Innocence, Proof, and Equity

What avenues of relief were available to you in your time of need?

If the person you identified as causing harm happens to not your supervisor, you followed through with the written or assumed instructions to, "Contact your supervisor". Or, you trusted HR to protect your rights. Perhaps then you were surprised to discover that the person(s) you've identified are considered innocent until you, on your own advocacy, prove them responsible. For hurting your feelings. Until then, the racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe/ableist/ageist is assumed innocent. And you, labelled "The Troublemaker". Forever.
​FACTS:
You are a Troublemaker. A Good One. Stay just like that too. But what happened here is wrong. No one calls victims of theft or assault "troublemakers" because they sought remedy...
FACTS:
The presumption of innocence in tandem with assigning the burden of proof works well for the vulnerable in physical, criminal crimes. A car was stolen, who stole it and whose responsibility to prove the theft? Public defenders, prosecutors, detectives, all oil systems to protect rights and liberty of both victim and accused. So why are victims of discrimination crimes considered troublemakers, and left to protect ourselves? Hmmm.
How does someone on their own go about proving the theft of one's dignity as discrimination/harassment/retaliation? But dignity is not tangible property so we get confused. It's time to re-examine basics of justice: Who is presumed innocent, and whose burden is that to prove when it comes to crimes of culture. 
That's why what happened was wrong. While intangible, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and retaliation are all crimes. We have predictable, standardized systems to protect these inalienable rights outside the workspace, we deserve the same at the hands of our organizations' internal justice systems. It's not only a legal a responsibility, but as fellow human beings (employees) who deserve to work free of inequity. 
We done spoke truth to power, and sometimes it worked. Now, we speak the language of power and it sounds like truth and love. Welcome to a new season of change. We're louder and we're singing this time. Let us look forward and be bold, we deserve it. A new normal emerges, won't you join us?