Keith Ellison’s Accuser Releases An INCREDIBLY Detailed Statement

Keith Ellison– #TimesUp, amirite?

A lot of Keith Ellison drama surfaced over the weekend. Long story short, Ellison’s ex-girlfriend’s son wrote a lengthy Facebook post, accusing Ellison of abusing Karen Monahan.

Ellison eventually responded to the allegations in a short statement. He admitted he had a relationship with her but denied abusing her.

NEW: @EllisonCampaign responds to domestic abuse allegations @WCCO #wcco #mnleg #politics pic.twitter.com/4HxDLzMuwh

— Mary McGuire (@mcguirereports) August 12, 2018

A woman who claimed to be his ex posted a series of text messages on Twitter that were allegedly from Ellison. You can catch up on that here.

Karen Monahan has now released her own lengthy statement on the matter (and I DO mean lengthy), and all I can say is, ALL of these people are insane. I’m only going to provide part of the statement, because it’s a freaking novel.

Violence is an American tradition. It has been part of the American story since colonization. These violent acts continue from generation to generation. Racial violence, violence toward women and children are still prominent in today’s society. Racism and Patriarchy are two oppressive systems the US was colonized on and they breed violence to this day..

I am a #METOO survivor and I am focusing on violence toward women and the intersectionality with other oppressive systems. Women of color who may not have an economic advantage that others have access to, are disproportionately impacted by violence. We recently heard how a woman of color was dismissed by police officers when it was reported she was raped, all because she had a troubled past. These kind of stories are everyday in this country. Anita Hill was smeared and dismissed when she shared her story regarding a male in power. There are countless stories throughout history and currently where women who break their silence are smeared, minimized, punished, bullied and cast out of communities. Lindsey Port in Minnesota, shared her story, a story of violence and trauma, and the progressive community, who was pointing fingers at the other party about the same atrocities, crucified her. They bullied her, isolated her, withheld promised donations to her organization, which helped build individuals capacity to be part of the social change, and much more.

The progressive movement was using the hashtag #ibelieveher #metoo #timesup and elevating violence and exploitation of women and young girls when the Republicans stories were coming out. This was now the new emerging issue the progressives wanted to champion. Many women and young girls sat in their homes all across this country and finally felt validated and that their humanity mattered. People across the country began sharing their stories, most didn’t make the news. Then all of a sudden, stories began to emerge on the other side. All of a sudden those hashtags, talking points began to disappear by many. Many leaders began to run for the hills. This wasn’t the issue they wanted to discuss anymore, they wanted to talk about “the real issues”. They were tired of being distracted by Trump’s women coming out and sharing their stories. For many women across the country it was retraumatizing. Violence toward women was finally being taken seriously by one political party and then it wasn’t. In fact, many people who used their issue to score political points began victim shaming and minimizing the impacts, trauma that violence breeds. It was cruel all around. When you dismiss violence toward any human, you negate their humanity. You have to see them separate from your humanity and therefore their pain must be less of value than yours.

We live in such a transactional society, and it shows in how we do politics. The macro is always a reflection of the micro. The Progressives are not immune from practicing transactional politics. It may be a different issue, yet often times the same tools and spirit are used as the other party. Maybe if we (I am a progressive) clean up our own side, we may begin to see how much space we take up in this quest for justice. We may eliminate a huge chunk of injustice in this society. As the saying goes “The eye sees all things but itself”.

I have now come to realize it is not as easy to stand for what is right and just when you are smeared and cast out of your “so called community” than when you have the mass standing with you. Any country or community that condones violence toward another groups humanity, isn’t a group I necessarily want to follow. A collective psychosis must occur for any form of abuse to be rationalized or dismissed. When a malignant cell spreads, it becomes cancer. Violence in this country is a cancer.

She keeps talking about the patriarchy, sexism and racism, and all I can think is, YOU WERE ALLEGEDLY ABUSED BE A BLACK MUSLIM MAN. I don’t mean to be insensitive. Abuse is horrific, but dang. Stop blaming the “system” and “patriarchy” and look at the PERSON and the ideology he holds dear.

When I confronted him about all the lies and texts I saw, he first said I was crazy. I hung up the phone after he made that statement and began sending the screen shots to him. I was met with a cold response, he had no remorse. That was the day I ended it for good . In fact, Given everything that happened, he had the nerve to blame for invading his privacy because I was looking at his text. Invading his privacy and invading his secrecy are two different things in my book. These secrets have serious implications for a person’s health and overall life.

The blaming, taking no responsibility, victim shaming, cruel behavior each time I confronted him, with several attempts to get me to come back to the relationship, lasted this past year and half.

When I mentioned writing about this experience in my memoir, he tried to intimidate and threaten me. After those threats, I would call a couple friends, for about a month after he made them, everytime I left my place, just in case something were to happen to me. I was still dealing with the trauma and aftermath at this time.

I couldn’t silence my gut, in spite of what was happening to me as a result of the gaslighting, constant ups and downs with his moods (which began my ups and downs), the possibility of actually finding something that would end the relationship, I couldn’t ignore the voice inside, telling me something isn’t right. When things were slowly being revealed, he asked me why I wouldn’t stop asking him for the truth. I was met with pushback, circular conversation, manipulation or the silent treatment, each time I would bring it up, then blame me for bringing things up.

I was not the only person impacted by this situation. My kids were also impacted. I tried to hide it from them for several months. They knew something wasn’t right with me when they came to visit but were not quite sure. I told them I was just dealing with depression, that I would be ok. That is until they were using my computer and found substantial evidence showing that I was in an abusive relationship. Imagine how your own children would feel if they found out someone abused their mother. I could barely care for myself much less deal with their pain. They wanted to confront him and ask him why, they wanted to make it public and I had to plead with them and tell them it wouldn’t be good for me, if they did that. They did sent him a text stating they knew what he did to their mom and few other words. I couldn’t stop them from doing that. They also were in shock to watch friends and people who they knew who were part of the political world, sit back and be silent. They watched people who were aware, never reach out, ask if it was true, there were even people willing to find dirt and smear me, all to protect him. That is cruel to do to anu human. Regardless of what a person has or has not done, doesn’t mean they deserve abuse. We see this happen in our criminal justice system everyday. Watching all this, was a wake up call for them, as far as politics and the real world. When things like this happen to a person and family, the last thing they are thinking about is a political party or who is using their pain for political points.

Alright, you can read the rest of her statement here. Basically, she’s continuing to claim that Ellison abused her. She’s not backing down on that.

What now? Will the #MeToo movement stand by her. Are they going to stand by “all women deserve to be heard and believed”?

To be continued…