43

Kamala Harris says in her book The Truths We Hold, “We need to speak another truth: police brutality occurs in America and we have to root it out wherever we find it.”

The abduction and rape of my 18-year-old daughter is her story to tell, and she is doing a fearless job of it. I am telling my story.

After the rape and the initial police investigation and no perpetrator was identified, the police asked my daughter to come back into the station for more questioning. I drove her to the station. When we walked in, the lead cop asked me to sit in the lobby and wait while they spoke to her in private. I was surprised by the request, but I trusted they had their reasons, and she was an adult. A half hour later she stormed out of the office, saying, “Let’s go.” I ran after her, got in the car, turned it around, stopped at a light, and she started screaming and pounding the dashboard so hard that I thought the dashboard would crack.

We sat at that light until she could articulate words through her anger. The cops – two of them – had accused her of making up the rape. They explained to her that the perpetrator was someone she knew and that she was carrying out revenge for having been dumped or something. They explained that more often than not, rape cases ended up being not rape, but rather revenge.

They further explained that they had had an expert analyze her written description of the rape and conclude that she was not telling the truth. They finally confronted her with the fact that she was hurting us, her parents, with her lies.

She ended her screaming diatribe by saying, “I hate them more than I hate the rapist.”

Adding to the treachery, I have to add, I was deceived as well. There was no reason to exclude me, her advocate, from the meeting except to gang up on her. Just like gang rapists, they needed numbers to dominate.

Many months later the rapist was finally caught, after at least two more rapes. He is still in jail. On the books justice was served. But in our hearts, justice is still wounded and bleeding.

I will let Kamala make the case: “If people fear murder and beatings and harassment from the police who patrol their streets, can we really say that we live in a free society?….Public safety depends on public trust. It depends on people believing they will be treated fairly and transparently. It depends on a justice system that is steeped in the notions of objectivity and impartiality. It depends on the basic decency our Constitution demands.

“We need people who come from all walks of life and different backgrounds and experiences to sit at the table and wield that kind of power.”

In short, we need women at the table.