As noted in our mission statement, the intention of the NATRC is reconciliation, not retribution. Although many in our coalition have survived extreme trauma, our work here is focused on public awareness. We are not seeking criminal prosecution nor unwilling public exposure of any specific individuals who have perpetrated or participated in these forms of abuse and torture.
However, we are not ignorant of the risks we face, should those who seek to keep these issues secret attempt to isolate and silence our members. Despite our constitutional right to free speech, there is a long history of suppression of dissident voices in the United States. We are aware of the risks we are taking in identifying ourselves publicly as members. We believe that the benefits outweigh the risks.
In order to protect ourselves from intimidation, some of the survivors among us have created safety exposure videos. A “safety exposure video” in this context means a video recording of the member making a statement that DOES identify his or her perpetrators in detail, with locations, addresses, names of all known associates, dates and times of abuse. These videos have been shared with multiple trustworthy sources outside the coalition, who have agreed to release them publicly only in the event that one of our members is threatened, harassed, or otherwise harmed in an attempt to silence us. If any coalition member is harmed in this manner, their safety exposure videos will be released to multiple media sources and the criminal justice system. It is our hope that such precautions will be unnecessary, but they are in place nonetheless.
