1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

Sexual Assault Survivor Bravely Confronts Attacker In Court

video
» 101 comments

Sexual assault survivor Heidi Damon spoke with MSNBC’s Tamron Hall and discussed her brave confrontation with her assailant Javon Cooper, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his attack on her. “I am not the victim,’’ Damon proclaimed. “I am the victor.”

RELATED: Goldie Taylor Inspired To Share Her Own Story Of Sexual Abuse By Anger Over Penn St. Scandal

“My name is Heidi Elizabeth Damon. I have a name,” Damon told Cooper. “I have a name that will go on forever. You have a number and the title of the crimes that you’ve committed. Your name is Sex Offender, Attempted Murderer. Nice to put you away.”

Damon said to Hall that she had an “amazing support system” that helped her cope with the assault. Hall said that Cooper had “this smug look, this indifference that I think would have made me explode with anger.”

Damon hoped that her coming out as a sexual assault survivor would encourage others not to be ashamed of what has been done to them.

“By me coming out and talking and putting my name out there, it puts an actual person behind all of this,” Damon said. “If my story or me coming forward and showing my face helps other people who have been victimized come out and say: ‘I’m not the bad person, there’s nothing wrong with me, it is the person that did this to me,’ that is what I hopefully will achieve.”

Watch Damon bravely address her attacker below via MSNBC:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tim-Malone/100002475802402 Tim Malone

    In the United States in 2005, 37,460 white females were sexually assaulted or raped by a black man, while between zero and ten black females were sexually assaulted or raped by a white man.What this means is that every day in the United States, over one hundred white women are raped or sexually assaulted by a black man.

  • Anonymous

    Good for her!

  • Tucsonense

    Bulls**t!!!

  • Anonymous

    this is the best!!!!

  • Anonymous

    This is why reporting like this bothers me. On the one hand, your reaction is good for her, but you know the idiots like Tim will follow suit. The media never fails in its coverage to portray minorities who live up to stereotypes. The next time a minority child goes missing, however, they will have mysteriously reached their quota for how many minorities can be shown in the news.

  • Anonymous

    “Myth:  Most sexual assaults involve a black man raping a white woman.

    Fact:  In 93% of assaults, the rapist and victim are of the same race.  In 3.3% of sexual
    assault cases, black men did rape white women, while in 3.4% of the cases, white men
    raped black women.”

    http://www.ccasa.org/documents/Rape_Myths_&_Facts.pdf
    Also see table 42 in the link below.
    http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cvus0602.pdf
    Only 16.7% of sexual assault attacks on white women are black. Majority are by other whites. 

    Nice try promoting talking points parroted by the neo Nazis about how the black men are after the white womenz. Guffaw.

  • Anonymous

    I doubt official stats are made that way plus you are making some ugly stereotyping here that like me stating that most child molesters are white so  It does not add to all child molesters are white.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tim-Malone/100002475802402 Tim Malone

    Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    You have a link to the source?

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    There have only been two serial killers that have been African American, that I know of at least. The green river killer and the beltway sniper. Also there have been no spree killings that have been done by African Americans.

  • http://twitter.com/KravenMorKox Mike

    In 2005, out of the 111,490 cases involving white victims, 44.5% had white offenders and 33.6% had black offenders, while the 36,620 black victims had a figure of 100% black offenders, numbers of white offenders were estimated to be negligible.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_the_United_States

  • Anonymous

    While the history of rape in 2005 is not the topic here, the fact is that the US Department of Justice DID report the facts as stated above.

    “The U.S. Department of Justice compiles statistics on crime by race, but
    only between and among people categorized as black or white. In 2005
    there were 111,490 white and 36,620 black victims of rape or sexual assault.

     In 2005, out of the 111,490 cases involving white victims, 44.5% had
    white offenders and 33.6%  ( 37, 460) had black offenders, while the 36,620 black
    victims had a figure of 100% black offenders, numbers of white offenders
    were estimated to be negligible.[24]

    http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cvus05.pdf

    If ya have a beef with the statistics, take in up with the US Dept. of Justice.

