“I do not know your name — but your words are forever seared on my soul. Words that should be required reading for men and women of all ages.”
These are the first lines of Vice President Joe Biden’s letter to the survivor of the Stanford rape case, according to BuzzFeed News.
The case garnered widespread outrage after Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Turner, convicted of three felony counts for raping a heretofore anonymous woman behind a dumpster, to a mere six months in prison. Persky said he feared that a longer sentence would have a “severe impact” on Turner.
Biden’s open letter is a response to a long letter that the survivor wrote and read to Turner in court.
“I am in awe of your courage for speaking out — for so clearly naming the wrongs that were done to you and so passionately asserting your equal claim to human dignity,” Biden wrote.
The Vice President's letter comes on the heels of rising outrage over Turner's sentence, which has led to calls for a revision to the ruling and for Judge Persky's removal from some surprising quarters.
Read the full text of the letter here.
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