KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE
Keep Quiet and Forgive tells the story of Minnesotan Amish farm girl runaway-turned-activist Lizzy Hershberger as she becomes the first to confront her Amish community and pursue justice against her rapist. Her action galvanizes an unprecedented survivors’ movement across Amish communities, with resonance for survivors everywhere.
SYNOPSIS
A powerful, untold story about a groundbreaking sexual abuse case and the Amish survivors who broke their silence.
Keep Quiet and Forgive is a triumphant story about an Amish survivors’ movement, inspired by a Minnesotan Amish woman who comes forward to pursue justice and a group of Amish and Mennonite survivors who follow in her footsteps.
Lizzy Hershberger grew up in Minnesota’s Amish Bluff Country. She rode buggies and walked barefoot to a one-room schoolhouse. But at 14 years old, her bucolic life was shattered after being raped by an Amish neighbor. Afterward, she is silenced by her community. Years later, moved by her desire to protect the vulnerable girls and boys silenced in Amish communities today, she reports her childhood rapist to the sheriff, sparking an unprecedented Amish #MeToo reckoning.
Keep Quiet and Forgive explores the fight and progress around Lizzy’s work as a survivor’s advocate, helping Amish and Mennonite survivors break their silence and navigate life after abuse, suicidal thoughts, and excommunication.