  • Anonymous

    Was that a rhetorical question? 

    I doubt a nutjob klansman would have facts to back himself up

  • Anonymous

    Ladies here are the ugly truths 2/3 of rapes are committed by some1 known by the victims and so be careful out there.

  • Anonymous

    No so;
     Whites get the most press but there have been many black serial killers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8gYc5fvMQ0

  • Anonymous

    What would be your point, Stonepark? 

  • Anonymous

    You are very slow, aren’t ya? It shows the stats listed ARE accurate and that Verreauxii is a wrong, something YOU can identify with, child.

    I know you libs hate the truth and facts, but you can’t ignore the facts here.

  • Anonymous

    You mean non-racists.

  • Anonymous

    Stonepark, always there to defend white people from any attack!

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    Youtube is not a source for statistics. Please use another. Wiki is not a source either.

  • Anonymous

    My country? Which country would that be, xenophobe? 

    Btw, I’m willing to bet that your clothes were made by some Asian teenagers in some basement.

    I did not agree  with or deny anything in my last comment.

    I ask again; What is your point, Stonepark?

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    There have been two studies on serial killers in the US, and both backed up the other on the percentage of blacks among known serial killers. 22-23%. That means blacks are almost overrepresented among serial killers by 200%. One of the studies was done by a criminology professor at Fresno State University. Can’t remember the other one. If you care to know–and I doubt you do–you can find this information.

  • South Park Conservatives

    Really? The Green River Killer is white.

    Since 2000, there has been more black serial killers caught in this country than white.{ Note i said caught.}

    There’s been 4 black spree killers just in the last 6 months.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you Allen. That’s getting lost by some of the ugly commentary introduced in this thread, but most rapes are committed by someone you know, and are not likely to result in convictions. I really hope the people on here trying to scare people of the “other” that is going to come into their neighborhoods and rape them keep that in mind. If not for themselves, then at least for their families.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    He seems very remorseful.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    Oh, horseshit. Law and Order will dramatize this story and they’ll change the woman into a latina and the rapist into a white investment banker named Graham Wellington.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    Especially if the person known to you is black.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    Most child molesters are white only as a function of the greater number of white people in this country. Or do you have a source to a statistic that shows that whites commit disproportionately more child molestations than anyone else?

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    Does anyone here think white men rape black women more than black men rape white women? That’s what this moron is saying. Come on, guilty white liberals, you want to come out and say, “yeah, that sounds about right.” Here’s a hint. If 93% or rapes are intraracial and 3.4% of rapes are white-on-black and 3.3. are black-on-white, where are the hispanics? They only rape within their race? Those numbers add up to almost 100%.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    That’s all? Those numbers are probably skewed by the curious habit of law enforcement to count hispanics as white for accounting purposes.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    You’re comparing apples to oranges. Most of the violent rapes of the kind profiled in this story are not committed by someone known to the victim. And I guarantee most women are more fearful of the guy with the knife who jumps out of the bushes and beats her half to death, where she doesn’t know whether she will be killed or not, than a guy on a date who misinterprets signals. Your goal is changing the subject to whitey.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t have time for your ignorance today. Go away.

  • Anonymous

    John, you’re an idiot. You have much to learn. Some days I’m in a mood to suffer ignorance such as yours. Some days the burden of encountering idiots who feel they HAVE to express their 1st Amendment right, no matter how ignorant they are on a subject, weighs on me. On those days I don’t feel like educating people who, in all honesty, probably don’t want to be educated on anything that runs counter to their fantasy world. This is one of the latter days.

  • Anonymous

    That is so true John… Television and media wants so bad to distort facts! they always make the rapist White that comes from a wealthy family! Every episode of Law and Order or any TV network show shows that instead of the facts!

  • Anonymous

    Maybe, I just liked your comment because of your perfectly “white name” you gave.

  • Anonymous

    Green River was a white guy. The two black guys I assume you’re talking about is John Allen Mohhamed (spelling) and the Atlanta Child Murders guy.

