 18 is a child.
You said you were just giving facts, but here’s the real fact. What you said wasn’t factual, it was minimizing. It was making abuse sound like a technicality. And Megyn, here’s the part you really need to hear.
If a 14-year-old has to get on the internet and explain to a grown adult with national platform that children are children and there’s no age where abuse suddenly becomes less bad, then the problem isn’t confusion, it’s corruption.
Because kids my age aren’t supposed to be the ones correcting you. We’re not supposed to be the moral compass in a room full of adults who should know better, but here we are.
If my voice makes you uncomfortable, good, it should. Because the minute adults start defending predators by debating the age of a child, you’re not protecting the truth, you’re protecting the predator.
And you shouldn’t need a freshman to tell you that.”
For survivors the road to recovery was filled with bumps. Many told their stories outside while congress voted inside to finally release the files that were kept hidden, even during the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
“But instead, he was able to continue his abuse. Even during his sweetheart deal, yes, with his ankle monitor on, and beyond. A deal that protected him and silenced us. While I was a child fighting to survive what happened, to us, federal prosecutors were negotiating ways to shield powerful adults. And the failures didn’t stop there. Our civil cases were met with hostile judges and delay tactics, intimidation, and PR campaigns designed to smear us in the public eye.
We were treated as problems to be managed instead of victims to be protected.
Today, something has changed. Individually, our voices were whispered. Together, they’ve become impossible to ignore. We are encouraged to see elected officials from both parties come together and finally take action to release the files.”
Survivors are happy about the vote to release but are worried about Trump making political theater about their suffering.
“We are here as American survivors of a man who used his wealth and power to hurt young girls and women. The world should see the files to know who Jeffrey Epstein was and how the system catered to him and failed us.
Emotionally, this process has been distressing.
First, the administration said it would release everything and applauded President Trump for that. Then it fought to release nothing. Now that that checks and balances of our democracy have worked and the bill is getting passed to release the files, we are hearing the administration say they intend to investigate Democrats who were friends with Epstein.
I beg you, President Trump, please stop making this political. It is not about you, President Trump. You are our president, please start acting like it. Show some class. Show some real leadership. Show that you actually care about the people other than yourself. I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a na- national embarrassment.
It is time to take the honest, moral ground and support the release of these files, not to weaponize pieces of the files against random political enemies that did nothing wrong, but to understand who Epstein’s friends were, who covered for him, what financial institutions allowed his trafficking to continue, who knew what he was doing but was too much of a coward to do anything about it.”
We’re waiting to see if those files actually get released after the vote to do so was unanimous in both the House and Senate. We also may not see much, if they’ve been sanitized to clear Trump as some suggest.
But as long as survivors are able to tell their story and show the evidence, the effort to continue the coverup may finally end.
As Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley said before the vote in the senate:
“It’s time for the truth. It’s time to end the cover-up. The Epstein cover-up is morally wrong, it is legally wrong. The victims deserve justice.”
Music out:
Strangers waitin’
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searchin’ in the night
Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’, somewhere in the night
I’m Mike Turner
Thank You for listening
“
