WGI suspends Diamante - abuse investigation

[JimF-LowBari]

4 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

Seems consistent to me.  DCI consistently remains silent, hoping things will blow over. 

They only issue a statement if things blow up instead of over.

Well that’s the way DCI has always done things and they are still around…. So far…

[scheherazadesghost]

1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

if WGI knows of a DCI issue...and let's be real they will know...they should act then and not wait. and the same for DCA, and every band and indoor circuit out there

My deepest condolences to those young folks who were harmed at Diamante and Mandarins. I was in colorguard and I remember the "culture" all too well.

I'll keep it real. Those organizations' silence is deafening.

Every second that goes by without honest, accountable validation is perpetuating harm. Period. (Forget about us elders who are survivors for a moment, and consider just those who have emerged in the last year. Imagine how you might've reacted to such abuse at that age. Now imagine you were also in a pandemic and all the rest of the mess in the world. None of us had to endure the world as it is today when we marched. The youngest ones in our industry deserve the utmost dignity and respect for even fielding a season for us to enjoy. And this is what they get?)

In a less imperfect world, there would be a network of survivors that could support each other when new reports emerge. Even better, we wouldn't be having this conversation because abuse would have been minimized or halted entirely AND there would be a network of survivors that supports the few emerging reporter-survivors. Ideally, the corps themselves would develop transparent protocol for minimizing and ceasing abuse while prioritizing the safety of survivors, as well as retain knowledgeable staff to followthru with said protocol.

Tall order.

[Cloudzabc]

These behaviors have been happening specifically from Mario since 2005. I marched under him for years, but predators are protected because they win metals. Drawing in more money and more members. 

[deftguy]

11 hours ago, mingusmonk said:

I am not a journalist. So in order to prove that my summary is from 1st-hand survivor accounts, I will be posting direct links to their public claims.  I did not want to post these here because of The way we have seen Previous abuse survivors treated over past across the Internet. Their stories are graphic and hard to stomach. Fair warning.

 

https://www.facebook.com/100007129531310/posts/pfbid02w4DcS9nzktiRVxQfNMPC2MiPHi7c3FuqoGBeMwf9o1dNTHiNwh5LzQmYDpQC8ai5l/

https://www.facebook.com/100008067304235/posts/pfbid02xQ5uotZQXDpxpHTC21aZHcjXbZujT8PuxTffkUodY3MBZ6aqkjZ4QeccXNFNraFil/

I am floored, sickened, angry as hades, and profoundly sad after reading this. Color Guard changed my life in so many positive ways I would be exhausted trying to name them all. It's a love I embrace to this day, and I just can't imagine loving something so much, and then having such a bad experience doing it. 

[scheherazadesghost]

6 hours ago, deftguy said:

I am floored, sickened, angry as hades, and profoundly sad after reading this. Color Guard changed my life in so many positive ways I would be exhausted trying to name them all. It's a love I embrace to this day, and I just can't imagine loving something so much, and then having such a bad experience doing it. 

It's so nice to hear from another colorguard person. Not many of us here???

My first four years of HS colorguard were transformative. With the right guidance, the techniques and methods of colorguard can provide heightened physical awareness, togetherness and cohesion with a group, and truly, lots and lots of fun. There's nothing like the feeling of knowing you're dancing and moving together as one! I LOVED teaching these methods and watching you peoples' eyes light up together when they realize they did it!

However, as soon as I joined corps, the fun gradually diminished over the next three seasons (although it never fully left, thanks to some of the awesome people I marched with.) The dark side, as mentioned by the survivor in this case, was different for me. I was treated as both a "diamond girl" at SCV my second year in the show design (thanks Myron, and minus the sexual favors)... and otherwise bullied relentlessly for every little mistake by staff and members. Nevermind that no one could manage to help me fix/replace my busted equipment (all my tosses left my hand earlier than everyone else's, dragged in the air, then landed in my hands later than everyone else's... exhausting!) Other members and staff apparently watched all this happen and either froze or thought nothing of it. I was severely underweight after my second season. No one seemed to notice or care enough to say something. That's not good, safe culture. Rather the opposite, it's detrimental to human health mentally and physically.

