After reading some of the responses to the developing Friends of Lulu Empowerment Fund, I feel like I was premature in linking to it.
The thread at The Engine features a great deal of food for thought (and more than a few deleted posts). Johanna Draper Carlson and Nicholas Ellis both raise excellent points. As Nicholas Ellis says,
“It always seems like a fine line between honestly wanting to help, or discuss the issue, and a puffing out our chests and seeing who can be the best at protecting the women. Which, yeah, as (Johanna) point(s) out, is exactly the opposite of what would help.”
One thing that I’ve found disturbing about this whole discussion from the beginning is the ardent desire of people to “go set the bastards’ face on fire and then put it out with an ice pick” or similar. The way to rectify criminal violence is to fantasize about committing more? Yikes. (Kudos to Lea Hernandez for pointing out how unproductive that is.)
But the most valuable commentary for me has come from Katherine Keller, both in her comments at The Engine and at her LiveJournal:
“But who’s the general counsel? Are my donations tax deductable? Who’s on the board for this fund? What are their criteria for taking on cases? How do they plan to let us know how the money’s being used; where’s the accountablity?
“These are all questions I want answered before this fund is going to see a dime from me. Don’t get me wrong. I think a fund like this is a LONG OVERDUE idea. I want to support it.”
Some people might find the questions about the fund “too nitpicky,” but I think the answers are essential if the fund is to succeed. And I really want it to succeed. I think it’s a wonderful idea and could be a valuable resource for people who desperately need support to get through an incredibly difficult experience. But it has to be more comprehensively conceived than setting up a PayPal account.