Black victim of sexual assault in the military speaks out

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The specter of sexual abuse

Although Edwards’ story is horrific, it’s all-too-common in a society that stigmatizes sexual assault and often blames victims for the violence perpetrated against them.

According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, more than 200,000 people are sexually assaulted in the U.S. each year — or one every 2 minutes — but 54 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police, and 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

For black women, the numbers are alarmingly high. Research shows that black women experience intimate partner violence at rates 35 percent higher than their white counterparts. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that for every black woman who reports a rape, at least 15 do not.

Specifically in the military, the problem of sexual violence appears to be growing – and gaining national attention.

Report on sexual abuse sends shockwaves

In its annual report on sexual assault in the armed forces, the U.S. Department of Defense estimated that 26,000 people in the military were sexually assaulted last year — up from 19,000 in 2010 — but only 3,374 sexual assaults were reported.

And a number of recent scandals have made headlines and provoked the anger of top government officials.

In February, Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin overturned a pilot’s conviction on sexual assault charges and ordered him released from prison, sparking a protest and widespread criticism. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, Lt. Gen. Franklin says in his view, the pilot, Lt. Col James Wilkinson, was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

In May, Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski – the Air Force official tasked with leading its sexual assault prevention program — was arrested for allegedly groping a woman in a suburban Washington, D.C. parking lot. At the time, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed his “outrage and disgust” and promise that the matter would be “dealt with swiftly and decisively.”  But the charge against Krusinski was later reduced from sexual battery to simple assault. Prosecutors said that after closer investigation into the incident, it was no longer appropriate to charge Krusinski of a sex related offense. The case has not yet gone to trial and Krusinski has maintained his innocence.

The scandals and statistics have even caught the attention of President Barack Obama, who has indicated a zero-tolerance stance on sexual assault in the military.

“If we find out somebody’s engaging in this stuff, they’ve got to be held accountable, prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period,” Obama told reporters at the White House in May.

The Senate Armed Services Committee kicked off hearings on the sexual misconduct crisis which included testimony from a nearly all-male panel of Pentagon officials, with just one female. Although both male and female victims were questioned during other related hearings, it was notable that when top military brass was called-in to be held accountable, very few women from the command staff were represented.

And if the female voice has been poignantly absent from the most visible discussions surrounding sexual assault in the armed forces, the voice of black women – who make up about one-third of the women serving in the military — has been almost nonexistent.

“If you think about the military, it’s macho,” Edwards said. “What place do they think we have?”