survivors not victims

via Detroit news

At the ESPY Awards Wednesday night, the best in sports came together to be celebrated. If you’re not into sports— think of the ESPYs as the Oscars, Grammys and Met Gala of the sports world.

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick made history as the first-ever female host of the award show.

The ESPYs continued to honor women by recognizing the survivors of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Larry Nassar, the osteopathic physician for the USA Gymnastics team was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison for sexually abusing the team. With 204 testimonies against him, his sentence also resulted in the resignation of the entire USA Gymnastics board of directors.

Over 100 survivors of Nassar, including Olympic winners Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber took the stage as they presented a montage of their experiences. In Sarah Klein’s speech to the audience, she states: “Make no mistake, we are here on this stage to represent an image for the world to see a portrait of survival. Speaking up and speaking out is not easy. Telling our stories of abuse over and over again in graphic detail is not easy. We're sacrificing privacy, we're being judged and scrutinized and it's grueling and it's painful and it is time. As a mother, I am here to say that we must start caring about children's safety more than we care about child reputations.”

It’s great to see these women be recognized as the strong and brave survivors that they are. It is even greater to see the sports community respond with such support for these women. I hope that by continuing to be outspoken about abuse, in any industry women and men will continue to get the support and justice they deserve.