  • http://profiles.google.com/sanjaysingh.boston Sanjay Singh

    White slavery is alive and well.  it is such an outrage how black and brown savages invade this land by millions and commit such crimes.

    being from India, I feel very concerned. 

    I guess you are quoting FBI statistics. 

  • Anonymous

    You cant say Neo Nazis unless your talking about the liberal left now…Since we now know the Nazi party and the KKK both came out with statements with supported to the OWS protesters!. I guess the media forgot to report that.

    This has little to do with this article but I love how liberals and the media still try to claim racism on everyone else then themselves.

  • William Howell

    Show us your tolerance, walk in Washington Heights at midnight. Rudeturd show us those balls of steel!!!

  • William Howell

    Or it could mean whites don’t like buffalo!!!

  • William Howell

    Yeah like that guy from Atlanta wayne williams.

  • William Howell

    Show us your tolerance, walk in Washington Heights at midnight. Seedling show us those balls of steel!!!

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    You’re the one who appears to have gone away.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    I wish I could take credit for it. But the truth is, I stole it. Same way the white man steels everything. :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3mSW8XUZI

  • Anonymous

    Bless your pea-picking heart! Your white envy is so palpable, son. I know how you libs hate facts but you can not refute them, child, so just fade away!

  • Anonymous

    son, try to refute the names presented in that Youtube video and then get back to me.

  • Anonymous

    My WHITE envy? hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

    Jesus, I thought you were a bigot, but I didn’t think you were a full-fledged white power type. Interesting though.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    Its the one in Atlanta. I got it confused with the green river killer.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    I was backing up that info. Please reread my post.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    Ok “boy” but that video isn’t ready for mobile so i will have to watch it when i get home. Because, Im at my job. Plus i can find YouTube videos that profess that big foot, ufos, the lock Ness monster all being real and then some that say burt from seaside street was behind 9/11. Care to “refutate” those?

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    They use the same casting agency that casts for the home security system commercials. Most of your residential burglars are, in fact, Mayflower descendents.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    Btw please name them and back up you’re info

  • Anonymous

    My country? Which country would that be, xenophobe? ”

    Poor rudeboy-  are you such a prolific liar that you forget what you post? You said you were in Nigeria and then castigated the US for abolishing slavery “just” over 140 years ago, but when it was pointed out that Nigeria STILL had child slavery , you boasted that it was just child slavery and not the kind that had occurred in the USA.

    Man, what a despicable  lib you are- boasting that your country JUST  has child slavery.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    You know, in the real world simply calling someone “ignorant” before claiming you don’t have to time to educate them (but that you easily could) doesn’t really fly.

  • Anonymous

    Hey unclefester, why not investigate what the environment was like for this miscreant so you can develop a acceptable lib excuse for his behavior?

  • Anonymous

    I struck a nerve in unclefester- his white bigotry is on display for all to see!

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    You incorrectly stated that there had only been two serial killers and even one of those names you got wrong. Rereading your post, I’m not quite sure what larger point you were making. I thought your use of the word “only” was intended to imply that blacks aren’t well-represented amongst serial killers, when in point of fact, they are OVER represented among those dubious ranks.

  • Anonymous

    son, refute one name. I can refute the ufo and Big Foot videos. Refute the names, child,. Just refute the names. That’s all ya got to do, but you rather just post typical lib excuses and drivel.

  • Anonymous

    Poor white folks, always treated so badly in America.

  • Anonymous

    Goggle is a stranger to you, eh?

    Just post someone the phase into the browser and Google will do the rest for ya , son.

    It’s a new concept few have heard of.

    Rolls eyes.

  • Anonymous

    unclefester- always the racist.

  • Anonymous

    If I respond will I get a cross burned on my lawn?

  • Anonymous

    unclefester- your dry cleaner called; your hood is ready!

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    He undoubtedly has more to fear from the dreaded KKK!

  • Anonymous

    An avowed white power proponent is calling me a KKK member?

