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Seabright attack flyer
The following flyer was posted in the Seabright neighborhood, detailing the attack that the woman survived. The flyer has been torn down, possibly by the police, as it challenges conventional responses to violence against women: "ATTACK"
On Thursday, July 20, around 10:15pm, I was attacked on Cayuga between Logan and Idaho. A man in his early 30's with short (buzzed) dark hair, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt knocked me to the ground and pinned me down, with his hand on my throat.
On Thursday, July 20, around 10:15pm, I was attacked on Cayuga between Logan and Idaho. A man in his early 30's with short (buzzed) dark hair, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt knocked me to the ground and pinned me down, with his hand on my throat.
The following flyer was posted in the Seabright neighborhood, detailing the attack that the woman survived. The flyer has been torn down, possibly by the police, as it challenges conventional responses to violence against women.
" ATTACK
On Thursday, July 20, around 10:15pm, I was attacked on Cayuga between Logan and Idaho. A man in his early 30's with short (buzzed) dark hair, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt knocked me to the ground and pinned me down, with his hand on my throat. I fought back and screamed and he ran away. I ran after him for about block, yelling at him until he disappeared, and then ran to my home up the street.
Two other women have been attacked in this same two block stretch in the last two weeks, as my friends discovered while asking if any neighbors had seen or heard anything. One of the women gave my friends a description that sounded similar to the man who attacked me.
I did not call the police. I do not need a police report. This is my report, and it is for the community that I live in so that we can feel strong in our neighborhood, not for the police to file away.
The armed gang known as the police do not offer the type of comfort and compassion that I need to deal with my trauma. The last thing that I needed to hear was that I should not have been a woman walking alone at night. Police reinforce the very system that sees women as objects of violence. They respond to assault (and everything else) with intimidation and blame, and make people feel more violated. They function to make us feel afraid rather than to stop violence.
The "neighborhood watch" signs are a bad joke, suggesting we replace trusting and openness with becoming eyes and ears for the cops. In places where communal justice is meted out, the prevention comes almost entirely from the connections and relationships which keep people attentive to each others' health and situation.
Rather than living without trust for the outside, I want us to combat attacks like this by connecting with our neighbors and our surroundings, and building confidence in our abilities to take care of ourselves."
Flyers were posted to telephone poles and some taped over "neighborhood watch" signs. Many were torn down within a day of being posted up.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a front page article in Wednesday's paper about another woman being held at gun point in an attempted rape on Sunday. Its article reprints police statements that they are taking the attacks seriously, but only mentions the ATTACK flyer in passing, not acknowledging the alternative perspective that it offers. The Sentinel article ends with a quote from a neighbor who 'avoids running in the early morning or late evening and never walks alone at night', a typical example of establishment views on 'prevention'.
The article unquestioningly reiterates police positions with the assumption that their interests and the community's are perfectly alligned. It states that police will be patrolling the neighborhood and posting signs. A "neighborhood watch" meeting is advertised as organized by a police community service officer for Aug 3rd at Cayuga and Haiwatha at 7pm.
" ATTACK
On Thursday, July 20, around 10:15pm, I was attacked on Cayuga between Logan and Idaho. A man in his early 30's with short (buzzed) dark hair, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt knocked me to the ground and pinned me down, with his hand on my throat. I fought back and screamed and he ran away. I ran after him for about block, yelling at him until he disappeared, and then ran to my home up the street.
Two other women have been attacked in this same two block stretch in the last two weeks, as my friends discovered while asking if any neighbors had seen or heard anything. One of the women gave my friends a description that sounded similar to the man who attacked me.
I did not call the police. I do not need a police report. This is my report, and it is for the community that I live in so that we can feel strong in our neighborhood, not for the police to file away.
The armed gang known as the police do not offer the type of comfort and compassion that I need to deal with my trauma. The last thing that I needed to hear was that I should not have been a woman walking alone at night. Police reinforce the very system that sees women as objects of violence. They respond to assault (and everything else) with intimidation and blame, and make people feel more violated. They function to make us feel afraid rather than to stop violence.
The "neighborhood watch" signs are a bad joke, suggesting we replace trusting and openness with becoming eyes and ears for the cops. In places where communal justice is meted out, the prevention comes almost entirely from the connections and relationships which keep people attentive to each others' health and situation.
Rather than living without trust for the outside, I want us to combat attacks like this by connecting with our neighbors and our surroundings, and building confidence in our abilities to take care of ourselves."
