DCI and SOA being sued?

[HockeyDad]

30 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

It is abundantly clear that this post pertains to other posts here.  It says so in the first phrase.

And I still do not see survivors making posts like that here.  Not even one.  Instead, survivors seem to have the best and most thought-out ideas for improving things.

So how is that "victim blaming"?

I guess unless you’re a victim stepping forward it would be hard to understand. So anyone saying “some comments” want to shut it all done, can seem to be aimed at you. It would have been infinitely better to say - Hockeydad, you bum, you would rather shut it all down?  Then I could reply - Yes. I would prefer that to ongoing sexual assaults. Then the blame can be placed on me. And I can handle it. 

[JimF-LowBari]

35 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

It is abundantly clear that this post pertains to other posts here.  It says so in the first phrase.

And I still do not see survivors making posts like that here.  Not even one.  Instead, survivors seem to have the best and most thought-out ideas for improving things.

So how is that "victim blaming"?

How is it victim blaming? Because there are always going to be victims we should shut down DCI. If it wasn’t for those #### victims things would be ok.

[scheherazadesghost]

If what we're saying on this page is "we can never completely eliminate abuses," then I agree. Any "expert" who claims they can is a snake oil salesman and shouldn't be allowed into doing the work. A realistic goal should be to quantifiably reduce harm as much as possible and support survivors better by training personnel and creating rigorous reporting/supporting structures. I'm not so sure this was the intent near the top of the page. Nobody is asking for utopia for heaven's sake and framing calls for accountability in this way is misleading and hyperbolic.

Survivors and allies are asking for the community to listen to and implement lessons minimally from the young alum who were violated last year, the year before, and within the last 5 years. I don't understand why people don't get the difference between that and utopia yet. As long as this accountability isn't happening then violators like GH will continue to troll drum corps spaces and survivors will be shoved out, even though those survivors and vulnerable young people undeniably deserve access to these spaces more. How does this community not understand that and work to rectify it? It is an ongoing and historical problem that this community enables or turns a blind eye to known violators because they "make good shows" and get the high scores. All such achievements are hollow, I know, because I marched such a show. There are best practices out in the world already in existence that could nurture serious holistic improvements across the industry. That's not utopia. That's the real world outside of whatever weird dimension drum corps exists in where protecting violators is the norm.

If what we're saying is more like whining that "some" will ever be satisfied by the attempts put in place by corps and DCI, well, the yeah, that'll get framed as victim blaming. Especially if those attempts remain as meager and anemic as they have been on average so far, no matter the effort put into them. This perspective scrutinizes survivors and their allies for seeking accountability as "never being satisfied enough." Instead of scrutinizing the survivor/ally proposals, the ideal should be to listen patiently because we are the ones who will be the first to recognize and acknowledge true, sustainable changes for the better. So far, no sorry, it's not there.

The proof is in the abuses that have been reported in the last year alone.

[TOC]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

If what we're saying on this page is "we can never completely eliminate abuses," then I agree. Any "expert" who claims they can is a snake oil salesman and shouldn't be allowed into doing the work. A realistic goal should be to quantifiably reduce harm as much as possible and support survivors better by training personnel and creating rigorous reporting/supporting structures. I'm not so sure this was the intent near the top of the page. Nobody is asking for utopia for heaven's sake and framing calls for accountability in this way is misleading and hyperbolic. 

My older brother (GHOST to you folks) sent me a message about this thread.  "Reading those posts reminds me of the Catholic priests' scandals that hit the news decades ago.  Seems like some of the scumbags just move around in the DCI/WGI organizations like Bishops in various cities moved the priests.  They will probably always have these sexual desires, even during a DCI/WGI season.  When law enforcement was moving in on Cardinal Law, the Vatican ordered him to Rome where he couldn't be touched."   

Edited October 13, 2023 by TOC

[Terri Schehr]

4 minutes ago, TOC said:

My older brother (GHOST to you folks) sent me a message about this thread.  "Reading those posts reminds me of the Catholic priests' scandals that hit the news decades ago.  Seems like some of the scumbags just move around in the DCI/WGI organizations like Bishops in various cities moved the priests.  They will probably always have these sexual desires, even during a DCI/WGI season.  When law enforcement was moving in on Cardinal Law, the Vatican ordered him to Rome where he couldn't be touched."   

The movie “Spotlight” really shined a bright light on the game the Catholic Church was playing by moving these predatory clergymen around.  

[scheherazadesghost]

@Terri, I was just thinking of Spotlight as I saw your post. Or She Said, or The Truth, or The Post. Heck, even The Newsroom.

@TOC and Ghost, this is exactly why when DCI implements basic policies and 1-off trainings, I get scritchy. On the one hand, it's all better than nothing. On the other, if there's no rigor within the current reporting procedure with consequences for breaking that procedure, then at best it's faulty application of safeguarding and at worst, it's window dressing. Paper tigers indeed, as someone else in this thread mentioned.

