An elderly woman named Ruth, who ran the local store, shouted in front of the news cameras.

“They are not going to silence this girl!” Ruth shouted fiercely.

“We’re a neighborhood here—not employees of the Harlan family!”

That community support gave me a strength I didn’t know I had.

The main hearing was held in a packed courtroom in Seattle.

The room overflowed with press, activists, lawyers, and women wearing purple scarves in solidarity.