Flyers were posted to telephone poles and some taped over "neighborhood watch" signs. Many were torn down within a day of being posted up.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a front page article in Wednesday's paper about another woman being held at gun point in an attempted rape on Sunday. Its article reprints police statements that they are taking the attacks seriously, but only mentions the ATTACK flyer in passing, not acknowledging the alternative perspective that it offers. The Sentinel article ends with a quote from a neighbor who 'avoids running in the early morning or late evening and never walks alone at night', a typical example of establishment views on 'prevention'.
The article unquestioningly reiterates police positions with the assumption that their interests and the community's are perfectly alligned. It states that police will be patrolling the neighborhood and posting signs. A "neighborhood watch" meeting is advertised as organized by a police community service officer for Aug 3rd at Cayuga and Haiwatha at 7pm.
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Women must learn self defense and how to cripple and disarm their attacker. Its not fair that women must constrain their lives and not walk alone becauce of these rapist scum.
After being arrested and DNA proof established, rapist scum should have the word SCUM tatooed to their forheads so they can be recognized and shunned by society and to more easily have the shit beat out of them.
After being arrested and DNA proof established, rapist scum should have the word SCUM tatooed to their forheads so they can be recognized and shunned by society and to more easily have the shit beat out of them.
rapists cant go around raping people anymore if you cut their balls off! the police arent going to do shit except make people afraid of going out at night (insuring that there are less people on the streets to witness the next rape attempt). the community needs to be prepared to defend itself on its own and not be disempowered by letting the 'authorities' 'take care of things'. the police are pieces of shit. people should not have to live their lives in fear (as the police would lead you to believe is the proper action), people should take an active approach and be prepared to fight this piece of shit rapist. relying on the police will get you nowhere (even though our resident right wing trolls would try to convince you otheriwse).
The person who wants to write "SCUM" on the forehead of an alleged criminal is being anything but liberal. What happened to rehabilitation? What happened to individual rights? Why don't we write "SCUM" on the foreheads of alleged terrorists too, if that's such a great tactic?
Just sayin'.
(Mods -- stop deleting comments)
Just sayin'.
(Mods -- stop deleting comments)
You are within your legal rights to post flyers as long as they conform to the city guidelines for such things. (I think they can't be bigger than 8 1/2 x 11", need to be taken down within ten days and are stapled, not taped -- if you want to be sure, please see Thomas Levitt's post on local ordinances posted on Indymedia this Spring.)
I'm very sorry you've been through this. I do not mean to sound patronizing, but I hope you have someone that you can talk to about this -- friend, mother, counselor, etc. It is a really stressful/terrifying thing to go through and it takes some time to get over. I can understand if you had a bad experience with the police, but I also hope that you cooperate with them as much as you are able. If they are able to find and convict this prick, then that is one less person on the streets who will be trying to harass or assault other women. Plus, they really deserve to experience consequences for their actions.
For other readers, I recommend some really simple self-defense techniques that anyone can follow -- you don't necessarily need to take a class. Practice being aware of your surroundings when you're out. Keep your head up. Carry your keys between your knuckles, one between each finger, all pressed into a fist. This makes a very handy and immediate weapon, should anyone surprise you. You can make a very quick pass to the soft parts of the throat, eyes, arms, groin and the grip makes it nearly impossible for the attacker to grab them from you. (If want to get really prepared, you could keep an extra-long, extra-sharp key on the ring.) Other techniques, use your middle and index finger to poke your attacker in the eyes or throat; use your slightly cupped hands to simultaneously hit both ears of your attacker -- this may result in the rupture of his eardrums and render him useless. Knee-to-groin and kicking the shins are also other things you can do. If you have been subdued, try shitting/wetting yourself or tell your attacker you have AIDS or another STD. Of course, before you do any of this, I recommend you use the best deterrent: scream like bloody murder! I think it is great, in general, to alert the community, but I also think it is empowering to feel like you are equipped to fight off an attacker yourself if need be. You should NOT feel like you have to hide in your house just because some jerkoff is doing this shit. It's OUR community -- not theirs!
I'm very sorry you've been through this. I do not mean to sound patronizing, but I hope you have someone that you can talk to about this -- friend, mother, counselor, etc. It is a really stressful/terrifying thing to go through and it takes some time to get over. I can understand if you had a bad experience with the police, but I also hope that you cooperate with them as much as you are able. If they are able to find and convict this prick, then that is one less person on the streets who will be trying to harass or assault other women. Plus, they really deserve to experience consequences for their actions.
