This blog is a response to the another blog claiming rapist Anand Jon his innocence. In my eyes, there is nothing wrong with believing in your family - even if that means your brother is convicted on multiple rape charges. If my brother, whom I love dearly, was to ever get put in prison and he'd say he didn't do it, I would believe him. But when there are more than 30 girls and counting to this date, including 14 and 15 year olds, the bail is raised to millions of dollars, it's a disgrace to women out there to parade on the streets claiming all these girls are liars, throwing in words like "civil rights" and closing your eyes from the real truth.
I made this blog to give myself a voice, and possibly other girls who have been in the same situation. I was approached by Anand Jon when I was only 16 years old, and he raped me when I just turned 17. What some of his supporters don't understand, possibly because most of them are men, is that he really picked us out by our background. I didn't come from a stable home, wanted to leave, and when this powerful man came into my life saying everything would be better, I believed him. Naive, yes, but I was also still very very young. He took advantage of that, just like he did with so many other young girls that weren't secure enough to say "no".
It wasn't until I turned 19, when I realized what he had done. Not only had he taken away my innocence, but but he had lied to me, misguided me, taken advantage of my inexperience, he made me feel worthless and made me believe that the only thing I was good for was looking pretty and sex. To this day, I still don't believe in myself for a 100%, because for a year in my life, I felt that I was worth nothing. He had me all to himself, I gave up my friends because of his jealousy, I made some choices that I still regret, all because of his mental abuse. It's easy to blame the victim in todays society - why didn't she go to the police? Why did she stay with him? Because he had a certain power over me. It was not like I could go anywhere either - he made sure I had no where and no one to talk to.
He took away one precious year in my life, he gave me painful memories that I will never forget, he made me feel so alone - so I'm so very proud for these other girls standing up for themselves and locking him up in jail. It hurts me to see that he's playing the innocent card, even though that's expected, because the stories of these girls sound so similar to mine, that I know they're telling the truth. I chose not to come forward in court for personal reasons, but I did go to the police and they have my name and story on file. I posted parts of my story online on various websites - and strangely enough I was never contacted by anyone - I guess there goes the conspiracy story his team has made up.
I believe all these young girls, and I believe the American justice system will lock him up for a very long time. I have absolutely nothing to gain from writing this, but to let someone hear my voice.
