Original Post Date
2013-02-10 11:14 PM
Original Body
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Hidden Scars is the title of a newly released book written by a new author Iyabo Williams, this book touches on one of the oldest most controversial crimes known to man. A crime that in most cases rarely goes to trial. A crime that in most incidents allows the culprit to become the victim and the victim to become the culprit. I'm talking about RAPE, INCEST, MOLESTATION and being VIOLATED.
Being raped is a vicious attack on women that takes place somewhere everywhere everyday and in some parts of the world like in India according to police reports every 18 hours a woman is raped.
After listening to Iyabo's brief description of her story(which I'll get into further) it peaked my curiosity to research it not just within Nigeria( which is where Iyabo is from) and the United States of America but all over the world, the numbers were frightening to say the least.
Here are some of the numbers of rapes in a year, stats: In the United States of America there are 89,241 reported cases and probably double that number of those un-reported cases. "IF" convicted the assailant can face l"if"e in prison and castration is an option( hum, I am from the US and I didn't know that).
India 21,397, UK 15,084 if convicted carry's a sentence of the maximum life imprisonment, Mexico 14,078. If you're found guilty of rape in this country your punishment is a few hours in jail or minor fines, that is a shame and a sin. France 10,108, Germany 7,724, Peru 6,751, Sweden 5,960, Philippines 5,813, The Russian Federation 4,907 and carry's if convicted of the crime 4-10 years in prison and the last one is a whopping 277,000 cases in South Africa women and children are raped in a freakin year and not only that 1 in 4 men have admitted to raping someone in that country.
These stats/figures came from the India Tribune of Rape Statistics around the world, something else you need to keep in mind is that these are reported cases in countries overall but it does not break down what the numbers are per state, county, province, city, town or village. There are many cases that are never reported like mine and countless others as you can see. I'd be willing to bet that if you did a survey in your community you'd find at least one woman on most streets that have been raped, violated and or the victim of incest in your community.
This memoir that Iyabo has written is about her journey from Nigeria to America, she is a child survivor of war in Nigeria, she was RAPED, INCARCERATED and endured PREJUDICE. Most people who have not had to deal with an ordeal like Iyabo's will place judgment the things she has done in her life and the decisions she has made, be they good or bad but in a lot of cases when you are raped or violated and you don't get the physiological help that you need to cope in the aftermath of such a horrendous act against you, you will make off hand decisions and often times it will be the wrong ones. Being raped changes your whole perception of life in relationships, in your lifestyles, in the whole order and in every phase of your life; you even relive the ordeal for the rest of your life like it happened yesterday when it actually happened many years ago. When I was raped it was 30 years ago and to this day I can still see the room, the color of the bedspread, the unseen flaws in the paint on the walls, his scent, his breath. Iyabo said "after all these years the taste, smell and the feel of the rape stays with me forever". There's a woman that I know right here in SF and her case is bizarre but very real. She was raped twice in the same building by the same man 5 years apart and though she reported it nothing ever came of it, why is this the case? Well as it turns out the man who raped her is a prominant figure in the city. The age old threat is" who do you think they(people) will believe? You who is a nobody or me who is a somebody that everybody knows and loves". Yet this woman walks around with hidden scars and because of that she is like countless others a broken woman.
Another thing she said was common in Nigerias which is also common here in the states amongst the African American culture and in the southern portion of the US and maybe that's where we got it from is in Africa, just maybe our ancestors brought these ways from the motherland but that doesn't make it right. The practice of keeping things like that "hush-hush. "You don't go around spreading your dirty laundry for everybody to see and hear", that's what she was told by the grandmother who raised her. Who knows maybe that's how her grandmother was raised by her mother and so on.
Yet you're more concerned with what the people think as oppose to how your loved one is coping? She said "it's because of the shame of it and the fact that it is accepted in the country that nothing is done", you know a way of life. That's just the way it is and I say that's butt-backwards; she said "Not all men are bad, yet they are if they don't stand up for the women and children who are being violated." She also said " in many cases when it's a child often times it's viewed as their fault and are punished with a whipping". That is a load of BS as I see it. Its like I said somewhere everywhere everyday someone is being raped.
Here in San Francisco alone a woman is raped in the Mission District at least twice within a weeks time. There are other places in the city where women are raped as well but it seems like the Mission is all of a sudden the "hot spot". It is a savage act that I say only an animal could perform yet they are as human as you and I are with sick minds.
You may wonder why now, why is Iyabo writing this book now? What does she expect to gain now? Her answer to these questions is if she can help somebody else who has had to endured this heinous act that maybe through her experience someone else will get the help that she couldn't get for herself. She said "she didn't know that rape was a crime until she moved to the US". She is doing it for the children in Nigeria who are helpless, they are raped everyday in Nigeria. She is doing this for other women in Nigeria who are also helpless because it seems the motto for Nigeria is "Silence Is Golden" for this shameful crime, she said.
you can purchase the book on-line:
Amazon.com
Barnes&Noble.com
Iyabo Williams will be doing a book signing at Marcus Bookstore
which is the oldest Black bookstore in the nation( a little African American history)
is located at 1712 Fillmore Street, in the Fillmore District
San Francisco, Ca. 94115
(415) 346-4222
February 16, 2013
@ 7:00 pm
The cost of the book is 39.99
please come out to the book signing and purchase to support this courageous woman and her journey from bondage to freedom.
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