A letter from Rebekah Jones:

Today we have a special letter from Rebekah Jones on her birthday - her story, her perspective - on how this film came to be and why this story needs to be told.

I turn 34 today.

I’m more than one-third of the way through my life, and I’ve spent a lot of time lately asking myself what I have to show for it.

I was 30 years old when I began my work as manager of data and surveillance for COVID-19 at the Florida Department of Health (DOH).

At the time, I was a rising star in my field.

My efforts in leading Florida’s pandemic tracking systems earned me magazine features in my alumni magazine at Syracuse University and in technical blogs like this one. I led inter-agency state calls on best practices for data with FEMA, and the data schema I developed became the national standard for reporting during the pandemic.

Then everything changed.

Since then, my story – told in part, retold in another part, lied about, buried, attacked, silenced – has become mired in controversy.

An army of DeSantis trolls and stalkers scour social media daily, attacking any mention of my name with defamatory accusations and links to dedicated stalker websites created by members of DeSantis’ staff. The relentless stalking and harassment has worked to a degree - people have told me they stopped sharing my story out of fear of being attacked on Twitter.

DeSantis’ influence in the media goes well beyond his cyber gang, and beyond just silencing me.

A documentary about DeSantis’ time torturing people at Guantanamo Bay was suddenly shut down the day after DeSantis declared his campaign for President.

Accountability in the face of such a massive influence campaign cannot be won easily.

I've known Josh Fox for ten years - I was a regular on his program in 2020, when I was thrown in jail with COVID. That's when Josh decided to document this journey. He's the only person I would trust with this story.

Academy Award nominated and Emmy winning for his groundbreaking 2010 film ‘Gasland,’ I met Josh more than a decade ago, and gave him access to the unfiltered, unpolished, raw and emotional journey that I’ve been on.

Josh was with me when a far-right media outlet published a defamatory and outlandish article trying to undermine my credibility by insisting I wasn’t a whistleblower.

Josh was with me two weeks later when I received notice that I had won legal whistleblower protection.

Josh was with me when the Inspector General’s office found that it could “neither prove or disprove” that I was instructed to manipulate data and present it to the public as real.

Josh was with me in moments – private and public – that punctuated Florida’s COVID-19 story.

Now, his non-profit studio is fundraising to finish editing the documentary and bring my story -- Florida’s story, the pandemic’s story, Ron DeSantis’ story – to audiences nationwide.

For my birthday, I’m asking all my friends, allies and supporters to help us finish the film and bring this unapologetic, bold and harrowing story to the people.

Please visit the website, watch the trailer, donate and share our fundraiser far and wide.

The studio also provides rewards for donors – ranging from a special thanks in the credits of the film to private screenings and events with Josh Fox and me.

Josh’s studio a certified 501(c)3 and all donations are tax-deductible – so you, your business, your organization can donate and use your donation as a tax deduction.

We only have nine days to raise what we need or we don’t get to keep a cent – that’s the rule for Kickstarter campaigns.

This story is bigger than me. This is Florida’s best chance to tell our story of what happened to us during COVID-19.

Thank you all for your continued support and dedication.

Rebekah Jones