Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead
Sometimes it seems that we face an insurmountable task. I have taken hope from this quote and the truth behind it. Would it not be great to live in a world where sexual assault was a rarity instead of a plague? Is it true that small groups such as ours can really initiate lasting change? History says it not only can, but does.
Mental Illness at one time was considered a spiritual curse upon the person inflicted. The “insane” were treated like criminals or worse. A handful of people such as Dorthea Dix decided to do something about it and our society today may still have unfortunate stigmas attached to mental illness, but we certainly have come a long way in the treatment of both the disorders themselves and the people affected.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) began with 24 members in 1824 in England. Today almost every city has an SPCA and the consensus of most Americans is to treat animals humanly.
The NAACP was born in a tiny room of an apartment in New York City in 1908.It now had over half a million registered members and widespread influence in the world. In one generation the civil rights movement has gone from outlawing segregation to having an African American become the leader of the free world.
RCASA began with the vision and determination of 4 women in 1986. Since then as a society we have seen great advances such as marital rape being recognized as a crime in all fifty states, the strengthening of rape shield laws, the advent of the sex offender registry, the campus security act, and many more advances for the cause. Within our agency we are advancing in leaps and bounds as well.
The counseling program has grown both in numbers and services. We have a state of the art trauma program as well as art therapy, group, supportive and of course, crisis counseling. In fiscal year 2008 we served 253 counseling clients. In the first two quarters this year we have served 665. Our crisis response team is really responding, fewer victims are “falling through the cracks. Last fiscal year we responded 500 crises, the first half of this year we have responded to 983. Our court advocacy program is gaining momentum and we are getting referrals from victim witness in unprecedented numbers. Our education outreach is exceeding expectations and we are getting out a lot of information on prevention, healthy relationships, coercion, and services. Basically, we are growing fast and keeping pace.
We are changing the way our community deals with sexual assault. Other communities are watching us to see how we fare. We are committed. While we all have different reasons, backgrounds, and roles in our quest for change, we all have the same goal. To help victims become survivors and change the old attitudes and stigmas attached to sexual assault. We are here, we are working hard, we care, and we will persevere.
By: Corey Creswell
-Margaret Mead
Sometimes it seems that we face an insurmountable task. I have taken hope from this quote and the truth behind it. Would it not be great to live in a world where sexual assault was a rarity instead of a plague? Is it true that small groups such as ours can really initiate lasting change? History says it not only can, but does.
Mental Illness at one time was considered a spiritual curse upon the person inflicted. The “insane” were treated like criminals or worse. A handful of people such as Dorthea Dix decided to do something about it and our society today may still have unfortunate stigmas attached to mental illness, but we certainly have come a long way in the treatment of both the disorders themselves and the people affected.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) began with 24 members in 1824 in England. Today almost every city has an SPCA and the consensus of most Americans is to treat animals humanly.
The NAACP was born in a tiny room of an apartment in New York City in 1908.It now had over half a million registered members and widespread influence in the world. In one generation the civil rights movement has gone from outlawing segregation to having an African American become the leader of the free world.
RCASA began with the vision and determination of 4 women in 1986. Since then as a society we have seen great advances such as marital rape being recognized as a crime in all fifty states, the strengthening of rape shield laws, the advent of the sex offender registry, the campus security act, and many more advances for the cause. Within our agency we are advancing in leaps and bounds as well.
The counseling program has grown both in numbers and services. We have a state of the art trauma program as well as art therapy, group, supportive and of course, crisis counseling. In fiscal year 2008 we served 253 counseling clients. In the first two quarters this year we have served 665. Our crisis response team is really responding, fewer victims are “falling through the cracks. Last fiscal year we responded 500 crises, the first half of this year we have responded to 983. Our court advocacy program is gaining momentum and we are getting referrals from victim witness in unprecedented numbers. Our education outreach is exceeding expectations and we are getting out a lot of information on prevention, healthy relationships, coercion, and services. Basically, we are growing fast and keeping pace.
We are changing the way our community deals with sexual assault. Other communities are watching us to see how we fare. We are committed. While we all have different reasons, backgrounds, and roles in our quest for change, we all have the same goal. To help victims become survivors and change the old attitudes and stigmas attached to sexual assault. We are here, we are working hard, we care, and we will persevere.
By: Corey Creswell
1 comment:
My name is Keith Smith. I was abducted, beaten and raped by a stranger. It wasn't a neighbor, a coach, a relative, a family friend or teacher. It was a recidivist pedophile predator who spent time in prison for previous sex crimes; an animal hunting for victims in the quite, bucolic, suburban neighborhoods of Lincoln, Rhode Island.
I was able to identify the guy and the car he was driving. Although he was arrested that night and indicted a few months later, he never went to trial. His trial never took place because he was brutally beaten to death in Providence before his court date. 34 years later, no one has ever been charged with the crime.
In the time between the night of my assault and the night he was murdered, I lived in fear. I was afraid he was still around town. Afraid he was looking for me. Afraid he would track me down and kill me. The fear didn’t go away when he was murdered. Although he was no longer a threat, the simple life and innocence of a 14-year-old boy was gone forever. Carefree childhood thoughts replaced with the unrelenting realization that my world wasn’t a safe place. My peace shattered by a horrific criminal act of sexual violence.
Over the past 34 years, I’ve been haunted by horrible, recurring memories of what he did to me. He visits me in my sleep. There have been dreams–nightmares actually–dozens of them, sweat inducing, yelling-in-my-sleep nightmares filled with images and emotions as real as they were when it actually happened. It doesn’t get easier over time. Long dead, he still visits me, silently sneaking up from out of nowhere when I least expect it. From the grave, he sits by my side on the couch every time the evening news reports a child abduction or sex crime. I don’t watch America’s Most Wanted or Law and Order SVU, because the stories are a catalyst, triggering long suppressed emotions, feelings, memories, fear and horror. Real life horror stories rip painful suppressed memories out from where they hide, from that recessed place in my brain that stores dark, dangerous, horrible memories. It happened when William Bonin confessed to abducting, raping and murdering 14 boys in California; when Jesse Timmendequas raped and murdered Megan Kanka in New Jersey; when Ben Ownby, missing for four days, and Shawn Hornbeck, missing for four years, were recovered in Missouri.
Despite what happened that night and the constant reminders that continue to haunt me years later, I wouldn’t change what happened. The animal that attacked me was a serial predator, a violent pedophile trolling my neighborhood in Lincoln, Rhode Island looking for young boys. He beat me, raped me, and I stayed alive. I lived to see him arrested, indicted and murdered. It might not have turned out this way if he had grabbed one of my friends or another kid from my neighborhood. Perhaps he’d still be alive. Perhaps there would be dozens of more victims and perhaps he would have progressed to the point of silencing his victims by murdering them.
Out of fear, shame and guilt, I’ve been silent for over three decades, not sharing with anyone the story of what happened to me. No more. The silence has to end. What happened to me wasn't my fault. The fear, the shame, the guilt have to go. It’s time to stop keeping this secret from the people closest to me, people I care about, people I love, my long-time friends and my family. It’s time to speak out to raise public awareness of male sexual assault, to let other victims know that they’re not alone and to help victims of rape and violent crime understand that the emotion, fear and memories that may still haunt them are not uncommon to those of us who have shared a similar experience.
For those who suffer in silence, I hope my story brings some comfort, strength, peace and hope.
My novel, Men in My Town, was inspired by these actual events. Men in My Town is available now at www.Amazon.com
For additional information, please visit the Men in My Town blog at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com
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