DSK Accuser Speaks at Church: 'Why Me?'

Nafissatou Diallo made her first public appearance last night, drawing more than 200 members of the media to Brooklyn's Christian Cultural Center to hear her speak. The New York Times calls her two-minute speech "halting, nerve-racked, soft-spoken-to-the-brink-of-inaudibility," and reports that she ended with a question: “I’ve been asking God, Why? Why me?” Her lawyer says he plans to file a civil lawsuit against Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Diallo's behalf.

Diallo's appearance in one of the largest black megachurches in New York City was a chance for supporters to press district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. to either continue prosecuting Strauss-Kahn for Diallo's alleged sexual assault, or let a special prosecutor take over. Diallo's lawyer says she made the appearance because there's nothing to lose: “Every day, we’ve been told the case is going to be dismissed. She doesn’t have to wait to tell the truth at trial; she is telling the truth today.” For more, the Daily Beast talks to Diallo's friends about her background. (More Nafissatou Diallo stories.)