Ya know, I’m just going to say something really unpopular and I don’t care. She’s right. If she felt those allegations were credible then she was absolutely right to speak out. I did not know there were eight. I knew there were three, but was unaware of the other five. I still love Al Franken, and I don’t know that he was guilty of what he was accused of or not. I don’t know either way, but I damn sure do know that it’s way past time to start believing women. None of this feels good to me. The #metoo movement is extraordinarily painful, but I can’t get down with protecting the ones I personally like or whose music I like.
Right now, there is a furious debate in the black community as to what to do with R. Kelly. For me, I’d like to see him spend the rest of his life in a cell next to Bill Cosby. But this whole debate has helped me to see that we shouldn’t protect Al Franken just because we love him. I still don’t believe he should’ve resigned, but that was his choice. She’s not responsible for his choices. She believed the allegations against him and acted accordingly. Blaming her for his decision to leave, blaming her for believing the women is a step backwards where we are once again blaming a woman for the actions of a man. I’m not cool with that.
She’s not my first, second, third, fourth, or even tenth choice to be the nominee, but that’s certainly not because she chose to believe the women. I will only support her if she’s the nominee and I will do so vigorously, but I’m also not going to hold trusting in the stories of other women as a reason to withhold support.