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‘Taking my power back’ Congressional candidate on motivations to come forward about being raped · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Whether it's fighting for justice for the survivors of Jeffrey
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's abuse or changing the culture on college campuses, America
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  Speaker 1: needs real solutions to address sexual violence. RAINN, a nonprofit
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  Speaker 1: focused on preventing this abuse, estimates that more than 440,000
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  Speaker 1: instances of sexual violence occur each year in the U.S.,
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  Speaker 1: Behind those numbers are real people who deserve a legal
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  Speaker 1: system equipped to hold their attackers accountable. And in Arizona,
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  Speaker 1: a Democrat running for U.S. House seat is sharing her story.
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  Speaker 1: Bernadette Green Placentia says two men raped her while she
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  Speaker 1: was repairing a campaign sign back in August. An investigation
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  Speaker 1: is ongoing. And Green Placentia says she felt a range
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  Speaker 1: of emotions, from embarrassment to outright anger. But now she
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  Speaker 1: is speaking up not only for herself, but for all survivors.
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  Speaker 1: She told MSNOW, quote, me coming forward is me taking
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  Speaker 1: my power back. And joining me now is Democratic candidate
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  Speaker 1: for Congress in Arizona, Bernadette Green Placentia. Bernadette, thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much for joining me this afternoon. I want to
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  Speaker 1: begin by just asking you how you are and how
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  Speaker 1: you're holding up right now.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for having me. It's been stressful, but.
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  Speaker 2: While reliving it and talking about it as hard, I'm
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  Speaker 2: also recognizing that every time I talk about it, I'm
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  Speaker 2: talking for other women, I'm speaking up. And the whole
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  Speaker 2: reason I decided to give up a career in trucking
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  Speaker 2: that I loved was to fight for people. Um, and
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  Speaker 2: originally that was, you know, seniors, our veterans, our teachers,
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  Speaker 2: the working class, blue collar folks, um, But now this
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  Speaker 2: has motivated me and really opened my eyes up to
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  Speaker 2: the fact that one in five women are going to
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  Speaker 2: be raped or the victims of someone who will attempt
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  Speaker 2: to rape them. And that culture in our society has
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  Speaker 2: got to stop. And women do need to come forward.
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  Speaker 2: And they need advocates who tell them it's okay to
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  Speaker 2: come forward. So I'm really focusing on fighting for them
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  Speaker 2: and being an advocate for for a wide range of
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  Speaker 2: folks that need to have a voice.
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  Speaker 1: I want to read something that you told the New
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  Speaker 1: York times. You told them, quote, I don't want my
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  Speaker 1: campaign to be about this, but women need to know
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  Speaker 1: it's okay to come forward. And it does take immense
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  Speaker 1: bravery to come forward with a story like this. And
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  Speaker 1: you've also been open about the fact that it took
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  Speaker 1: you several days to process, to even tell your husband,
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  Speaker 1: can you bring me into a bit of that decision?
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  Speaker 1: And then what ultimately gave you the strength to actually
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  Speaker 1: come forward?
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  Speaker 2: Um, it was hard. I mean, I had driven, you know,
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  Speaker 2: 4 million miles across the country, 27 years. I pretty
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  Speaker 2: much considered myself, you know, pretty tough cookie able to
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  Speaker 2: take care of myself. And so I didn't want to
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  Speaker 2: admit that this had happened. And there's that mentality that
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of women feel like I let
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  Speaker 2: this happen and it's not our fault, but we put
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  Speaker 2: that burden on ourselves. And so the embarrassment, the shame, And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to tell my husband, I
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  Speaker 2: didn't want to tell my 21 year old daughter that
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  Speaker 2: mom couldn't defend herself. And I didn't really want to
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  Speaker 2: tell anybody. But as I was speaking to people, I,
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  Speaker 2: you know, took a couple days to just kind of recover,
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  Speaker 2: I guess. And then, you know, I've always been a
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  Speaker 2: type that, you know, I get knocked down, I get
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  Speaker 2: back up. So I got back out on the campaign trail.
