Rachael Denhollander

By Bonnie Fearer

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It has been said that courage is measured not only by the risk it entails, but by the good it preserves. There are many tales of courage we could have chosen for our profile in this issue –tales of the heroism of physical courage under duress, to the countless acts of courage coming out of war, out of slavery, and out of the ordinary pathos of being human in a broken world.

For this issue, we have chosen to profile one who exemplifies moral courage, and for this reason we are profiling Rachael Denhollander. If you don’t recognize her name, please read on, as her courage is instructive, and worthy of our respect.

Rachael Denhollander was the first person to make allegations of decades-long sexual abuse against Larry Nassar, the physician employed by both Michigan State University, and the USA Gymnastics team.  She was the last one to give her legal testimony at his trial.  Denhollander helped to galvanize the allegations of scores of other gymnasts, like herself, whom Nassar had abused over almost twenty years. Twenty years. It is an excruciatingly long time, especially when you consider that complaints had been made throughout that time, by various girls, to both Michigan State University, and to USA Gymnastics leadership – complaints that were either ignored, silenced or covered up. The abuse Denhollander revealed in her court testimony was thus two-pronged: the abuse from Nassar himself, and the abuse from institutions that chose self-preservation over human individuals--some as young as six years old.

In her testimony, Rachael Denhollander repeatedly asked MSU representatives, and the leadership of USA Gymnastics, “How much is a little girl worth? How much is a young woman worth?” When she addressed those present, she said:

Look around the courtroom, remember what you have witnessed these past seven days. This is what it looks like when someone chooses to put their selfish desires above the safety and love for those around them and let it be a warning to us all moving forward as a society.

This is what it looks like when the adults in authority do not respond properly to disclosures of sexual assault.

This is what it looks like when institutions create a culture where a predator can flourish unafraid and unabated, and this is what it looks like when people in authority refuse to listen, put friendships in front of the truth, fail to create or enforce proper policy and fail to hold enablers accountable.

This is what it looks like. It looks like a courtroom full of survivors who carry deep wounds. Women and girls who have banded together to fight for themselves because no one else would do it.

In addressing Larry Nassar himself, Denhollander said:

In our early hearing, you brought your Bible into the courtroom and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so, it is on that basis that I appeal to you. If you have read the Bible you carry, you know the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God himself loving so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin he did not commit. By his grace, I, too, choose to love this way.

You spoke of praying for forgiveness. But Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance, which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all its utter depravity and horror - without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase what you have seen in this courtroom today.

…The Bible you carry says it is better for a stone to be thrown around your neck and you thrown into a lake, than for you to make even one child stumble. --And you have damaged hundreds.

The Bible you carry speaks of a final judgment where all of God’s wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you.

Denhollander’s full testimony lasted 36 minutes. It is appropriately direct, at times necessarily graphic, and shatteringly articulate and passionate – all because she never wanted to see another little girl victimized and unprotected by a corrupted, selfish system. It cost her. She had to put her private shame on public display to protect innocents. She had to face institutions that had alternately ignored her, bullied her, and threatened her. And she had to face a man who had terrorized her throughout her gymnastics career, and who haunted her attempts to heal for years afterward.

At the end of Denhollander’s testimony, she sat down. When she did, the courtroom rose -- and they gave her a standing ovation. Then Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who presided over the case, pointed to those clapping and said to Denhollander, “You made this happen. You are the bravest person I’ve ever had in my courtroom.”

For Rachael Denhollander’s full testimony, click here