  • http://MsUnderestimated.com MsUnderestimated

    I just have one small comment to make, and that is “good for you, Heidi.” It takes a lot to have that courage to take it all the way through the courts. Trust me, I know of what I speak. It’s stories like Heidi’s and my own that tick me off at those women who falsely cry rape just to get back at a man for whatever selfish reasons.

    I like Heidi’s “victor” moniker, but I’ve always said there are “victims” and “survivors;” I am in the latter category, as is Heidi. That which does not kill us will make us stronger. God bless you, Heidi. And rot in hell, you dirty bastard Javon!

  • shonangreg

    Not citing your sources marks you out as unserious person. There are just too many sources for vague claims for such a discussion style to accomplish anything. Standing up to someone questioning un-cited assertions marks you out to be nothing more than an angry clown.

  • Anonymous

    I an not wrong dumbass. I have cited my evidence. Two independent sources. Looks like I touched a nerve disabusing your little fallacious theory about white women victimhood. No wonder you have all these white women killing their kids and saying they were robbed at gunpoint by a “black man.” Susan Smith anyoone?

  • Anonymous

    Does he ever have a point?

    Another point to note. There’s a bigger pool of white women than of black women. So, just by probability, assuming the incidence of crimes committed by a perp is directly proportional to the demographic, I should expect more white victims. Duh. There’s no arguing that blacks are over-represented in crime stats. Does that not tie in that victims are targeted because of their race. That is the specious theory these bigots are trying to push.

  • Anonymous

    I have shown you stats from the very same source (and another different source) that show you are wrong. 

  • Anonymous

    While the KKK did start within Democratic circles, it is and never was a liberal outfit. You are applying a PRESENTISM  argument which is devoid of historical fact. The KKK have always been a rightwing, conservative and Christian organization based in the south. The Neo-Nazis are separatists. They are rightwing and have always pushed a nativist doctrine that is anti-immigrant of people of color. Their equivalent on the left would be other ethnocentric separatist groups like the Black Panther. Seriously, I wonder why I argue with ignorant, uninformed tools. 

  • Anonymous

    Ummm…what are you talking about Captain? Tolerant of who?

  • Anonymous

    Great way to deconstruct your own stupidity. It could also be argued that most of the press over-represents the criminality of blacks. Anyone remember this famous Katrina shot?
    http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/teachable_moments/katrina_2_photo.cfm
    You are a joke, pumpkin!

  • Anonymous

    White people were the first invaders of “this land” idiot. Ask the native Americans.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, 

    StoneparkIV, you are such a liar.

    1) I have dual citizenship, hence the question about which country
    2) Nigieria doesnt practice child slavery. 
    3) I was complaining about the racism in the Usa and not slavery. Even though, racists like you want blacks to forget about slavery but can not muster the courage to say Jews should forget about the holocaust.
    4) I never supported child slavery

  • Anonymous

    Stonepark, has a point but he knows that it is clearly racist! 

    He wants to push the stereotype that blacks are sex maniacs when it comes to white women. However, he knows that saying it out clearly would expose himself and so he hides behind ambiguous statistics which do not prove anything.

  • Anonymous

    ?????

  • http://profiles.google.com/sanjaysingh.boston Sanjay Singh

    not true.  “Native” americans invaded from Asian land bridge. not so native, eh!

    Then there is solutrean theory that whites came before “native” americans.

    You are ignorant and uneducated.

  • Anonymous

    They are natives (you know what that word means right?) because they were the first human inhabitants. There were no white people living here before them. I also have a theory my sh!t is made of gold. So dumb you are. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VK7U6RFTAUIPW2JR2NGPBP2IYA super
  • Just some Blow Hard…

    I cannot refute it and that is quite the list. However you need to read the blog around it. It links Mien Kampf and Stormfront and is obviously a blog detailing the beliefs of many skinheads, white nationalists, and those to the right of Pat Buchanan. Now I am not saying that you believe the same things this blog reports, but how did you come across this site? You may say I post liberal excuses and drivel, but that is quite the opposite. I have never once linked any source to Media Matters, Daily Kos, or even msnbc. However you linked a post to a neo-nazi website and claim it to be truth. It makes you think doesn’t it?

