Description

When Richard Henry Dana Jr. shipped out as a common sailor in 1834, he entered a world of brutal hierarchy, silenced suffering, and loyalty demanded over truth. He vowed that if he ever had the means, he would fight for the voiceless. Nearly two centuries later, attorney Timothy Kosnoff recognized his own thirty year career in Dana’s story. In this live interview, TikTok creator Julia Sanders sits down with Kosnoff, who has represented thousands of LDS sexual abuse survivors, to unpack the throughline from the forecastle to the bishop’s office: unchecked institutional power, victims punished for speaking out, and perpetrators shielded to protect the hierarchy. Sanders brings her audience’s questions and instincts to the conversation, pressing Kosnoff on what Dana’s hard-won lessons about empathy, storytelling, and persistence from inside broken systems still have to teach us today.

Julia was raised a Latter-day Saint in Southwest Missouri as the fourth of fourteen children. After learning more context about the Church’s history and truth claims, she began sharing her discoveries online on her channel, Analyzing Mormonism. She is a frequent host of Mormon Stories podcast and especially the LDS Discussions series. She is also pursuing a graduate degree in history in the US Midwest.

Timothy Kosnoff is a nationally recognized attorney who has represented thousands of survivors of LDS Church-enabled sexual abuse over a thirty year career. A tireless advocate for institutional accountability, Kosnoff has helped shift public awareness and legal precedent around the Church’s handling of abuse cases.