PULLMAN — The grave of a girl who committed suicide last year after she was sexually assaulted could be getting a headstone soon after the family and Black Lives Matter Chicago held a fundraiser last week.
The fundraiser — held at the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum — also was meant to shine a light on the emotional toll court proceedings can have on victims who have to face their attackers.
Marcie J. Gerald, 14, was coming home from the library in south suburban Flossmoor when she was sexually assaulted in January of 2014. Roger Denson, 28, was charged with criminal sexual assault. He had previous convictions for robbery and burglary.
Marcie, an honor student at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, struggled after the attack.
Elizabeth Gerald, Marcie's mother, told DNAinfo that her daughter feared for her life after the assault — even during the rape trial.
"The man was winking at us and laughing in court. He said that if she wasn't so beautiful, he wouldn't have done this," Gerald said. "She was victimized all over again in court."
After trial hearings, the girl would go home and "cut herself," family members said.
Denson was found guilty of raping Marcie and is serving an eight-year sentence at the Lawrence Correctional Center, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records. Denson is up for parole in 2021, state records indicate.
Despite Denson's conviction, Marcie never got over the trauma of the crime, the court proceedings or the aftermath, her mother said. She committed suicide in July 2015.
"It was too much for her to handle," Gerald said.
Taunting is a common occurrence in legal proceedings involving sex crimes, victim advocates say.
"Taunting is often a problem between victims and their abusers. Be it domestic violence or rape. The bailiffs can't keep an eye on everything happening in a courtroom, and the hallways outside court can be free-for-alls if the defendant isn't being held on bond," said Julie DiCaro, a former attorney who worked with victims of rape and sexual assault.
"And then there are prosecutors and judges that just don't do a good job of shutting that kind of thing down," DiCaro said. "Too often, when victims complain about being harassed in court, it's blown off as the two sides bickering, rather than what it is, which is one person continuing to abuse another."
Jessica Luther, author of the book, "Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape," echoed DiCaro's sentiments on how tough it can be for rape victims to face their accusers in court.
"Courtrooms are often much smaller and more intimate than we imagine; parties passing close to one another, victims sharing close space with perpetrators. Abusers can easily use that fact to intimidate or mess with the person who is accusing them," Luther said.
"For most cases of sexual and/or domestic abuse or violence, the victim will have to testify in order to present a strong enough prosecution to secure a conviction, which means that at some point the two will share space, and the victim will have to look directly at the accused.
From what I've seen and heard, this can be terrifying for victims who are reporting people that they often fear and people who are can be good at manipulating the emotional atmosphere," said Luther.
Gerald said that she hopes that discussion about how sexual assault and suicide are connected can keep moving the conversation forward.
"There are so many teens in Chicago who are victims of sexual assault that don't get help," Gerald said. "Some of the women who attended the fundraiser want to have a panel once a month. As I did more and more research, I realized my daughter wasn't the only one."
According to the most recent Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, a study released by the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, suicides in Chicago declined from 2005 to 2015. However, the study also found that suicide by hanging/strangulation and poison increased in the same time period.
Other studies found that 13 percent of rape victims attempt suicide.
Black Lives Matter Chicago made a $2,500 donation to the Marcie J. Gerald Movement. The proceeds will go toward the purchase of a headstone for Marcie's grave.
"As BLMCHI is getting more involved in community organizing and building relationships with families and communities, we are learning a lot about how we should apply our philosophies and theories around Black liberation into real, practical utility around helping and empowering people," said Black Lives Matter Chicago lead organizer Kofi Ademola.
"We asked ourselves how can we use our voice and platform to assist people in a meaningful way. We found the answer to that by working with different black people who have been directly impacted by different forms of intracommunal violence, oppression and colonialism," Ademola said.
Black Lives Matter branches out
Black Lives Matter, which has been accused by some of having a lack of focus on issues within the black community, has quietly taken on some of Chicago's systemic issues often ignored by the people who chide them.
Last month, Black Lives Matter Chicago donated more than $800 toward the funeral arrangements of "T.T.," a transgender woman who was found dead near railroad tracks in West Garfield Park. Her neck had been slashed, and a knife was found nearby.
And recently, members of Black Lives Matter Chicago observed how Englewood's Mothers Against Senseless Killings interacts in its neighborhood to see which solutions stick and which ones fall by the wayside.
Donations to the Marcie J. Gerald Movement can be made here. The website has raised more than $600 so far.
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