For other readers, I recommend some really simple self-defense techniques that anyone can follow -- you don't necessarily need to take a class. Practice being aware of your surroundings when you're out. Keep your head up. Carry your keys between your knuckles, one between each finger, all pressed into a fist. This makes a very handy and immediate weapon, should anyone surprise you. You can make a very quick pass to the soft parts of the throat, eyes, arms, groin and the grip makes it nearly impossible for the attacker to grab them from you. (If want to get really prepared, you could keep an extra-long, extra-sharp key on the ring.) Other techniques, use your middle and index finger to poke your attacker in the eyes or throat; use your slightly cupped hands to simultaneously hit both ears of your attacker -- this may result in the rupture of his eardrums and render him useless. Knee-to-groin and kicking the shins are also other things you can do. If you have been subdued, try shitting/wetting yourself or tell your attacker you have AIDS or another STD. Of course, before you do any of this, I recommend you use the best deterrent: scream like bloody murder! I think it is great, in general, to alert the community, but I also think it is empowering to feel like you are equipped to fight off an attacker yourself if need be. You should NOT feel like you have to hide in your house just because some jerkoff is doing this shit. It's OUR community -- not theirs!
so much strength is woven into the words of this flyer. i'm impressed with the effort put into information sharing within neighborhoods and having a dialog about some serious shit in our communities. i'm torn about the cops part though. i don't like police and would rather not engage with them. i'm not in favor of our legal system or prison industrial complex. however, things being as they are, if this asshole keeps hurting people, possibly more drastically, and he gets caught at some point by police, is it not useful to have previous incident reports that might aid in keeping this creep off our streets and from assaulting others? i guess i don't have much sympathy for rapists who end up in our fucked up prisons.
Check out 7-27 Sentinel article at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/July/27/local/stories/03local.htm
"Community response to violence continues" By Jennifer Squires
On the same Monday afternoon, the Rotkin-Coonerty City Council "Public Safety" Committee was dumping any real ordinance controlling police surveillance of First Amendment protest, another Mathews-led police groupie was putting together this:
Stop the violence
WHAT: March and rally.
When and where: Saturday: Marches begin at 11 a.m. from Barrios Unidos, 1817 Soquel Ave.; Garfield Park, 721 Bay St.; and Beach Flats, 200 Raymond St. and converge at the Town Clock, then march on to a noon rally at the Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center St.
why: A call for peace after recent violence in Santa Cruz.
DETAILS: Barrios Unidos, 457-8208.
You be the judge. Could be an opportunity to do some alternate organizing---or perhaps the wrong place, since you're under the eyes of the police and their allies. A judgment call.
"Community response to violence continues" By Jennifer Squires
On the same Monday afternoon, the Rotkin-Coonerty City Council "Public Safety" Committee was dumping any real ordinance controlling police surveillance of First Amendment protest, another Mathews-led police groupie was putting together this:
Stop the violence
WHAT: March and rally.
When and where: Saturday: Marches begin at 11 a.m. from Barrios Unidos, 1817 Soquel Ave.; Garfield Park, 721 Bay St.; and Beach Flats, 200 Raymond St. and converge at the Town Clock, then march on to a noon rally at the Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center St.
why: A call for peace after recent violence in Santa Cruz.
DETAILS: Barrios Unidos, 457-8208.
You be the judge. Could be an opportunity to do some alternate organizing---or perhaps the wrong place, since you're under the eyes of the police and their allies. A judgment call.
I think that it is unproductive to call the police 'pieces of shit.' I think that it is the rapist who is the piece of shit. In the past ten or twenty years, police officers have been doing more and more training with sexual assault educators to learn how to effectively deal with victims of sexual assault. Although I am certainly not going to say that each and every officer is perfect, I think that we can trust them to do their job (i.e. take down information and then get out on the streets to hunt down this perpetrator). More and more, we can also trust them to obtain information from the victim in ways that are designed to cut down on further victimization. Categorizing an entire group of people is unlikely to be correct, as we have learned from stereotyping and racism.
Following the program at Louden Nelson, a self-defense class will be offered for anyone who wants to discuss and practice techniques for protecting yourself against violence in our community.
This is a forum for discussion and communication, but it will be an action-oriented skillshare for people who are interested in actively practicing self-defense techniques.
Join the marches, come to the rally, and learn how to FIGHT BACK!
This is a forum for discussion and communication, but it will be an action-oriented skillshare for people who are interested in actively practicing self-defense techniques.
Join the marches, come to the rally, and learn how to FIGHT BACK!