Below I disclose an example from my own beloved corps again, as I've always thought of them as a legacy and strong example of both the average drum corps in some cases, and the epitome. If that's the case, then based on below, we've got a lot of work to do:

In particular, this "window dressing" is why I remain disappointed with VMAPA. I initiated a dialogue with alumni about safeguarding in an alumni meeting that was escalated to the board, brokered by an alum I highly respected. A confidential message of mine was leaked to them in which I called the dialogue, before it happened, a farce. Why did I do that (again, in a conversation I assumed would remain private)? Because I knew, based on my past experiences with VMAPA described below, that they only had the capacity to implement the most superficial, surface level changes I could recommend to them. And because the victim blaming had already started in my discussions with alum and leadership. I don't believe that they have the capacity or expertise to do the thorough work of following through with improvements or not triggering the members and alum they've already harmed in the process. I think this of most DCI corps. One example was their internal dissemination of my original public disclosure of abuses to instructional staff in spring 2022. Something as potent as that can be volatile to a community without a plan, and I fear that it was exactly that. After that disclosure, the former CEO referred to me in front of staff and member leadership as "someone who had a bad summer." I saw the then-publicly-available recording of this myself. In summary, since the aforementioned safeguarding meeting, VMAPA has updated their whistleblowing procedure (and has indicated that they would be doing behind-the-scenes work to back that up... but that they wouldn't be making that work public. Fine. But transparency is key here, given the nearly 60 abuses I've documented in our history.) Everything described in this paragraph happened under the pressure of near-constant victim blaming by alum and leadership, some of which is still easily searchable on DCP. At best, I was HR'd or treated like a liability and not a concerned alum with expertise in this subject matter. I am preparing for more angry alum to create new DCP accounts to contradict what I've said here. Just try to keep in mind that I have no incentive to lie about any of it.

What does the thorough work of following through with safeguarding changes mean? Minimally, it can mean implementing a role like SoA has at the executive level that oversees safeguarding and only reports to the board (not the corps director, HR, or CEO.) This role at SoA, one can assume, is a direct result of actions initiated by @anomaly, albeit too late to actually rectify what she endured. I don't see that outside of DCI proper and SoA yet. It can also mean soliciting professionals to the board and staff with direct, verifiable, and significant youth arts nonprofit safeguarding experience. I don't see that hardly anywhere and I don't understand why at this point.

It can also mean not kicking whistleblower reports of staff and alumni retaliation down the road (i.e. saying "we've confirmed that we received the report," something I told them to do at the very least... but no other action) as VMAPA has. I've also attempted to report broken whistleblowing systems to DCI and VMAPA. I'm not the only one. Both entities responded with the need for evidence. Broken whistleblower systems include more than reporting systems that are housed on websites controlled by you, which is not best practice. They include professionals who are unwilling, untrained, or unable in the moment to ensure that when a report happens, they know what to do, how to do it, and aren't afraid of doing it. That last part is what's broken in DCI.

Edited October 14, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
typo

[greg_orangecounty]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:29 AM, Jeff Ream said:

sadly to many in power, MAASIN is viewed as terrorists out to blow everything up

I'm glad there are outside organizations around to call out abuse against marching members.  And looking on MASSIN's website they are also "anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, & anti-colonialist."  Not sure what that has to do with Drum Corps and I find it disappointing as I assumed they were apolitical.  

That said, they have the right to be whatever they want. 

[Brass of the South]

32 minutes ago, greg_orangecounty said:

I'm glad there are outside organizations around to call out abuse against marching members.  And looking on MASSIN's website they are also "anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, & anti-colonialist."  Not sure what that has to do with Drum Corps and I find it disappointing as I assumed they were apolitical.  

That said, they have the right to be whatever they want. 

The problem I have with MASSIN is they try to be to many things at once. If you want to be the DEI advocate while promoting your own brand of politics then sure. They have the right to do so. But doing that in addition to claiming to be THE whistleblower / reporting center for issues in drum corps is unethical. That plus an interaction I had with one of their leadership makes me 100% skeptical of anything with the organization.

[scheherazadesghost]

We can all take issue with the sole whistleblower organization for drum corps.  As I said, they're bound to be imperfect and I have my own concerns.

They're still better than the alternative that I lived with when I marched: nothing and no one who cared at all.

Edit to clarify for survivors needing the resource: it's MAASIN.net not MASSIN. Marching Arts Access Safety & Inclusion Network.

Edited October 14, 2023 by scheherazadesghost

[MandarinMom]

On 10/12/2023 at 2:33 PM, Terri Schehr said:

Yes and I have no idea. It’s just kind of poofed. 

IMPD is not known for being the best.