WGI suspends Diamante - abuse investigation

[scheherazadesghost]

I have to establish a boundary when folks wrongfully assume that the only actions I've taken are what I've shared with DCP.

I can't speak to a lot of the other actions I've taken because they're either deeply personal or confidential, involving other survivors from whom I haven't gained consent to share their story.

Still not sure how I ended up the bad guy here.

[Lance]

It's great advice to "do something" if you can, but dealing with trauma can preclude somebody's ability to do that for years or even ever.  And victims need to know that it's okay. If anything, being able to read about others' experiences and actions (Like Terri's) can maybe make it easier in the future for victims to recover more rapidly a point to where they can "do something".  That's the power of social movements.  Over time, they can and do force the powers that be to put proactive policies in place.  This one is agonizingly slow.   Look how long it took for the general public's attitudes towards victim-blaming to shift even a few degrees.  

[Jeff Ream]

3 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

You probably don’t know this but ten years ago, I actually put my money where my mouth is and tried to do something about this.  A lifetime registered sex offender was allowed to march in an all-age corps.  This corps did open class shows with corps with younger demographic groups such as Colts Cadets.  I sent letters to every corps in DCI and DCA and the CEOs of both circuits. I got one response.  GH of all people.  I also got threatening phone calls and two cease and desist letters.  One from the corps who was harboring the sex offender and one from the sex offender himself.  The balls on that guy… my attorney laughed and responded with a letter.  It cost about $300 for that. 

I persisted.  I had him kicked off a campus that prohibits felons.  There was a show there.   They still allowed him to march in DCA championships and in 2015, I saw him playing with a group at the DCI hall of fame ceremony.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.

He was also in another alumni group in 2018, but myself and someone else brought it out and he was asked to leave.

I emailed Tricia Nadolny in 2018 after the article about the brave survivors from the Cadets and told her all about the complete disregard of DCI and DCA about a lifetime registered sex offender in a drum corps.  She then wrote an article about what happened, contacting the survivor of that guy.  

Men in high positions said terrible things about the young woman survivor of this cretin.  “She wanted it”.  “You don’t know this girl”. 

 

So just keep waiting for someone to “do something “.  Good luck. 

oh i remember well

[GBugler]

3 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

oh i remember well

Was that the guy who marched a corps that rhymes with "Plaidison Spouts" and whose name rhymes with "Gorgon Carson?"

[Jeff Ream]

2 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I have to establish a boundary when folks wrongfully assume that the only actions I've taken are what I've shared with DCP.

I can't speak to a lot of the other actions I've taken because they're either deeply personal or confidential, involving other survivors from whom I haven't gained consent to share their story.

Still not sure how I ended up the bad guy here.

you didn't.

[Jeff Ream]

12 minutes ago, GBugler said:

Was that the guy who marched a corps that rhymes with "Plaidison Spouts" and whose name rhymes with "Gorgon Carson?"

indeed. i remember his issues being brought up way back in the day on RAMD.

[Brian Tuma]

4 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

didn't a bill just get signed eliminating statute of limitations?

There’s the Adult Survivors Act that was passed by the NY legislature. I don’t think anything exists nationwide. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

5 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

It's good to have all options on the table for new survivors. Ugh, I hate even typing "new survivors."

In my personal case, the terrorists will continue to win because I have no stomach for legal action and lawyers won't take my case anyway. Also, I'm still recovering from what they did to me and need to focus on that. Besides the abusers all live in different states, all work for different corps/corps adjacent companies now, and the org where it happened probs can't handle legal action either. Unless someone else does the naming based on my report, I'll remain mum on it. Even then, I probably won't say anything bc the fear of retaliation is still too great for me. I just provided my case again to indicate that no one single solution exists for the diversity of survivors of abuse in this industry. To your point, I'm sure there are others in my shoes who can take action in civil courts. More power to them.

I'm genuinely more concerned about younger survivors who have nowhere to turn when this happens to them. MAASIN provided the basics for me, but still helped open a can of worms that ultimately left me more insulted by the corps' leadership reaction than if I hadn't engaged at all. I can't say that's common, but it sucked for me.

Many survivors I've spoken to already survived traumas prior to entering corps. That's often exactly who these abusers target in drum corps and in life. Advocating for their protection and closure helps them and the industry... that does indirectly help me too.

I guess my first question is how equipped are teenagers and 20 somethings to 1st recognize what they experienced as abuse and 2nd take civil legal action. I would argue, based on my experience alone, that most young people aren't equipped for that. Took me 20 years to even come close.

Even then, I'm bullied in all platforms for speaking my truth and advocating for the safety of others. I would argue that younger survivors will tend to just dissociate entirely so they don't have to fight with the community just to be heard. That's what I did... and am constantly at war with myself for coming back and even trying.

Keep doing what you are doing.  

[IllianaLancerContra]

3 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I have to establish a boundary when folks wrongfully assume that the only actions I've taken are what I've shared with DCP.

I can't speak to a lot of the other actions I've taken because they're either deeply personal or confidential, involving other survivors from whom I haven't gained consent to share their story.

Still not sure how I ended up the bad guy here.

You are not the bad guy.  But to some individuals here you are the ‘prophet  from here preaching in their household’ that they don’t want to honor.  
 

That said - many of us here are heartbroken due to your treatment- I can’t watch 2004 SCV (it is like a coming across ‘The Cosby Show’ when channel-surfing). 
 

Sooner or later there will be a real reckoning within Drum Corps concerning member abuse.   And the longer it takes, the worse it will be for DCI.  What they are doing now is like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.  

[JimF-LowBari]

Could we just recognize that people are individuals and it hits survivors in different ways.

I don’t see anyone being told they are wrong for what they have done, not done or how it affects them. I do see information being given without judgement, which is what is needed.