Street Roots • April 28-May 4, 2017
Commentary
Page 11
Victims, survivors can teach us justice, in all its diversity
BY A M Y DAVIDSON
someone who put them at risk because they
felt that the people trying to help them could
never see the whole picture. They felt they
few years ago, I worked with kids from
never got to say what they needed unless it fit
the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. I
into the precise box being offered to them by
was invited to a summer training to
lead activities designed to inspire youths’ a person representing a construct that was
not of their culture.
creative expression around sharing what is
Before that summer and since, I’ve spent
beautiful and what is difficult in a way that
years working directly with crime victims and
honors their culture.
their families, and hundreds of survivors’
They were shy, playful,
stories later, I see a system that says it’s
energized - much like
committed to bringing justice to those at risk
most kids I’d worked
or impacted by crime but that often doesn’t
with in the past. But
respond to the diversity of victim needs that
what really stood out
are as multifaceted as the individuals
was their unwavering
themselves.
support and
So many of my colleagues who were part of
encouragement of each
that system felt troubled by knowing they
other as each of them
couldn’t provide safety in the way they had
stepped out of their comfort zone. They held
intended. Whether it was public safety or child
a strong moral compass for themselves and
welfare, the frustration persisted. And
others, and I’m quite sure I learned more
typically, the course of action was to apply a
than they did.
remedy that was temporary but would often
As I got to know one youth in particular,
compound the situation. We were a group of
she confessed that her father was battling
well-meaning people very blind to the needs of
addiction and that she was sometimes afraid
some, specifically the people most harmed by
of being driven in a car with him. The girl was
the system’s shortcomings.
worried about a possible accident, but her
One woman I worked with was being
bigger fear was that if she told someone, her
abused by her husband, so she reached out to
parent could be incarcerated, and she would
law enforcement seeking safety for her
be placed in foster care. She knew that was
children and herself. The court issued a “no
the routine “protective” measure for the
contact” order. My client didn’t speak English
peers in her community, and she was right to
fluently, and without an interpreter, both
be concerned. According to the Oregon
public safety and the court failed to account
Department of Human Services, Native
for her cultural needs when responding with a
American children are placed in foster care
blanket court order forbidding contact.
six times more often than white kids, and
The order gave her a measure of safety
Native American adults are disproportionately
because she wanted the abuse to stop, but she
sent to prison and jail. It made sense that this
didn’t necessarily want him completely
girl had learned to lie about a possible risk
removed from her life. She, their kids, and
their extended family depended on him for all
because it was a survival strategy that was
the reasons that family members rely on each
safer for her than the alternative.
other: they share a car and finances and
In that context and many others, I’ve
childcare responsibilities. The new
observed countless scenarios of hurt people
restrictions caused immense difficulty for her
risking further harm by protecting someone
entire family. She wanted to be safe, but with
they love who is hurting them. Their reasons
the “no contact” order, she was now in fear of
were many, but most often, they protected
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N I S T
A
SAFER
JUSTICE
Amy Davidson is the
Crime Survivors’
Program Director at
Partnership for Safety
and Justice, which
advances policy
solutions to crime
that ensure justice,
equity, accountability
and healing to
achieve safe, strong
communities in
Oregon.
p e o p le ’s
JL
h
JL FOOD CO-OP
getting in trouble with the system that she
hoped would make her life better.
These stories and too many others like
them are what motivated me to look to more
systems-wide solutions to prime survivors’
needs. That search landed me at Partnership
for Safety and Justice as the new Crime
Survivor Program Director. In this role with
P SJ, I see real opportunity to work more
closely with system players from diverse
disciplines to engage them in meaningful
dialogues about what is possible when we
derive solutions
from those we
aspire to serve.
Nothing could bring M e c e rila g to the Oregon
greater meaning to
D epartm ent of Ham aa
this role than
elevating the voices S e rvice ^ Native Jbaerieaa
of young people and c h ild re n are placed la foster
care s ir tim es m ore ©flea thaa
the ones who will
bear the burden of
w hite feiisr and Native
our miscalculations. Baierlcasi a dults are
For too long, the
d isp ro p o rtio n a te ly sent to
voices of victims
p riso n and JalL
and survivors have
been overlooked by
the criminal justice
system.
Thankfully we are evolving. Today we know
leaders and advocates across the state that
see the complexities in public safety and are
no longer spinning a singular story to define
all who have been hurt or all who have caused
harm. They know that it’s time to shift our
assumptions of who is a crime victim and who
causes harm. It’s time to be accountable to
the racial disparities that are deepened by the
blind spots of our current criminal justice
system. It’s time to address the structural
aspects of how we determine who is hurting
who and why. It’s time to ask all crime
survivors what justice looks like for them and
fight to address those diverse needs. Their
voices hold the answers if we are willing to
listen.
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