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  Speaker 2: And I was talking to seniors about, you know, the 35,000
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  Speaker 2: VA jobs that got cut, the cuts to Medicare Part
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  Speaker 2: D and, you know, all these things that matter to
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  Speaker 2: people in my community. And I was telling them, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to fight for you. I'm one of you. And
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  Speaker 2: then in my head, I'm like, well, I'm not fighting
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  Speaker 2: for everybody if I don't share my story and fight
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  Speaker 2: for women that have been victims of sexual assault. So
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  Speaker 2: I told my husband and I told my team, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to have to speak publicly. And, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: went to the police. We did contact the reporter in
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  Speaker 2: early September. It was just a delay. You know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: she did her due diligence. You know, the sheriff's department
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  Speaker 2: obviously is investigating. She needed to wait for that initial report.
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  Speaker 2: I was quite surprised when it dropped. My world blew
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  Speaker 2: up this past week. I had, you know, just been
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  Speaker 2: out there focused on the issues that matter to folks.
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  Speaker 2: And the timing was a little strange because, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we were just getting into the campaign. We're in the
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  Speaker 2: last month, obviously, now the last three and a half weeks.
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  Speaker 2: And then this happened. But I also recognize that this
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  Speaker 2: is an opportunity for me to speak on behalf of
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  Speaker 2: women who've been victims of sexual assault and say, you
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  Speaker 2: need to come forward if you can. You will be
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  Speaker 2: surrounded by people who love you, support you, and I
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  Speaker 2: will certainly be there fighting and advocating for you as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know so many women have connected with elements
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  Speaker 1: of your story and you've been admiring your bravery and
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  Speaker 1: coming forward about this. And they've also been talking both
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  Speaker 1: in public and in private about what's happened with the
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  Speaker 1: Cornell 7 and the Jane Doe.
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  Speaker 2: In that case.
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  Speaker 1: And so it seems like it's sort of opened this
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  Speaker 1: world of dialogue. And as you said yourself, there are
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  Speaker 1: so many pressing national issues, but now this is sort
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  Speaker 1: of back in the fore.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm curious as you now.
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  Speaker 1: If elected to Congress, if you have the ability to
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  Speaker 1: be in those halls of power to fight for change,
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  Speaker 1: what you believe lawmakers owe women like yourself?
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  Speaker 2: I think that not just lawmakers, society, We've got to
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  Speaker 2: do better. And that means encouraging and being accepting of
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  Speaker 2: women that do speak up and also maybe more training
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  Speaker 2: for law enforcement and how to deal with this. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we've seen some issues with the original investigation with Cornell
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  Speaker 2: and we need to set a better example. The men
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  Speaker 2: in our world need to set a better example. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I hate to say it, that starts at
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  Speaker 2: the top. We have an administration, my own opponent, who,
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  Speaker 2: you know, is out there defending the Tate brothers and
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  Speaker 2: voted against releasing the Epstein files. Lawmakers can set the
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  Speaker 2: example for folks on how this is how you should act.
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  Speaker 2: This is what we need to expect. This is the
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  Speaker 2: bare minimum. You know, women should not be afraid. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've been asked like, oh, what were you
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  Speaker 2: doing out there at one or two o'clock in the morning?
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  Speaker 2: That's completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter. I should be able
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  Speaker 2: to walk down the street at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m.
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  Speaker 2: and not have to fear for my safety. So those
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  Speaker 2: examples need to be set. And the men in our lives,
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  Speaker 2: men in positions of power, We need to start holding
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  Speaker 2: them accountable for any bad behavior and just say, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this is not acceptable. And I think that that's something
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  Speaker 2: as we get more women lawmakers and women, you know,
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  Speaker 2: coming forward and speaking up that the men will be
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  Speaker 2: held accountable and that women won't be afraid to speak
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  Speaker 2: up and come forward, but also that we can start
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  Speaker 2: ending this fact that, you know, so many women are
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  Speaker 2: victims of sexual assault.
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  Speaker 1: Bernadette Green Placentia, thank you so much. I so admire
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  Speaker 1: the bravery that it takes to not just tell a
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  Speaker 1: reporter or be public about something like this, but to
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  Speaker 1: talk about it several times, to share your story live
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  Speaker 1: on television. I know that it is hard. I can't
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  Speaker 1: imagine what it's like to do that and to try
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  Speaker 1: to run a campaign with these final few weeks at
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  Speaker 1: the same time. So thank you so much for giving
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  Speaker 1: me your time, for trusting me and my team with
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  Speaker 1: your story. I so appreciate you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me on and giving
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  Speaker 2: me the opportunity to encourage women. Please come forward. You'll
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  Speaker 2: be supported. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Or just click below.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks.