By ICTMN Staff:
October 10, 2012
Ashley Haywood was crowned as the 2008 "Miss Lumbee" of Robeson County (North Carolina), but this is not the story that I am here to talk about. She is filing a lawsuit against her former boss at the Lumbee Tribe’s housing office. She was sexually harassed several times by her boss and feared of being raped. When she spoke out about what was happening to her the tribal leaders wanted her to stay quiet about the issues that she was facing every day. They threatened her several times that she needs to just let is go or else she would lose her job and other various things.
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"Ashley Haywood claims her former boss, Rev. Jimmy Hunt, committed verbal abuse, inappropriately touched her, forcibly groped and kissed her, and downloaded a pornographic video on her computer, over the course of her employment at the tribe’s housing office in 2009."
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She was so scared for her safety that she carried scissors around in order to protect herself from the threats posed by her boss. I find this completely unbelievable! No one should have to carry around a weapon at work in order to protect themselves. The fact that tribal leaders wanted to cover up this issue is even worse. This is why most women never report anything that happens to them because of the fact that is just gets pushed under the rug. No one should tell someone to bush off a sexual assault. This would never happen in "white" culture. It is considered extremely serious offense that is taken seriously, but there is still the stigma that it is the woman's fault. "She shouldn't have dressed that way....she shouldn't have flirted with him...." Women hear this all the time in public and private spheres, which doesn't help with the issues of reporting these horrible acts. I understand that some people can think that it is their fault because they might have put themselves into a situation, but that is never the case. No one deserves to feel unsafe or guard themselves because no one will believe them or even listen to their story, or maybe even act. I hope that he gets what is coming to him and the lawsuit doesn't go away. I think he deserves to get into massive trouble with the law and the tribal leaders that are covering it up. They should also get seriously looked into by the community that they are governing. How many other times has this happened and they did nothing about it or told the victim to ignore it?
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"Ashley Haywood claims her former boss, Rev. Jimmy Hunt, committed verbal abuse, inappropriately touched her, forcibly groped and kissed her, and downloaded a pornographic video on her computer, over the course of her employment at the tribe’s housing office in 2009."
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She was so scared for her safety that she carried scissors around in order to protect herself from the threats posed by her boss. I find this completely unbelievable! No one should have to carry around a weapon at work in order to protect themselves. The fact that tribal leaders wanted to cover up this issue is even worse. This is why most women never report anything that happens to them because of the fact that is just gets pushed under the rug. No one should tell someone to bush off a sexual assault. This would never happen in "white" culture. It is considered extremely serious offense that is taken seriously, but there is still the stigma that it is the woman's fault. "She shouldn't have dressed that way....she shouldn't have flirted with him...." Women hear this all the time in public and private spheres, which doesn't help with the issues of reporting these horrible acts. I understand that some people can think that it is their fault because they might have put themselves into a situation, but that is never the case. No one deserves to feel unsafe or guard themselves because no one will believe them or even listen to their story, or maybe even act. I hope that he gets what is coming to him and the lawsuit doesn't go away. I think he deserves to get into massive trouble with the law and the tribal leaders that are covering it up. They should also get seriously looked into by the community that they are governing. How many other times has this happened and they did nothing about it or told the victim to ignore it?
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