Miltenberg: “Could False Accusations Threaten the #MeToo Movement?” The Pasadena / San Gabriel Valley Journal

A dozen years ago, Tarana Burke created the slogan, “Me Too.” Burke, a Bronx, N.Y.-born African American civil rights activist, created the saying as a means to help women who had survived sexual violence. … The success for proponents has been increasingly measured in terms of the career, stature, title or reputation loss experienced by the growing group of the (mostly men) accused in the media and a much smaller segment of accused that have been charged and/or convicted of crimes. … Most recently, the movement was also credited for canceled office holiday parties and a growing number of radio stations refusing to play the classic song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” after many claimed that the singer is trying to persuade a woman to stay with him by offering her a drink. “While it’s critically important that women who’ve been assaulted are heard, we cannot forget about the fundamental right to due process that our great country was founded upon,” said Andrew Miltenberg, one of the nation’s leading due process attorneys. “This is a dangerous time in our nation’s history, reminiscent of the days of McCarthyism, where a single accusation is enough to end a career. Even baseless charges can ruin a lifetime of work in some situations,” Miltenberg said. … The nonprofit Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) notes that many college students have been tried and convicted and have had their reputations and lives torn apart over allegations that haven’t proven true. … And of course, there are those whose futures have been devastated because they did not have the knowledge or resources to challenge the findings, and their college or university refused to acknowledge their innocence, FACE argues.

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