UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 21, 2015
I was in an interview the other day when I was asked whether SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (the group for whom I have volunteered for the past 12 years) paid me.
When I said, no—that I am, in fact, a volunteer with the organization—the writer said, “That’s good. You wouldn’t want to be seen as a professional victim.”
I swallowed hard, and let it drop.
Here’s the rub: SNAP is constantly being bashed by its opponents for being “professional victims.”
But since when is taking a stand, demanding change and accountability, and running an organization been “being a professional victim?”
No one looks at other great victim-based organizations like the National Center for Victims of Crime or RAINN: The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network and says, “If you really care about the cause, you would work for free.” You certainly don’t look at your child’s teacher and say, “If you truly believed in education, you’d refuse a paycheck.”
So why do people look at SNAP’s full time, professional (and sorely underpaid) staff differently? It’s time for that view to end.
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