Bohemians and the Beltway: A Tale of #MeToo In Baltimore and DC

US Senators are considering how to proceed now that a woman has come forward alleging sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Various Senators are calling for hearings to judge the veracity of the claim and to decide if Kavanaugh is morally fit for the office of Supreme Court Judge.

I find it remarkable that several not very hip and not particularly progressive US Senators are are calling for these hearings when in 2017 a Baltimore organization that sees itself as a haven of independent art had to be pressured into having a meeting and into acting on the claims of sexual harassment, stalking, intimidation, threats and much worse that had been levied by multiple women against the organization's Executive Director.

As the situation unfolded, members of the board made public declarations of support for the Executive Director, forfeiting any claims of impartiality. After finally hearing the claims of the women and after much prevaricating, the arts organization decided to put the Executive Director on probation and to demote him to a lesser position. Unsurprisingly, he violated the terms of the probation within a few weeks and exited Baltimore in a cloud of shame. The events left the city's DIY art scene irreparably divided between those who supported the alleged abuser and those who believed the women accusers. As an advocate for the alleged victims, I, personally, was left feeling shattered and jarred by the experience; the landscape feels charred.

A look at these two situations demonstrates how one's appearance and one's social identity are not always a good indicator of how one will respond to a particular issue or situation. Members of the arts organization and other supporters of the alleged abuser behaved in a way that suggests they did not find the women's claims credible. US Senators, on the other hand, have taken Dr. Ford's (Kavanaugh's accuser) claims seriously from the minute they were reported.

Finally, the situation with the Baltimore arts organization occurred largely before the #Metoo movement woke people to the prevalence of sexual abuse and how powerful men are able to get away with it for years and even decades. It is possible that the Baltimore situation would not have played out in such an agonizing and destructive way if the stories of the #Metoo movement had been public prior to events of the scandal