This is moronic. Anyone recommending that this crime should not be reported to the police is endangering the lives of other women. Are cops often incompetent and not aggressive enough in rape cases? No doubt. However, there is no excuse for not reporting this. Also, by publicizing this article and the notion that rapes should NOT be reported to police, Indymedia should be considered morally responsible if any further rapes occur. Despicable.
indybay should be held responsable if rapes occur? you obviously havent thought that through very far, especially since indybay is simply a forum where random community members post news and commentary. either way, reporting rape attempts to the police does noting to stop rape from happening. people who are empowered to fight back and not willingly give up their power to the 'authorities' is what is going to stop rape from happening.
I stopped a rapist back in '68 on Seabright Beach, in the day, when no one else was going to do a thing. Two superior/larger athletes were with me, and were scared, and not responding. I challenged him, threw sand in his eyes as I got up to punch/kick him numerous times 'til he went down. He couldn't see me, and didn't land one thing. The much larger biker would have truly beaten my ass, if I hadn't thought of sand. The woman was very grateful. It's good to have a plan, and at least tell the heat, so someone else knows, and may be forewarned. I'm not a tough guy. I just won't tolerate rapist behavior, and will do anything to stop the ultimate bully. I hope you will too!
Just a quick note on this discussion, which is overdue and extremely important towards a dialogue about what tactics will actually STOP RAPE in our community (**not an unrealistic goal / demand / priority**):
A computerized message board back-and-forth about the value of notifying the police in the future might be productive in some ways, but this flyer, this indymedia post and thread, the article in the Senile, and the discussions and organizing stimulated by this person's flyer *have* notified the police. (the flyer reads: "I do not need a police report. This is my report, and it is for the community that I live in so that we can feel strong in our neighborhood, not for the police to file away"). Someone simply made their "incident report" in public rather than going through the procedures that the Police State has determined to be standard (and that many have experienced to be dismissive, unproductive, intimidating, and shaming).
Or are we a society still blaming the victim and chastizing a woman who has been attacked in her own neighborhood for not following official process??
Will you ever do more than look to the police for help? We respond to attacks like this no matter how the alert is sounded. We aim to stop violence against women. "Official Process" hasn't stopped it yet.
A computerized message board back-and-forth about the value of notifying the police in the future might be productive in some ways, but this flyer, this indymedia post and thread, the article in the Senile, and the discussions and organizing stimulated by this person's flyer *have* notified the police. (the flyer reads: "I do not need a police report. This is my report, and it is for the community that I live in so that we can feel strong in our neighborhood, not for the police to file away"). Someone simply made their "incident report" in public rather than going through the procedures that the Police State has determined to be standard (and that many have experienced to be dismissive, unproductive, intimidating, and shaming).
Or are we a society still blaming the victim and chastizing a woman who has been attacked in her own neighborhood for not following official process??
Will you ever do more than look to the police for help? We respond to attacks like this no matter how the alert is sounded. We aim to stop violence against women. "Official Process" hasn't stopped it yet.
Dont change the subject. I'm not talking about *alledged* terrorists. Im talking about pieces of human shit that rape women. They are the ones to be wearing the SCUM tattoo on their forheads. The other alternative is shooting their balls off.
It isn’t changing the subject. I think terrorists are the scum of the earth, as I also find rapists. But I am not going to advocate a fascist response like the one Utopia Bold is either.
Fascism, as defined in Websters dictionary, is a society in which the government exists to serve the interests of business at the expense of the citizens. the US is not "becoming fascist" it already is, and has been for years.
Also, rapists ARE terrorists.
As for rapists, what is your suggestion? Jail them for life? Give them the death penalty? Let them out in a few years so they can rape again? Is this worse than not jailing them by making them wear a SCUM tatoo?
Why should taxpayers house and feed these pieces of shit in jail, while many decent people (including women and children) who committed no crimes are homeless?
Rapists get away with it by blending in with decent men who dont rape. Decent men are rapists camoflage. If rapists wore a SCUM tattoo, they would be immediatly identifible. Women could avoid them. Everyone could run them out of town.
Rapists would have to live in shame as a result of what they CHOSE to do—rape women.
Also, rapists ARE terrorists.
As for rapists, what is your suggestion? Jail them for life? Give them the death penalty? Let them out in a few years so they can rape again? Is this worse than not jailing them by making them wear a SCUM tatoo?
Why should taxpayers house and feed these pieces of shit in jail, while many decent people (including women and children) who committed no crimes are homeless?
Rapists get away with it by blending in with decent men who dont rape. Decent men are rapists camoflage. If rapists wore a SCUM tattoo, they would be immediatly identifible. Women could avoid them. Everyone could run them out of town.
Rapists would have to live in shame as a result of what they CHOSE to do—rape women.
