Today was a day I’ve been building toward for a long time. I filed a restraining order against one of the people who harmed me — someone I’ll refer to as LRCIV. For years, he exerted control over my life in ways no one should ever have the power to do. He treated me as if he owned me, kept me in confinement, and twice I had to escape. During law school, he exploited me in ways that no human being should ever have to endure.
There’s no softer description for what he was in my life: a predator. Someone who believed he could operate without consequence. In La Eme, we’d say he was “no good,” and even that feels too small for the truth of what he did. His actions were unacceptable, unforgivable, and no good.
But today wasn’t about him. Today was about reclaiming something that was taken from me — my safety, my autonomy, my right to exist without fear. Filing that restraining order wasn’t just paperwork. It was a declaration that I am no longer willing to be silent, no longer willing to carry the weight of his actions alone.
Tomorrow, I pick up the approved order. I will walk into that courthouse knowing exactly what I’m doing and why. I will confront him in a space where the law stands between us, where his power ends and mine begins.
This is not the end of the story, but it is a turning point. A moment where I chose myself, chose truth, chose protection.
Wish me strength as I take this next step.