Katie Hill’s powerful farewell to Congress (transcript, video)
On Thursday afternoon, Oct. 31, Halloween, the historic day the House
voted to proceed with an inquiry into the impeachment of President
Donald J. Trump, bisexual Rep. Katie Hill delivered her powerful
farewell to Congress. She resigned rather than having “revenge porn” stories and nude photos taken without her consent leak out day by day by Republican operatives.
Here is a transcript of her 7 minute farewell speech, followed by the video:
This is the last speech that I will give from this floor as a member of congress
I wasn’t ready for my time here to come to an end so soon.
It’s a reality I’m still grappling with and I will be for a long time
to come. I expected or I at least hoped to be here for as long as the
voters from California’s 25th district deemed me worthy of the honor of representing them.
I thought I could make a difference here in making our community, our
great country and the world a better place for generations to come.
I, like so many of my colleagues, ran for office because I believe
that our political system was broken, controlled by the powerful and the
wealthy, ignoring and failing the regular people that it’s supposed to
serve.
I came here to give a voice to the unheard in the halls of power. I
wanted to show young people, queer people, working people, imperfect
people that they belong here – because this is the people’s house.
I feel short of that and I’m sorry. To every young person who saw themselves and their dreams reflected in me, I’m sorry.
To those who felt like I gave them hope in one of the darkest times in our nation’s history, I’m sorry.
To my family, my friends, my staff, my colleagues, my mentors – to everyone who has supported and believed in me – I’m sorry.
To the thousands of people who spent hours knocking on doors in the
hots summer sun, who made countless phone calls, who sacrificed more
than I could ever know, to give everything they could in every possible
way so that I could be here – I am so, so sorry.
And to every little girl who looked up to me, I hope that one day you can forgive me.
The mistakes I’ve made and the people I’ve hurt that led to this
moment will haunt me for the rest of my life and I have to come to terms
with that.
Ever since those images first came out, I’ve barely left my bed. I’ve
ignored all the calls and the texts. I went to the darkest places that a
mind can go. And I’ve shed more tears than I thought were possible.
I’ve hidden from the world because I’m terrified of facing the people that I let down.
But I made it through because the people who love me most dragged me
back into the light and reminded me that I was stronger than that.
To those of you who were by my side in my worst moments – you know
who you are – I love you, I’m so grateful, and I will never forget.
And I’m here today because so many of the people I let down, people
close to me, supporters, colleagues, people I’ve never even met told me
to stand back up and that despite all of my faults, they still believed
in me and they were still counting on me. And I realized that hiding
away and disappearing would be the one unforgivable sin.
I will never shirk my responsibility for this sudden ending to my
time here. But I have to say more, because this is bigger than me.
I am leaving now because of a double standard. I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip.
I’m leaving because I didn’t want to be peddled by papers and blogs
and websites used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter
politics that I’ve ever seen and the right wing media to drive clicks
and expand their audience by distributing intimate photos of me – taken
without my knowledge, let alone my consent – for the sexual
entertainment of millions.
I’m leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed
my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive
ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching.
I am leaving because of the thousands of vile threatening emails,
calls, and texts that made me fear for my life and the lives of the
people I care about.
Today is the first time that I’ve left my apartment since the photos, taken without my consent, were released – and I’m scared.
I’m leaving because, for the sake of my community, my staff, my family and myself, I can’t allow this to continue.
Because I’ve been told that people were angry when I stood strong
after the first article was posted, and that they had hundreds more
photos and text messages that they would release bit by bit until they
broke me down to nothing while they used my faults and my past to
distract from the things that matter most.
I’m leaving because there is only one investigation that deserves the
attention of this country – and that’s the one that we voted on today.
Today I ask you all to stand with me and commit to creating a future where this no longer happens to women and girls.
Yes, I’m stepping down. But I refuse to let this experience scare off
other women who dare to take risks, who dare to step into this light,
who dare to be powerful.
It might feel like they won in the short term, but they can’t in the
long term. We cannot let them. The way to overcome this setback is for
women to keep showing up, to keep running for office, to keep stepping
up as leaders because the more we show up, the less power they have.
I’m leaving but we have men who have been credibly accused of
intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in board rooms, on the
Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office.
So, the fight goes on to create the change that every woman and girl in this country deserves.
Here in the halls of Congress, the fight will go on without me. And I
trust so many of my colleagues to be strong on this front while I move
on to one of the many other battlefields. Because we have an entire
culture that has to change. And we see it in stark clarity today.
The forces of revenge by a bitter, jealous man, cyber exploitation
and sexual shaming that target our gender and a large segment of society
that fears and hates powerful women have combined to push a young woman
out of power and say that she doesn’t belong here.
Yet a man who brags about his sexual predation, who’s had dozens of
women come forward to accuse him of sexual assault, who pushes policies
that are uniquely harmful to women and who has filled the courts with
judges who proudly rule to deprive women of the most fundamental right
to control their own bodies, sits in the highest office of the land.
And so today, as my last vote, I voted on impeachment proceedings.
Not just because of corruption, obstruction of justice, or gross
misconduct – but because of the deepest abuse of power, including the
abuse of power over women.
Today, as my final act, I voted to move forward with the impeachment
of Donald Trump on behalf of the women of the United States of America.
We will not stand down. We will not be broken. We will not be
silenced. We will rise and we will make tomorrow better than today.
Thank you and I yield the balance of my time, for now but not forever.
Published at Sat, 02 Nov 2019 00:06:49 +0000