"Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive."-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Why I Am Fighting

My name is Mikele Knight and I am the survivor of a brutal rape and sodomy at the age of sixteen. Ten YEARS later, I am still seeking justice.The crime itself was difficult enough to survive- and it is still something that I have to work to maintain even to this day- but what I found to be as harrowing as the rape itself, was the subsequent futile and horrific ordeal I was forced to endure in the pursuit of justice before my case was ultimately dropped... AGAINST MY WILL!!!

There is no aspect of my life or that of my family’s that hasn’t been impacted by the aftermath of this crime. I have been left to pick up the pieces of a disaster that I did not create. The many and varied effects this rape has had on my life have been pervasive. My physical health has suffered immensely as a direct result of my perpetrator’s actions, and the emotional struggle has taken a great toll on my life as well. Due to astronomical medical bills incurred as a result of the rape, I have been virtually destroyed financially. It is likely that I will never have good credit.

Still, all of these things pale in comparison to what I feel to be the greatest loss I suffered as a result of this crime: my faith and belief in the protection and viability of the United States judicial system.

I would like to say that I worked "with" the Commonwealth Attorney’s office in the hopes that my perpetrator would be brought to justice, but it was much more like working "against" them. I was given excuse after excuse, ranging from homicide cases of more importance to impending elections. After nearly a year and a half, I was informed that my case would not be prosecuted.

This was emotionally DEVASTATING.

I felt entirely betrayed . I felt estranged and isolated from the rest of the community. I felt heartbroken that I mattered so little in this place where I had been born. I feel that THIS is when my innocence was lost, NOT when the rape actually occurred. It was the deepest personal pain that I have ever known. It was deeper even then the rape itself.

When the Commonwealth asserted that they weren’t going to stand up for me, I lost my will to stand up for myself. The next three years were a living hell that I barely survived at all.

After that, I began to meet other survivors. I began to hear similair recountings of other victims' experience with the justice system. I began to research. I began to understand the scope and the enormity of the problem.

I have found that my will to change this, so that others will not have to suffer through the same set of circumstances, is what has driven me through all other obstacles to recovery.

Before I was raped, I never really gave a thought to the justice system. I assumed that it was there for my protection. I was naive then. I believe that we have fallen away from the original intent of our forefathers in our current system of law. I can't believe that the treatment I recieved as a human and as a victim of crime was appropriate to ANY civilized society. I can't accept this arbitrary dumping of my case as "JUST" in any little way...

most of all...I can't STANDthat the reasons given to me for denying me access to justice are considered "acceptable" ...and that they are still being used to impose this same prison of silence on others.

I have two children to bring up in this world...

someday, God forbid, they may need the protection of the law in the same way that I did ten years ago. The thought that it wouldn't be there for them in the way that it was NOT there for me is UNACCEPTABLE. The thought that hundreds of thousands of times over, crime victims are denied thier right to FIGHT BACK against those who have hurt them

For my children, for THIER children- for every one who is breathing... and for some who are not-

This is WHY I fight...