Dear Survivor’s who have been watching the news lately,
I want to discuss something deeply important with you; the Epstein files. I want to write this with care, honesty and the respect it deserves as it seems new information is released every day and it gets heavier and heavier. If you have been feeling extra unsettled, exhausted, downright angry, numb or even unexpectedly pulled back into memories you wish you could forget, please know this is normal. Your response to the news is normal. Your reaction is normal and there is absolutely nothing wrong with how you are feeling right now.
As an advocate with Safe Passage, survivor centered care is my top priority. Prioritizing your safety, your dignity, your physical and emotional well-being is more important than any political agenda or any headline regarding the Epstein files. And still, it is profoundly difficult to separate politics from survivor centered care when the President of the United Stated of America is named alongside the documented actions of a serial sexual predator and when the systems meant to protect survivors of sex crimes instead protect people in positions of wealth and power.
You may be hearing names of survivors. You may be watching them speak publicly and wondering what this means for you. You may be seeing or hearing comments like, “Why didn’t she/they tell someone sooner” or, “This is fake news” etc. etc. Survivor, I need you to hear this clearly: YOU DO NOT OWE ANYONE YOUR STORY. You need not speak publicly, post about, explain, justify or relive your trauma for it to be real or valid. Your lived experience is just as real whether you have spoken about it or you hold it in the silence of your heart. Your healing does not require you to reopen wounds you have worked hard to survive.
If following the news feels too overwhelming right now, take a step back. Feel free to mute. Unfollow. Turn off the TV. Change the channel. Ask people not to discuss the Epstein files around you if you do not want to participate in conversations about it. Protect your mental and emotional well-being. It’s a sign of strength and resilience and even self-respect. You survived and you get to choose peace now.
The Epstein crimes represent a textbook example of systemic sexual exploitation. They show how abuse can be enabled and sustained by wealth, influence, and social protection. Young and vulnerable women were targeted. Warning signs were ignored and survivors, dismissed. Institutions failed repeatedly. For many survivors, this does not come as a shock but as confirmation of what we knew all along. The systems the currently exist often protect perpetrators and leave survivors bearing the burden of seeking justice.
It is important to say this gently but I cannot sugar coat this for you: justice is not always found at the end of a gavel. Courtrooms do not always deliver accountability. Criminal trials may never happen. Sentences may feel insufficient. When or if a verdict is reached, it may not restore what was taken, your sense of safety, your innocence, your fire, your trust in the people around you, in the system that were supposed to protect you. If you have ever felt let down by “justice,” you are not alone, and your disappointment is valid. Please know that as an advocates, we feel it too. We are working to make the changes we want to see happen here in DeKalb County.
Still, know this; your healing journey cannot depend on the outcome of any case or the actions of any powerful person, whether it’s the President or your own offender. Justice exists outside of the legal system. You cannot control what happens in the criminal justice system. Focus on what you can control and find peace and justice there. Justice is found in the community, it’s found throughout your healing process, in being heard, validated and believed. Justice can be found in reclaiming your voice in whatever way you choose, in therapy, in advocacy, in art, rest or setting boundaries. Healing is a process and it is not linear but it does not require closure from the person who harmed you. You can find yourself again and there will be light again.
If heavy news headlines stir rage and a sense of hopelessness and uninvited memories, please know it does not mean you are going backwards. You are human. You have survived things that never should have happened to you and that survival speaks to a level of strength that you may not always feel but you always have burning within you.
Please remember, you are not alone. Please lean on your support system here at Safe Passage or elsewhere. You deserve compassion, care and most importantly emotional, mental and physical safety today and always.
With solidarity and belief in you,
An advocate who stands with survivors.
Written by: Frankie Best
