Christine Blasey Ford Makes Rare Public Appearance to Accept ACLU Courage Award

Tobias Hoonhout

Christine Blasey Ford accepted the Robert Baldwin Courage Award on Sunday night from the Southern California chapter of the ACLU, thanking the organization for its “leadership in the struggle” in a rare public appearance since coming forward last year to accuse Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

“When I came forward last September, I did not feel courageous.” Ford said. “I was simply doing my duty as a citizen, providing information to the Senate that I believed would be relevant to the Supreme Court nomination process. I thought anyone in my position would of course do the same thing.”

Ford cited the example of Anita Hill as an inspiration, said that she was prepared to be dismissed for her uncorroborated testimony, and thanked “over 200,000 people from across our country and around the world” who sent her “messages of support, many handwritten, sharing their own stories of assault and abuse.”

“Two years ago at this event, Colin Kaepernick at this event said, ‘We all have an obligation, no matter the risk and regardless of the reward to stand up for fellow men and women.’” Ford concluded. “He quoted Frederick Douglass saying, ‘If there is no struggle, there is no progress.’”

Last week, Kavanaugh spoke to over 2,000 attendees at the Federalist Society’s annual convention, saying the theme for the evening was “gratitude,” and vowed that he “will always be not afraid.”

“There’s a saying that adversity introduces a man to himself, it also reveals your true friends . . . my friends paid a heavy price, way too heavy a price,” Justice Kavanaugh said. “In the midst of it all, they stood up and they stood by me.”

During the dinner, protestors disrupted the speech, while a screen blared Ford’s testimony outside.

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