America was created with one of the best break-up letters of all time; The Declaration of Independence. In it, America is referred to as “we,” uniting the country as one. There have been countless occasions in which America is united as one and stands to fight for each other. I want you to know what the “we” is referencing; to the girl whose justice was not served, to the girl whose innocence and freedom of speech was stolen, we hear you. Your innocence was stolen away from you; you were violated in the most heinous ways and we hear you. We the people hear you. We support you and we hear you scream and panic, even if you aren’t doing it out loud. Something Mr. Brock Turner cannot honestly say.

By law, if a person is intoxicated they are unable to give consent. You had your innocence and your freedom stolen from you. You had your rights, rights that we as women have had to work long and hard for, stolen right from you in a matter of minutes. And he was not thinking of you or the aftermath of his actions, all he cared about was having sex with someone; how sad that he had to take advantage of an unconscious girl, I suppose he wasn’t good looking enough to get laid on his own.

In no way is this your fault. In no way should this have happened to you. It does not matter if you had too much to drink or if you were showing cleavage; you could have been sitting there with your legs fully open wide, but if you did not give this disgusting pig permission to touch your beautiful temple, he is in the wrong. People will try to shame you into thinking it was your fault. No not will, they already have, and they will continue to. It is important to remember he still your wind, your will, your word. He took away your power to consent, your freedom of speech. And people try to stick up for him why? Because of “how you were dressed” maybe? Rather than teach woman to cover up more and not drink so much, why don’t we teach men to respect women and not violate them in anyway? Why don’t we teach our men the meaning of the word no, the importance of the word no. Teach our men not to be rapists, not our women how to not be raped.

Did he cry at his court hearing? Honestly, what is he so worried about? If he gets raped in jail, he was probably asking for it. Everyone knows if you don’t want to be raped, don’t go to prison. And the sad thing is, what he fears most about prison is what women fear most about walking down the street on a late night. What he fears most about going to prison is exactly what he did to you. How does that seem fair?

And with all this talk about him, I feel it best to acknowledge the heroes of this story, the two boys who reported him and witnessed him attacking you. These two men should be what this story is focused on, if this were a Disney movie, it would be all about these two men and how they saved you. As tragic as it is, real life is never really reporting the good, we always have a glimpse at the negative.

For the end of my letter, I wish to bid you adieu. I wish you good luck and good fortune in the rest of your life, as I do for any other victims who have had to suffer this awful situation. I can only hope that it does get better for you and that somehow you find justice. I hope that you don’t allow this to define your life, because your life is worth so much more than what this scumbag has done to you. To quote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope your life a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.”

Sincerely, We The People.