Newsletter MARCH 2024
March is Women’s History Month In 2022, we interviewed La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett, Director of Holistic and Liberatory Peer Reentry at CTJC, and also one of the first women to come forward as a police torture survivor.
What would you say to other women who have experienced police violence? I would just say to people that you are not a bad person. You did not deserve that. I don't care why the police pulled you over. I don't care why you were in the police station. You did not deserve to be abused, mistreated, spoken to in that way. You did not deserve that. When I spoke to an attorney about my situation and I said, this is what the police did to me, and the attorney said to me, “Well, that's just what the police do”. A light bulb just went off in my head that this is an accepted practice. This is why we suffer the way that we suffer. Because you, in society, in the community, have accepted that this is what police do to people who are in their custody. And what type of society is that? Had I not come to CTJC and been able to share my story with people who knew that I was telling the truth, I don't know where my life would have been. I don't want for any woman, for anybody who wakes up in the morning and says that “I am a woman”, I don't want for anyone to walk around with that guilt and that pain and that shame, as if you were supposed to be treated that way. You weren't. Never. Not then, not now. I don't care what your lifestyle is. I don't care what your life choices are. You did not deserve that. And I know from experience, from being at the Center, I haven't been the same, in a good way, since I came to the Center. And I want for other women to not be the same, in a good way. I'm already out here, and that means there's room for you.
How did you decide to come “I don't want for anyone to forward with walk around with that guilt your story? and that pain and that shame, as if you were The few times that I had tried supposed to be treated that to share it, way... nobody believed me. And that You did not deserve that.“ left me with unbearable guilt and shame and pain. The few times that I had tried to share it, nobody believed me. And that left me with unbearable guilt and shame and pain. I carried that as if what had happened to me was some kind of way my fault. I was just in a situation where my past kept coming forward. And I thought to myself, Yes, I'm formerly incarcerated, but do you know the circumstances? And I just got to the point where I said, “I am not going to walk in another door without anyone knowing what I've experienced, what I've been through, who I am. I will no longer be ashamed of it”. As if I walked in that police station and said, beat me, choke me. I did not. So I took back the power by coming forward. By putting it out there, you will no longer control my narrative.
Coming Soon! Women’s Group at CTJC The Holistic and Liberatory Peer Reentry Program will be launching a women’s group in 2024. The group will welcome all those who identify as a woman, and especially those who have been impacted by police or state violence. Stay tuned for more updates. For questions, please contact La Tanya JeniforSublett: latanya@chicagotorturejustice.org
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