Last week, something terrible happened in Strathcona, but I have never felt so proud to live here.
A young man broke into a Strathcona home in the middle of the day last Thursday. He beat and sexually assaulted the woman who lived there. She screamed and fought him, and a neighbour heard her cries and came to help her. Outside her home, the assailant tried to run, but other neighbours held the man down until the police arrived.
Within hours of the attack, residents had opened a coffee tab at the Union Market for the good Samaritans who intervened. Another neighbour launched a fundraising website to help the assaulted woman’s recovery. A psychotherapist specializing in trauma offered a year of pro-bono counselling. And neighbours began organizing a community walk for the following night.
On the same day, a woman was sexually assaulted in Point Grey. In that case, too, the attacker was a stranger. He got away and the police have not made an arrest. But there were no reports of vigils or fundraisers for the victim of that attack, a 30-year-old woman who was out jogging in a neighbourhood that is affluent enough to be considered safe.
In the Downtown Eastside and industrial lands that border Strathcona, extreme marginalization makes women targets of sexual violence on a daily basis. We’ve lost many women who also deserved protection and support. But for those of us generally used to feeling safe in our homes, these marginalized lives are harder to identify with than the dangerous stranger knocking on a Strathcona door.
Some of the circumstances that prevented the Strathcona assault from becoming a murder can be chalked up to luck, such as the fact that the woman’s screams were heard by a passing neighbour, but some of it is about active choices that any neighbour can make. A woman who was being assaulted called for help and a bystander made a choice to intervene. Then he asked for assistance to stop a rapist, and others chose to help. The police responded in a reasonable amount of time, and what could have been a new terror in the neighbourhood is instead a testament to how we care about each other.
A gofundme.com page was posted within hours, and as I write this, more than $35,000 has been raised for the woman who was hurt. Many donations are anonymous, but many include encouraging thoughts signed by neighbours and people from other parts of the city. too. If the total climbs another $7,000, the community will have raised the equivalent of this postal code’s median annual income for a year. It’s a very civil notion that a survivor of sexual assault could put aside financial concerns for a year, and focus on healing. I wish all survivors could feel so cared for.
The walk that occurred Friday night was attended by several hundred people who gathered in support of the woman who still lay in hospital, for each other, and for all the other women who have been raped and assaulted. There were no speeches or photo ops.
Since the 1960s when city hall declared the neighbourhood a “blight” slated for demolition and urban renewal, Strathcona has been known for its ability to organize and fight. In partnership with strong voices in Chinatown, Strathcona fought city hall and prevented the destruction of the neighbourhood, and forever killed government plans for a freeway through downtown Vancouver.
Strathcona has 50 years of activist history that prepared it for this crisis, but other neighbourhoods in Vancouver need to take this to heart. We can start small. We can say hello at the local coffee shop. We can learn our neighbours’ names, and when we see a woman targeted for harassment or violence, we can choose to intervene however we can.
A strong, safe neighbourhood isn’t one where nothing bad ever happens; it’s one where people respond appropriately to crisis, danger or injustice. Strathcona has that aplenty. Let’s hope it spreads.
COMMUNITY MEETING:
On Tuesday night, the Vancouver Police will host a community meeting in the auditorium of the Strathcona Community Centre. The event runs 7 to 9 p.m. In a flyer I received, the event has been described as a safety workshop. Though I’m sure the police will have some tips to share, I’m also certain the community will be present to say what they plan to do.
