By Jessa Rae for Art against Incarceration (8/10)

Last week, I wrote about a rape survivor's restorative/transformative response to her attack. I want to share a few words with you about that post.

I have rarely been as moved as over the past few days. I want to thank the survivors of violence who reached out to me via e-mail to share your own stories. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for your compassion and your courage. I also received messages from others who felt that I offered a “naive” and “dangerous” view. Some of you felt very strongly that had the mother who I wrote about been armed, she would have prevented the attack. Others suggest that I am absolving rapists from their crimes. Still others advocated castration or the death penalty for rapists.

I am going to take some time to process all of this. I promise to write something in the next few days to share more about how I have come to the views that I have in spite of or because of my own experiences with violence. But today is not the day to delve into all of that.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of updates of what has happened with the Powderhorn Park community. The Star Tribune recently published an editorial titled “Powderhorn Park residents urge peaceful, constructive action”:

Few would blame Powderhorn Park residents if they were promoting more policing or longer sentences for convicted criminals. From the outside looking in, some might even recommend that more neighbors carry guns for protection or that they leave the neighborhood altogether and find a safer place to live.

The frightening Thanksgiving Eve sexual assault of a woman in the park and the attempted rape of two teen girls nearby is more than enough to shake one’s sense of safety and security.

But instead of talk about fleeing the city, becoming vigilantes or locking up criminals forever, area residents are standing up for their community and taking a different approach. Following the lead of a courageous mom who refuses to be a victim, community members have instead decried violence, celebrated their neighborhood and encouraged compassion.

During a Wednesday night vigil, several hundred people gathered to connect with each other and reclaim their park. Rather than give in to anger, neighbors viewed the incidents as opportunities to “understand, heal and grow,” in the words of the vigil’s organizers. That’s a good example for other communities grappling with tough crime problems.

In this case, four teen boys, ages 14 to 16, were charged in connection with the sexual assault and attempted robbery of the 45-year-old woman and the attacks on two teenaged girls in a nearby garage. The mom was assaulted in front of her 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter while they were cross-country skiing in the park.

A self-described student of nonviolence and restorative justice, the mother who was attacked said the vigil should be a “celebration of our community and our park … a place for nature and creativity.” She also wrote in an e-mail that she saw her assailants as “hurting, scared children” who need support.

Her neighborhood has seen that kind of attitude yield results. For a decade before funding ran out, the Powderhorn Neighborhood Association worked with law enforcement to divert those guilty of lower-level street crimes into a restorative-justice program.

Neighbors talked with customers of prostitutes and young offenders about the impact of their crimes, then helped decide how the offenders would fulfill the community-service sentences. As a result, the Powderhorn area saw a significant drop in street crime.

That doesn’t mean that the four juveniles being held for the November assaults shouldn’t be punished and held accountable.

Nor does the unusually reasoned neighborhood response mean residents should not take smart steps to improve safety. To that end, neighborhood organizers are sensibly encouraging precautions in the park, such as traveling in larger groups and having additional lighting and volunteer foot patrols.

Certainly the Powderhorn neighborhood is not the first metro community to respond to a horrible crime with candlelight vigils and calls for peace. But the compassion and fierce defense of the neighborhood by residents is a reminder that the power of a united community will always triumph over hate and fear.

The following is an article about the community vigil.