Chanel Miller (born 1992) is an American writer and artist based in San Francisco, California and New York City.[1] She was known anonymously after she was sexually assaultedon the campus of Stanford University in January 2015 by Brock Allen Turner. The following year, her victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing went viral after it was published online by BuzzFeed, being read 11 million times within four days.[2] Miller was referred to as "Emily Doe" in court documents and media reports until September 2019, when she relinquished her anonymity and released her memoir Know My Name: A Memoir. The book won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiographies and was named in several national book lists of the year. She is credited with sparking national discussion in the United States about the treatment of sexual assault cases and victims by college campuses and court systems. She is also a public speaker.[3]
On the evening of January 17, 2015, Miller accompanied her sister to a Kappa Alpha fraternity party at Stanford University; later that night, two Stanford graduate students found Miller lying on the ground behind a dumpster with another Stanford student, 19-year-old Brock Turner, on top of her.[13] Miller was unconscious,[14] her blood alcohol level was estimated to have been 0.22% at the time of the assault.[15][16] When Turner tried to flee, he was caught and held down on the ground by the two graduate students as they waited for police to arrive.[17] Turner was arrested and indicted on five felony sexual assault charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.[18] In 2016, he was convicted of three of these charges and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, sparking public outrage due to the sentence's leniency.[19] Sentencing judge Aaron Persky was recalled two years later.[20]
The 7,137-word-long victim impact statement by Miller—who was referred to in court documents and media reports as "Emily Doe"—was published by BuzzFeed on June 3, 2016, the day after Turner was sentenced,[14] and was reprinted in other major news outlets such as The New York Times.[21] It was read 11 million times in four days after it was published, going viral.[2]
On August 9, 2019, 60 Minutes released an interview with Miller—who decided to go public with her name. She described her story and the consequences of being anonymous, and met the two students who stopped Turner.[22] Miller's memoir entitled Know My Name: A Memoir was published on September 4, 2019 by Viking Books and became a best-seller.[23][24][25][26] The book won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiographies[27] and was named one of the top ten books of the year by The Washington Post.[28]The New York Times also selected Know My Name for its "100 Notable Books of 2019."[29] The Dayton Literary Peace Prize selected the book as its 2020 non-fiction winner.[30]
Recognition
Miller's account of her assault and the legal case resulting from it "sparked a nationwide discussion about rape on college campuses and how survivors were not being heard",[31][32] and "became part of the intense debates around rape, sexism and sexual misconduct over the past years," including the Me Too movement.[33]
On November 1, 2016, Glamour named Miller, then known only as Emily Doe, a Woman of the Year for "changing the conversation about sexual assault forever", citing that her impact statement had been read over 11 million times.[34] Miller attended the award ceremony anonymously.[35]
She accepted the award on stage in November 2019 after the publication of her book. She delivered a poem at the ceremony in which she advocated for the well-being of sexual assault survivors.[36] She was listed as an influential person in Time's 2019 100 Next list.[37] In 2019, Stanford University installed a plaque on campus memorializing the assault.[38]
Artwork
After her assault, Miller started taking art courses at the recommendation of her therapist. In the summer of 2015, Miller attended a printmaking class at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island.[39]
In 2020, a mural drawn by Miller appeared in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.[39] The 70 ft (21 m)-long and 13 ft (4.0 m)-tall mural shows three vignettes of a cartoon figure, and the phrases "I was", "I am", and "I will be". The museum was closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the mural is visible through the windows facing Hyde Street.[40]
Miller’s 2021 work includes a mural that covers an outdoor dining structure for Alimama Tea and Yin Ji Chang Fen on Bayard Street in Manhattan, New York.[41] The mural was one of nine created in a collaboration with A+A+A Studio for their “ASSEMBLY for CHINATOWN” project.[42] The project was conducted to provide aid to family-owned restaurants and members of overlooked communities in Chinatown, New York.[43] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American business-owner activity dropped 26%, and restaurants in Asian communities were vandalized due hate crimes committed against Asian Pacific Americans.[44]
^Wyatt, Neal (October 3, 2019), "New Bestsellers, Oct. 3, 2019 - Book Pulse", Library Journal, New York City: Media Source Inc., archived from the original on October 28, 2019, retrieved October 28, 2019, Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller (Viking: Penguin) reclaims her story at No. 5 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and No. 14 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.
^"Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Oct 13. 2019", The New York Times, October 13, 2019, archived from the original on October 6, 2019, retrieved October 28, 2019, New This Week - Know My Name - by Chanel Miller - Viking - A sexual assault victim reclaims her identity and challenges our culture and criminal justice system as they relate to this issue.