When I think of colorguard culture in drum corps, I remember how much my young self truly hated it. That's why I chilled on the drum bus... no weird Rookie Night #### there, luckily, just bus fights, which were also not okay, just less so in my case. The dark sides of colorguard culture for me were its superficiality, cliques and ostracization, heightened sexuality (one of my teachers used to tell us to put our "slamholes" over our dots), and cultural and SOGIE insensitivity. I can honestly say I think it messed me up at that crucial age and I'm still recovering from that as well as my physical scars.

[Sasha1]

So very sorry to hear about this….The Diamanté show this year was amazing.

Props to everyone out there who does the right thing, works hard and makes the world a better place.  

Sometimes it feels like doing the right thing gets you nowhere, but stories like this reminds me how important the decent people are.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Sasha1

[GetOFFmyDot]

On 9/15/2022 at 8:13 PM, scheherazadesghost said:

My deepest condolences to those young folks who were harmed at Diamante and Mandarins. I was in colorguard and I remember the "culture" all too well.

I'll keep it real. Those organizations' silence is deafening.

Every second that goes by without honest, accountable validation is perpetuating harm. Period. (Forget about us elders who are survivors for a moment, and consider just those who have emerged in the last year. Imagine how you might've reacted to such abuse at that age. Now imagine you were also in a pandemic and all the rest of the mess in the world. None of us had to endure the world as it is today when we marched. The youngest ones in our industry deserve the utmost dignity and respect for even fielding a season for us to enjoy. And this is what they get?)

In a less imperfect world, there would be a network of survivors that could support each other when new reports emerge. Even better, we wouldn't be having this conversation because abuse would have been minimized or halted entirely AND there would be a network of survivors that supports the few emerging reporter-survivors. Ideally, the corps themselves would develop transparent protocol for minimizing and ceasing abuse while prioritizing the safety of survivors, as well as retain knowledgeable staff to followthru with said protocol.

Tall order.

I’m not trying to defend Mandarins, but they did terminate him. Not for behavior that was brought to their attention, but for failing to participate in the investigation into Ike Jackson (another person they terminated).  I believe they shared their investigation with WGI.  

I know the health and safety team (and administration) at Mandarins acted swiftly in doing the right thing.  I would feel very comfortable with my child marching at Mandarins. 
 

I did hear that Mario was providing some informal consulting to at least two corps this summer.   Which, sadly, doesn’t surprise me.   
 

This activity really needs to get its act together.    Ugh

[NewToPosting]

A few weeks back, Spirit announced a new guard designer who had been implicated in previous WGI investigations. Next day, he was removed from the announcement.

I brought it up in the staff announcements thread, but everyone acted like I was crazy.

Another example of a heinous emotional and sexual abuser flying under the radar. That guy still runs a high school colorguard that competes in BOA and WGI...and again, has been named in complaints to WGI. 

WGI knows EXACTLY who he is and what he did. Still around. What's the recourse? Should I inform the police? Inform the school district? How can we get people like him out of the activity and KEEP them out?

Edited September 20, 2022 by NewToPosting

[BlueStainGlass]

16 minutes ago, NewToPosting said:

A few weeks back, Spirit announced a new guard designer who had been implicated in previous WGI investigations. Next day, he was removed from the announcement.

I brought it up in the staff announcements thread, but everyone acted like I was crazy.

Another example of a heinous emotional and sexual abuser flying under the radar. That guy still runs a high school colorguard that competes in BOA and WGI...and again, has been named in complaints to WGI. 

WGI knows EXACTLY who he is and what he did. Still around. What's the recourse? Should I inform the police? Inform the school district? How can we get people like him out of the activity and KEEP them out?

I think more people need to know who it is for the outrage to burn it down. 

[NewToPosting]

14 minutes ago, BlueStainGlass said:

I think more people need to know who it is for the outrage to burn it down. 

Understood. For legal reasons, I'm not going to post that (I know for a fact what this person did and its impact on at least a few people). As slimy as that person is, they are innocent until proven guilty. 

Apart from naming them online (which I'm not going to do, and neither are his victims), what are the options? He's being kept hush-hush, which isn't helping.