Mar

23

It Just Comes

Filed Under Diversity, Prevention | By Tim Love | 2 Comments

It has been a couple of weeks since our annual conference, but one speaker’s words in particular have stayed with me. On Tuesday, our lunch speaker was Dr. Terri Pease, and her presentation was titled Cultural Trauma, History and Trauma – Their Impact on African-American Survivors. I was so wrapped up in the presentation that I didn’t take very good notes, so I apologize to everyone, particularly Dr. Pease, if I don’t capture the spirit of her presentation well.

I was particularly struck by Dr. Pease’s points regarding the concept of “cultural trauma.” As I understand the concept at its most reduced, cultural trauma occurs when an entire group of people experience a massive trauma that is so profound that it impacts every member of the group in some way for generations and generations. The cause of the trauma may have passed from existence, and an individual member of the group may not have personally experienced the trauma, but the impact exists nonetheless. In the case of Black people in the United States, slavery is a clear example of a cause of cultural trauma.

Regardless of the fact that slavery has been illegal for over a century, Jim Crow laws stricken from the law books and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the impact of massive displacement – erasing cultural and family history – and legalized racism continues to impact Black people in the U.S. today. Dr. Pease talked about effects ranging from physical to emotional. As a result, any act of racism today, whether deemed insignificant or isolated by those in our society who believe we live in a post-racial U.S., is in many ways an act of re-victimization – a reminder of the violence committed by a nation against a people, and a threat of more violence.

As I sat listening to Dr. Pease speak, I couldn’t help but think about women in the U.S., and really any other patriarchal society. Could the concept of cultural trauma be relevant to the experience of women in our society? There are some significant differences for sure, and speaking of a collective experience of women in the U.S. is problematic considering the spectrum of experiences of women based on other aspects of their identity, such as race, economic-status and sexual orientation. However, there are some similarities. Women have been systematically targeted for violence in many forms, including sexual violence.

I know that we all know these statistics, but lets think about them again. One in five Texas women have been sexually abused or assaulted. That doesn’t even speak to the reality of the full spectrum of sexual violence. One in five cannot be explained by individual and unrelated acts of violence, but rather speaks to a societal targeting for violence of women, or at least sanctioning of violence against them. How can this not impact all women, regardless of whether or not they have personally experienced sexual violence? Read more

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Mar

2

Texas scored a C…

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Filed Under Human Trafficking | By Wende Hilsenrod | Leave a Comment

Shared Hope International developed a report card to rate each state’s effort in combating Domestic Minor Victims of Human Trafficking.  Texas scored a C.

The report card is based on the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework, an analysis of state laws performed by the American Center for Law and Justice.  The Protected Innocence Legislative Framework outlines six areas of law critical to protecting and responding to domestic minors of sex trafficking:

Criminalization of domestic minors (4.5 out of 7.5) Protection: limited
Criminal provisions for demand (21 out of 25) Protection: moderate
Criminal provisions for traffickers (11.5 out of 15) Protection: moderate
Criminal provisions for facilitators (6.5 out of 10) Protection: moderate
Protective provisions for the child victim (16.5 out of 27.5) Protection: limited
Criminal justice tools for investigations & prosecutions (12 out of 15) Protection: moderate

 

Texas can and will do better.  How will Texas communities collaborate with law enforcement, juvenile justice, social service providers, faith-based communities, legal services and schools to help victims? How do we prevent, train, rescue, bring justice to and restore victims? How will we prevent, train, rescue, bring justice to and restore victims? 

To access the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework Methodology, each completed Report Card and foundational analysis and recommendations, go to their web site:

http://www.sharedhope.org/WhatWeDo/BringJustice/PolicyRecommendations.aspx

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