Professional Do-Gooder Raped (Lack Of Insight Astonishing).

[Gingersnap]

We are not your weapons – we are women
Haiti — By Guest Author on April 19, 2010 at 10:46 am

By Amanda Kijera, civic journalist and activist in Haiti

Two weeks ago, on a Monday morning, I started to write what I thought was a very clever editorial about violence against women in Haiti. The case, I believed, was being overstated by women’s organizations in need of additional resources. Ever committed to preserving the dignity of Black men in a world which constantly stereotypes them as violent savages, I viewed this writing as yet one more opportunity to fight “the man” on behalf of my brothers. That night, before I could finish the piece, I was held on a rooftop in Haiti and raped repeatedly by one of the very men who I had spent the bulk of my life advocating for.

It hurt. The experience was almost more than I could bear. I begged him to stop. Afraid he would kill me, I pleaded with him to honor my commitment to Haiti, to him as a brother in the mutual struggle for an end to our common oppression, but to no avail. He didn’t care that I was a Malcolm X scholar. He told me to shut up, and then slapped me in the face. Overpowered, I gave up fighting halfway through the night.

Accepting the helplessness of my situation, I chucked aside the Haiti bracelet I had worn so proudly for over a year, along with it, my dreams of human liberation. Someone, I told myself, would always be bigger and stronger than me. As a woman, my place in life had been ascribed from birth. A Chinese proverb says that “women are like the grass, meant to be stepped on.” The thought comforted me at the same time that it made me cringe.

(snip)

I went to Haiti after the earthquake to empower Haitians to self-sufficiency. I went to remind them of the many great contributions that Afro-descendants have made to this world, and of their amazing resilience and strength as a people. Not once did I envision myself becoming a receptacle for a Black man’s rage at the white world, but that is what I became. While I take issue with my brother’s behavior, I’m grateful for the experience. It woke me up, made me understand on a deeper level the terror that my sisters deal with daily. This in hand, I feel comfortable in speaking for Haitian women, and for myself, in saying that we will not be your pawns, racially, politically, economically or otherwise.

Amazing. This white, well educated humanitarian has absolutely no insight into her situation. She was raped because she was defenseless - not because because of the white patriarchy. Everywhere in the world women are raped because they cannot outrun or outfight male criminals. The rapist was opportunistic, not simmering with colonial vengeance. The personal is not political in most cases.

But it was really that last paragraph that so completely summed up the do-gooder mindset. She came, she reminded, and she speaks for Haitian women...because Haitian women just aren't doing it right.

The planet will never move forward until we take these holier-than-thou women and give them some kind innocuous work to do where they can't influence children or meddle in the affairs of actual adults.

Race Talk

[Megaguns91]

Stupid stupid stupid. She could have avoided this situation by a mile had she not been a self-concerned presumptuous idiot. But, like most liberal self-professed do-gooders, she walked right into a situation where she thought that emotions and feelings and her empathy would prevail and it's a real shame. I'm not saying that rape is condoned. Not ever, ever, ever. But, if you're wise, you can take steps to avoid being put in such a situation. Common sense as opposed to feeeeeeeeeeelings.

[marv]

Ultimately, I think she came to enjoy it!

http://www.occidentaldissent.com/201...aped-in-haiti/

[fettpett]

what a complete idiot. I don't know very many rape victims that act like this. I know two people that have had this happen to them when they were kids. both of them blamed themselves NOT some gradious meta influnce.

Somehow this story reads and feels very fake.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Rather than allowing myself to be used in such a fashion, and as opposed to submitting to the frustration and bitterness that can be born of such an experience, I choose to continue to love and educate instead. My brothers can be sensitized to women’s realities in Haiti and the world over if these are presented to them by using their own clashes with racism and oppression as a starting point.

They must be made to understand the dangerous likelihood of the oppressed becoming the oppressor if no shift in consciousnesses takes place and if no end to the cycle of trauma occurs. I intend to see that it does…by continuing to live and work fearlessly with justice in mind, through the creation of a safe space for women in Haiti and by creating programming for Haitian men that considers their needs, too. Weapons annihilate, dialogue bears fruit.

I don't understand what's wrong here. She seems to be one of the very few people left in the world upholding the virtues of truth and love (as seen through Jesus Christ and preached by many other great figures in history).

Rather than turning into a weapon, rather than allowing her pain to turn into hatred, she is still doing what is right.

This sort of thing needs to be talked about more often.

[Wei Wu Wei]

what a complete idiot. I don't know very many rape victims that act like this. I know two people that have had this happen to them when they were kids. both of them blamed themselves NOT some gradious meta influnce.

Somehow this story reads and feels very fake.

It's people like her that give me hope that there is still hope for humans when all too often I read opinions like this.

She's an idiot? She's faking? I find this post horribly offensive and misogynistic.

[malloc]

Overpowered, I gave up fighting halfway through the night.

Accepting the helplessness of my situation

Back in 1836 a good friend of mine, Samuel Colt, patented what would become a great equalizer among men and women. This woman should really look into this astonishing device, and advocate the value it can bring to the plight of Hatian women. When employed correctly, patent No. 1304 has the remarkable property of placing the smallest woman on equal footing with the largest man. It won't guarantee a successful escape, but it definitely un-guarantees certain victimization.

[Megaguns91]

It's people like her that give me hope that there is still hope for humans when all too often I read opinions like this.

She's an idiot? She's faking? I find this post horribly offensive and misogynistic.

And I find you thinking you know anything about the truth behind being raped and "hope" of such things offends me.

[MrsSmith]

It's people like her that give me hope that there is still hope for humans when all too often I read opinions like this.

Not to be too cynical, but I do note that every single online mention of this woman just happens to be this story...but I'm sure there's no chance she made it up in order to make a name for herself. After all, women never lie....especially so calmly...about a horrendous act like this. Of course not.


{Personally, if this had happened to me, I'd be having nightmares; replaying the worst parts of it in my mind whenever I didn't guard my thoughts carefully; and I'd swing back and forth from feeling I was at fault for being so stupid, and feeling intense anger and even hatred for the "brother." What I would not do would be to blame all the whites in the world for the lust and anger of one man...regardless of color.}

[Wei Wu Wei]

And I find you thinking you know anything about the truth behind being raped and "hope" of such things offends me.

I'm speaking of the Truth preached by Jesus Christ and others, not about the individual experience of being raped. Two of the most important people in my life were victims of rape, this sort of thing hits home for me, but I am not presuming to know what it's like for her.

That someone could experience this horror and still act out of love and charity demonstrates something that I consider divine and that does give me hope.