September, 25 2018, 12:00am EDT
Trump's Attacks On Deborah Ramirez Are Vile & Disgusting
Statement from Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director and Co-Founder of UltraViolet Action, a leading national women's organization:
WASHINGTON
Statement from Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director and Co-Founder of UltraViolet Action, a leading national women's organization:
"Just when you think we've hit rock bottom, Donald Trump finds a way to go even lower.
"It is clear that Trump and Senate Republicans are not at all interested in learning the truth about Brett Kavanaugh's history of abusing women, but rather want to push forward his nomination and will do so at all costs, including vile and disgusting smear attacks against the brave women who have come forward to share their stories - like Deborah Ramirez and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
"We believe Deborah Ramirez, we believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford - and we support them.
"Despite desperate attempts by Donald Trump and Republicans in the Senate to make it so, Brett Kavanaugh is not the victim here: Deborah Ramirez and Christine Blasey Ford are.
"Trump's words and actions are not only an attack on Deborah Ramirez, they are an attack on all survivors of sexual assault. We will not forget the actions of Donald Trump and Senate Republicans come November, nor will millions of women across the country.
"Enough is enough. It is time to end these disgusting attacks and for Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to be withdrawn."
UltraViolet is a powerful and rapidly growing community of people mobilized to fight sexism and create a more inclusive world that accurately represents all women, from politics and government to media and pop culture.
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Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
The arrests came a day after Shafik testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
"There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against anti-war protesters, because it's been pro-war and anti-war protesters is what it seems, like, correct?" asked Omar.
"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
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The Wednesday revelation came just two days after six young activists were arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles, California home to increase pressure on the Biden administration to make such a declaration, which would unlock various federal powers to combat the fossil fuel-driven global crisis.
According to Bloomberg:
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