In situations like rape, my opinion is to do whatever it takes to disable the perpetrator with extreme predjudice. If that takes psyching up with hateful/fascist dialogue , by all means do it! This is not a time to think about anything except surviving fully intact. Clouding one's mind with what is politically correct intellectualizes/trivializes a desperate situation. If it takes training, mace/pepper spray, whatever in the world to get an advantage, that's a good idea. It's really hard to simultaneously be a nice person, and also be prepared for battle, however, that's a reality we have to deal with in the real world!
Since this whole thing started with me, I thought I would chime in.
I would like to live in a world without police, without experts, where we learn to take care of ourselves and trust ourselves and our community. I am not some rosy-eyed idealist; I know that I don't live in that world right now. Nonetheless, if I ever want to live in that world than I need to learn how to take care of myself and my community -- Without the involvement of authoritarian experts like the police.
For those of you who still think I should have called the police: What exactly do you think they would have done? I can tell you, for I talked to another woman in our neighborhood who was attacked by the same person. The police came and drove around the neighborhood and shined their lights around. That made her feel better. That does not help me at all. They didn't even remember her in the the Sentinel article. They didn't catch the guy (they rarely do).
Now there has been a more serious incident involving a gun. And the cops have been patrolling my neighborhood. And that makes me feel even more unsafe than before! Because they can harass me or any of my friends whenever they want. I felt a lot safer when I was only afraid of my attacker! Now I have to deal with a whole system of power-crazed uniforms.
Something else I really want to say: I have done self-defense classes, and I think that they are really important and recommend them to everyone. But when I was being attacked, I did not have time to think. It was pure instinct, pure reacting. I was screaming and struggling and I don't know exactly what it was but I got away. I think people need to know that this is how it felt to me, that there was no time to think of the right thing to do, there was only action.
I am about to get kicked off the computer, but I am interested in continuing this dialogue. There is a lot more I have to say and there is a lot that needs to be talked about, with out guilt and shame.
I would like to live in a world without police, without experts, where we learn to take care of ourselves and trust ourselves and our community. I am not some rosy-eyed idealist; I know that I don't live in that world right now. Nonetheless, if I ever want to live in that world than I need to learn how to take care of myself and my community -- Without the involvement of authoritarian experts like the police.
For those of you who still think I should have called the police: What exactly do you think they would have done? I can tell you, for I talked to another woman in our neighborhood who was attacked by the same person. The police came and drove around the neighborhood and shined their lights around. That made her feel better. That does not help me at all. They didn't even remember her in the the Sentinel article. They didn't catch the guy (they rarely do).
Now there has been a more serious incident involving a gun. And the cops have been patrolling my neighborhood. And that makes me feel even more unsafe than before! Because they can harass me or any of my friends whenever they want. I felt a lot safer when I was only afraid of my attacker! Now I have to deal with a whole system of power-crazed uniforms.
Something else I really want to say: I have done self-defense classes, and I think that they are really important and recommend them to everyone. But when I was being attacked, I did not have time to think. It was pure instinct, pure reacting. I was screaming and struggling and I don't know exactly what it was but I got away. I think people need to know that this is how it felt to me, that there was no time to think of the right thing to do, there was only action.
I am about to get kicked off the computer, but I am interested in continuing this dialogue. There is a lot more I have to say and there is a lot that needs to be talked about, with out guilt and shame.
I expect better from IMC. It's WOMYN or WOM*N! Stop perpetuating stereotypes!
I appreciate what you are doing. I don't really know why I am writing this except to say that I applaud you. My wife was gang-raped a year ago last month. By three men. She'd gone to a four p.m appointment and I'd expected her home by five thirty. Turns out that she was put in a van and taken to a motel. . . .where two of the dumbfucks furnished their I.D. cards to the clerk. . . .and abused repeatedly until the rapists finally left to, as I understand, make a drug pick up. They took her clothes and her cell phone, left her naked and bleeding in the room. She was finally able to get help through the desk clerk, who called me and the police. At almost midnight. So she was held and raped repeatedly in a fucking motel room for hours. . .I went to pick her up, met the police there, and we spent that night basically in interrogation at the hospital. I tried following up for weeks, and although I knew that the detectives had copies of the rapist's I.D.'s, I was always told that it was still under investigation. Of course, when I asked them to at least give me the names of the men, they wouldn't. Never heard from the police again. . . .Finally my wife just convinced me to give it up. She's moved on, she says, but the occurence greatly added to her distrust of the police. I'm not sure she'll ever seek their help again.
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