Americans Empowered for Sexual Violence Prevention Inc.

ternational force of informed and empowered women, men, and young adults with the necessary intelligence on existing and offending sexual predators to effectively reduce and eradicate the threat of sexual violence in their communities. We are creating an international registry that will include anonymous public posting capability that will provide survivors around the world a voice and expose the millions of perpetrators that deal in child pornography and the trafficking of women and children. There are millions of sex offenders in America not listed on government-run registries, and on those registries hundreds of thousands are unaccounted for. We, the people within and in support of Americans Empowered, share in the conviction that:
1. Criminal sexual conduct committed by means of violence, manipulation, coercion, etc., whether or not the conduct is physical or psychological, has always existed in “civilized” society, from Egypt of the Pharaohs to the United States of America.
2. Governments have enacted laws in a valiant attempt to protect their citizens from acts of sexual violence. The American federal government, via the Victims of Crime Act, Violence Against Women Act, and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, etc. have redistributed billions of tax dollars for the purpose of increasing the number of rapists brought to justice. However, our government, no matter how just or powerful, cannot eradicate this evil without empowering the people with the knowledge and courage necessary to stand up, fight back, and never surrender.
3. The people who commit acts of sexual violence and criminal sexual conduct are a menace to a peaceful and tranquil nation, as well as a real and immediate threat to our health, welfare, and public safety.
4. The people who commit acts of sexual violence, who prey on women and children in particular, or those who, for any reason, are or become vulnerable to victimization, are mentally ill. Predators have a mental abnormality that predisposes them to commit these acts, and until such time as advancements in neuroscience or psychology can cure this disease, these mentally ill people should not be free in our neighborhoods and should instead be civilly committed to confinement and treatment.
5. The Federal Bureau of Investigation ranks the crime of rape second in the hierarchy of violent crimes in the United States. Recent polls state that 92% of American women said that fighting sexual and domestic violence should be a top public policy priority (a higher percentage than healthcare, childcare, and any other issue). We agree and exist to empower these women.
6. Empowering people by providing the tools for individuals to fight back, from educational awareness materials in our schools and community centers, to the National Sexual Assault Hotline and Online Hotline (operated by RAINN, Rape Abuse and Incest National Network), which has answered the calls of millions since its inception in 1994— these are proven methods and examples that show that the organizational principles behind Americans Empowered (Intelligence, Awareness, Intervention, Prevention, and Compensation) are requisites to the realization of a world in which our children live, where acts of sexual violence are nonexistent.
7. That eradication of sexual violence is a universal goal.
8. That sexual violence is any unwanted physical or verbal act that is sexual in intent and content directed toward another person.
9. That all human beings have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to be secure in their persons and free from any and all forms of sexual violence.
10. That the sexual victimization of any person is a heinous and despicable act of violence and a crime against humanity.
11. That sexual violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which has contributed to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of their full advancement.
12. That sexual violence and domestic violence are synonymous evils in that they are both aimed at control or subjugation and victims of intimate partner sexual violence suffer equal or greater psychological, physical, and emotional trauma.
13. That marital rape or rape by someone with whom you are in an intimate relationship is “real rape.”
14. That the fundamental role of a sexual violence prevention advocate is support and empowerment.
15. That assigning responsibility (victim blaming) to a survivor of sexual violence for events that have happened to them is rooted in outdated notions of “the deserving and undeserving victim” that are patently false, never true, and never acceptable.
16. That the secondary wounding occurs when anyone responds to survivors of sexual violence with disbelief, denial, minimization, stigmatization, or refusal to help. Neutrality will always favor the abuser. Advocates must always side with the victim.
17. That submission is not consent.
18. That the ideological and practical processes that endorse men as being the dominant sex in gender relations are false.
19. That repeat perpetrators of sexual violence have a congenital or acquired condition affecting their emotional or volitional capacity, predisposing them to commit sexual acts in a degree constituting them a menace to the health and safety of every community. American’s Empowered has a God-given and human-sanctioned right to exist. In honor of the memory of those who we have lost, those who have been victimized, and for all of us who exist daily in a world where millions of sexually violent predators pose an ever-present threat to our personal freedom, we honor and grieve for those we empower and who in turn empower us.
• For Adam Walsh’s abduction and murder—on July 27, 1981, in Hollywood, Florida, six-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted at a mall. Two weeks later, some of Adam’s remains were discovered in a canal more than 100 miles from his home.
• For Jacob Wetterling, 11 years old—who was abducted in 1989 in Minnesota, and remains missing.
• For Megan Nicole Kanka, who was seven years old—abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994 in New Jersey.
• For Pam Lychner, who was 31 years old—attacked by a career offender in Houston, Texas.
• For Jetseta Gage, who was 10 years old—was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 2005 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• For Diu Sjodin, who was 22 years old—was sexually assaulted and murdered in 2003 in North Dakota.
• For Jessica Lawsford, who was nine years old—was abducted, sexually assaulted, buried, alive, and murdered in 2005 in Homosassa, Florida.
• For Sarah Lynde, who was 13 years old—was strangled and murdered in 2005 in Ruskin, Florida.
• For Amie Zyla, who was eight years old—was sexually assaulted in 1996 by a juvenile offender in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and has become an advocate for child victims and the protection of children from juvenile sex offenders.
• For Christy Ann Fornoff, who was 13 years old—abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1984 in Tempe, Arizona.
• For Alexandra Nicole Zapp, who was 30 years old—brutally attacked and murdered in a public restroom by a repeat sex offender in 2002 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
• For Polly Klaas, who was 12 years old—was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1993 by a career offender in California.
• For Jimmy Ryce, who was nine years old—was kidnapped and murdered in Florida on September 11, 1995.
• For Carlie Brucia, who was 11 years old—was abducted and murdered in Florida in February 2004.
• For Amanda Brown, who was seven years old—was abducted and murdered in Florida in 1998.
• For Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 years old—was abducted in Salt Lake City, Utah, in June 2002.
• For Molly Bish, who was 16 years old—was abducted in 2000 while working as a lifeguard in Warren, Massachusetts, where her remains were found three years later.
• For Samantha Runnion, who was five years old—she was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in California on July 15, 2002.
• For (name withheld), the 13-year-old girl in Las Vegas, Nevada, who was sexually assaulted by predator Robert Schlacta in September 2013 while waiting for her school bus at Woodbury Elementary School.
• For the 16-year-old girl in Nairobi, Kenya, who was gang raped by six men, then thrown into a deep ravine, leaving her paralyzed in 2013. Her rapists were ordered to mow lawns as punishment.
• For Cherice Moralez, who was 14 years old when her former teacher, Stacey Rambold, 54, raped her. When he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, Cherice committed suicide.
• For the 792 women in the United States Air Force who were sexually assaulted by fellow servicemen in 2012, the 594 in 2011, and the thousands before them in all branches of our military.
• For the 10-year-old girl who was brought into the United Kingdom from Pakistan in 2000 and sexually assaulted and abused by 84-year-old Ilyas Ashar until she was 23 years old. The girl was deaf and mute.
• For the 14-year-old daughter of Melinda Coleman in Kansas City, Missouri, who was sexually assaulted at a high school party and denied justice in 2013. She later committed suicide.
• For the four-year-old girl in Jackson, Mississippi, who in 2013 was raped and videotaped by predator Marco Laquin Rogers.
• For the three women who, for the last decade, were held as sex slaves, beaten, and starved in the basemen