*This piece is not affiliated with any of the media companies I have freelanced for in the past or presently.

I am writing this because something happened this past week on Instagram. I kept refreshing Google News waiting for an article that I could share with my friends to create awareness. That is how we women protect each other, word of mouth, the whispers among each other so we know who to avoid.

There’s nothing there in the headlines to give you any clue to the posts surrounding Dallas Clayton this week. The most recent one from the Washington Post celebrates an Instagram collaboration with #KindComments and the reporter Rachel Orr gushes that she even has a tattoo of Dallas Clayton art. From this article, you would have no idea what is brewing over on social media platforms.

Here are the comments below the Washington Post article.

If you were to read Rachel Orr’s celebratory Washington Post article about Dallas Clayton, you would be thoroughly confused by the time you got to the comment section.

To understand what these three women are referencing, you should read this by a woman named Dawn Batson: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bahe8HlHljW/?taken-by=dawnbatson

TRIGGER WARNING!!!! A lot of people are going to say I’m doing this the wrong way. None of you have spent anywhere near the sleepless nights I have considering the repercussions of what I’m saying here. I am not a vindictive person, and I have always felt sorry for people in my life who didn’t deserve my pity. This is the very last thing I want to attach my name/identity to. But here is the uncomfortable truth regarding my experience with children’s book author and artist Dallas Clayton: I know a thing or two About the colors that you use- You cover walls with rainbows And no one speaks about abuse. I know about gray areas stretching out so wide, And then all of a sudden You’re on the Other Side. And on the Other Side Everything is black and white And it’s hard to make excuses there Where things are clearly wrong or right. And that was just the journey we took that nice Fall night it started off so colorful So playful and so bright. And then before I knew it Things started to get upsetting I kept asking you not to touch me and you just kept on forgetting. And then we dropped off sharply into the land where it’s all clear Cause I said No and I said STOP loud enough for you to hear. And I wish I could make excuses For the way that that night went But if my face was in the pillow then how could I consent? And then I started hearing stories And I knew I’m not alone And now when I walk by all your colors They chill me to the bone. #dallasclayton #dallasclaytonquotes #dallasclaytonart #dallasclaytoninspired #therealdallasclayton

A post shared by Dawn Batson (@dawnbatson) on Oct 21, 2017 at 1:17pm PDT

Who is Dallas Clayton?

A children’s book author! An inspiration! An artist!

Yet, there it is: right there at the bottom. Skim too quick and you might miss it.

* In October of 2017 Dallas was accused of sexual assault, prompting the removal of one of his most famous works, a mural at Dangerbird Records in Los Angeles.

A previous version read a more detailed version including Dawn Batson and the subsequent ally action by Sophia Amoruso (Nasty Gal, Girl Boss).

The #MeToo narrative tells women to speak up. Tell your story. Yet, do we listen to them when they do speak up? Sophia Amoruso did. Her actions were swift after Dawn Batson shared her story. She promptly painted over the Dallas Clayton mural and replaced with with a sign that reads, “Rape Culture Ends Now.”



Dallas Clayton has a book deal with Harper Collins, a shoe collaboration with Vans, a film adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon with Sony, and countless more working relationships selling his products or displaying his art across the world.



Vans also took notice, as of 9:59 AM on Friday, October 27, 2017, there are no longer any Dallas Clayton product available on the Vans website.

Another example of an ally in action is Rudy’s Barber Shop. They cancelled a tote bag collaboration that was in the works with Dallas Clayton.

With the #MeToo movement, many high profile women have stepped forward and declared that this behavior will not go by unnoticed. Scrolling through Twitter, a large majority of the tweets relating to Dallas Clayton are now asking Sia to speak out against the sexual assault allegations.

What does Sia have to do with this?

Sia has a movie in development with Dallas Clayton called Sister starring Kate Hudson and Maddie Ziegler.

Here are a sample of the tweets to Sia regarding her best friend Dallas Clayton.

Interestingly enough, Dawn Batson shared on her Instagram page that Instagram was censoring her content by not letting her tag Dallas Clayton.

Instagram is owned by Facebook and every time I think of Facebook, I’m reminded of Sheryl Sandberg who wrote a book called ‘Lean In’ that became my personal Holy Grail for the fearless courage to lean into uncomfortable situations. If we encourage women to speak up when they have been sexually assaulted but we then censor their social media, are we not only silencing them further?

Oh wait, lets go back to that Washington Post article.

”Instagram is on a mission”



“Instagram has partnered with artists”



“Instagram and I have been friends for a while”



“It just felt like the perfect synergy”



I wondered who this journalist was that had written this piece. How was there no mention at all of the Dallas Clayton posts across social media crying out for justice? When reputable companies began severing their ties with high profile sexual assaulters like Harvey Weinstein, there was media coverage acknowledging the developments. Sophia Amoruso, Vans, Sony Pictures, Sia, these are high profile names. Why did the Washington Post article not ask Dallas Clayton to comment on Dawn Batson’s sexual assault allegations?

I looked up Rachel Orr on Twitter and saw this tweet from that very same day the article came out.

She had re-tweeted, “While it’s gratifying to see high-profile sexual harrassers go down, think of the 1000s of women whose bosses don’t have a public profile…”

How could she could share this same mind-set while publishing a celebratory Dallas Clayton piece in the Washington Post the very same week that Dawn Batson came forward?

You see, I’m mad. I’m mad at myself mostly. I’m mad because I encourage other women to come forward every single day on Twitter yet I’m too scared to do so myself. Here’s a #MeToo tweet from my own Twitter account just last week.

I still haven’t named the man and company that subsequently silenced me because I’m too scared. So when a woman like Dawn Batson does come forward? I’m going to step out of the darkness to help her shine her light. It helps me feel like I’m doing something, anything to make a difference to help someone else share their story since I’m too scared to share my own.

It is worth noting that Dallas Clayton disabled commenting on Instagram and deleted his Facebook account this week.

Life isn’t always rainbows, butterflies, and love. Except Dallas Clayton has built his career on this and many of his pieces contain quotes calling for justice and a bunch of other things that sound uplifting.

*All photos above are solely credited to Dallas Clayton.

Everything in the article is anything that you could have found yourself on social media. I just took the time to compile it all into one place. This is a citizen’s post pointing out something I noticed all across social media this week. It is not affiliated with any mainstream news site.

*AKA #dontsueme, I’m just paying attention when women speak out the way we are told to over and over and over again.



**UPDATES**

Monday, October 30, 2017, 4:19PM.

Rachel Orr from the Washington Post statement in response is: “I conducted an interview with Dallas Clayton on October 10th, weeks before the sexual assault allegations began to emerge on social media. Dawn Batson brought this to my attention on Instagram and I have since messaged with her regarding this. It’s devastating to hear and she has my full support.”



An Editor’s Note has been added to the top of the Washington Post article that reads: “This interview was conducted on Oct. 10, weeks before allegations against Dallas Clayton began to emerge.”

My question?