We wanted to share this letter written by Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Thank you, Suzanne, for sharing your personal insights with us.
 

Dear Friends,

Like many of you, I am watching this election closely.  I am reading the news, keeping up with the blogs, watching the debates and talking with friends and colleagues about what I think will be one of the most important election decisions in a generation.  With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to talk to you - person to person - about an issue that is important to me this election year.  I wasn't asked by anyone to write this letter, and I am speaking simply from my perspective and personal experience.

I have been an anti-rape activist for most of my life. Seventeen years ago, I began volunteering at a community based rape crisis program in Oregon.  I answered the crisis line, accompanied victims to the hospital for post-rape examinations and I stayed with them through legal and criminal proceedings.   Back then, we operated on less than a shoe string; our agency's annual budget was less than $7,000 a year.  We did the best we could, and I proud to say that we made a difference in the lives of the women and men that we served.  At the same time, there was a sea of needs that we couldn't meet with our all-volunteer staff.

Our city was starting to take sexual and domestic violence seriously.  Law enforcement wanted to include our advocates at their rookie trainings.  Schools asked for our help to develop classes and training so that kids knew where to turn for help when they were being sexually or physically abused.  Churches and community groups wanted our guidance on how they could work to make our community safe.  It was frustrating and heartbreaking to watch these opportunities slip away because our little organization didn't have the people, resources or infrastructure to meet the demand for our skills and expertise.  In fact, we didn't even have an office.

Then, in 1994, our world changed.  In Washington DC, congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), one of the most important pieces of legislation in our modern history to address sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking.  Written with anti-violence organizations, advocated for by anti-rape and anti-battering activists, VAWA finally directed resources to organizations like mine to support our work for, and on behalf of, victims.

And not just my organization.  VAWA directed funds to battered women's shelters, tribal community organizations, rape crisis programs, campus safety programs, violence prevention programs and law enforcement agencies.  When it was later reauthorized, it also included assistance for victims of human trafficking and modern day slavery.  No other single piece of legislation has been more important to my work as an anti-rape activist, or the work that thousands of men and women like me across the United States.

So what does this have to do with the election?  Let me tell you who the primary author and champion of the Violence Against Women Act was: Joe Biden.

Joe Biden stood up for raped and battered women when it didn't occur many others to do so.  Joe Biden championed this legislation every step of the way.  Joe Biden demanded that the United States do more for raped and battered women, children and men.   And Joe Biden made it happen.

Joe Biden didn't walk away after that initial victory.  He may have initially passed legislation during a Democratic administration, but he demonstrated effective and powerful bipartisan cooperation with leaders like Orin Hatch to make sure that the bill was reauthorized during a Republican administration.   He helped make violence against women more than a partisan issue, he made it a human issue.

As a Champion of VAWA, Joe Biden became a friend to my work, and has stayed a friend ever since.  While he was in the Illinois Senate, and when he joined Joe Biden in our federal Senate, Barack Obama co-sponsored legislation to assist victims of sexual assault - including co-sponsoring VAWA.   While there is still much to do to make sure that the silent, violent epidemic of rape and battering are forever eradicated here in the US, VAWA was a watershed moment in our fight.

Conversely, and tragically, Senator John McCain twice voted against VAWA.  In doing so, Sen. McCain twice choose to deny victims of battery and brutality the services that they deserve in the aftermath of violence.

I hope that as you consider your choice in this year's election that you keep victims of violence in mind.  I hope that you look carefully at the records of each candidate who is running for office and ask yourself "who has made a difference in the lives of the women, children and men who are victimized in my community?".  I can't answer that for all of the candidates that you are considering in November, but I can tell you with great confidence about one candidate that has changed every jurisdiction in this country with his leadership: Joe Biden.