Dear Readers,

This week, we left the Opinion section blank except for the words “We stand with Survivors”.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about how sexual assault should not be politicized one way or the other, and everyone should unite against a problem that affects us all. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

On Thursday, Sept. 27, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford provided her testimony of being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh while they were in high school. Kavanaugh struck back and defended himself later the same day as the world watched. Meanwhile, senators on both sides of the aisle played to their partisan politics without concern for the real issue.

Dr. Ford was brave to come forward and relive her trauma for the world to see. Unfortunately, it does not seem that her words and sacrifice changed the discussion. Despite her testimony, Kavanaugh was approved by the committee and his nomination was sent to the Senate for a full vote.

Yes, there will be a week-long FBI investigation into Kavanaugh’s background before the vote takes place. However, this investigation should have begun immediately after Dr. Ford came forward. Whatever the FBI finds, the time frame they have been given is too short to produce anything worthwhile and we are not hopeful it will change anything.

Once again, this is not and should not be about politics. We are against anyone with a history of sexual assault. It is about supporting Survivors and holding perpetrators accountable for their actions. One accusation can be questioned, even two, but three or four is a pattern, and we will fail Survivors everywhere if we do not take a stance. If we do nothing, we tell Survivors that coming forward will only hurt them, not the perpetrator.

We could write about our frustrations in a staff editorial or talk about it on our podcasts, but we are tired of words. We are tired of inaction by our government. We are tired of a society that persecutes Survivors rather than their assaulters. We are tired of “boys will be boys.” It’s time to do more.

We are making a bigger statement with more actions and fewer words — We stand with Survivors.

Sincerely,

The Nevada Sagebrush

The Nevada Sagebrush Editorial Board can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.