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    my point was that the likelihood of a African American serial or spree killer is no higher than that of any other race.

  • shonangreg

    A screen capture from an unknown source of a document with no url given.

    Are you trying to be funny?

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    This has become trollfest year end edition

  • http://profiles.google.com/sanjaysingh.boston Sanjay Singh

    no proof they who was native, who was not.  They invaded from Asia.

    You are ignorant and uneducated. And a fraud too.

  • http://www.facebook.com/retroglamour Shana Rowan

    As an abuse survivor, I hope this woman someday can overcome her hatred towards her attacker. Until I viewed my abuser as a person who needs serious help – and stopped focusing on trying to make him see what a horrible person he was – I was not truly free of him. Letting go of the anger and need for vengeance is the only thing that will allow her to heal. Now that I see my abuser a person with a serious problem, I can sincerely hope that he gets the help he needs, realize I am the stronger person and move on with my life.

  • Anonymous

    Poor rudeboy:

    “Nigieria doesnt practice child slavery”

    lavery is still alive in Nigeria

    By Elor Nkereuwem

    At least one million
    Nigerian children are sold into internal and external slavery annually,
    according to experts who say this has put the country on an odious list
    of the world’s eight worst abusers of the rights of children.

  • Anonymous

    rudeboy, you are the racist who denies slavery in his home country. you are a liar!

    Slavery is still alive in Nigeria

    At least one
    million Nigerian children are sold into internal and external slavery
    annually, according to experts who say this has put the country on an
    odious list of the world’s eight worst abusers of the rights of
    children.”

    29 September 2010 Last updated at 13:41 ET

    Thousands of Nigerian women ‘found in Mali slave camps’

    A Nigerian woman (file image) Nigerian women are often told they will find good jobs abroad to escape poverty.

    “Nigerian girls are being forced to work as prostitutes in Mali “slave camps”, say officials in Nigeria.”

  • Anonymous

    Refute the US Dept. of Justice reprt, son.

    You have wasted so many words and yet you have not written one word that refutes the Dept.’s findings.

  • Anonymous

    Translation: I’m a lazy and stupid lib who does not know about Google.

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080722141429AAUsysI

    Source? FBI, you troll.

    I just showed fool an ignorant fool you are.

  • shonangreg

    That is yahoo answers — hardly an original source. Do you even know what is being asked? I do admit it is much better than what was provided before. However, here is one of the opriginal documents the yahoo answers was taken from: http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/offreported/02-ncrimeindex01.html

    How do you go from this:
    http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/offreported/02-ncrimeindex01.html

    By race, 65.5 percent of arrestees were white, 31.9 percent were black,
    and 2.5 percent were other races (Asian or Pacific Islander and American
    Indian or Alaskan Native). An examination of violent crime arrest data showed
    that 59.7 percent of arrests were of white individuals, 38.0 percent were
    of black persons, and 2.3 percent were individuals of other races. Property
    crime arrests were distributed as follows: 67.7 percent were white arrestees,
    29.6 were black, and the remaining 2.7 percent were other races. (See Table
    43.)

    To this:
    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080722141429AAUsysI

    * Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.

    * When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times
    more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely
    to use a knife.

    * Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white
    rate, and Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white
    rate.

    * The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is
    the percentage of the population that is black and Hispanic.

    I’m not interested in arguing about this more. My only point was that you need to provide specifics and cite sources when you make the assertion, not later when you’re challenged. That is the way of the troll ;-)

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    wrong son- you ignored the sources sited.

    Source(s):

    Arrest data: FBI, Crime in the United States, 2001
    (USGPO, 2002), p. 252. FBI, Crime in the United States, 2002Try again- you lose.
    (USGPO, 2003), p. 252. FBI, Crime in the United States, 2003
    (USGPO, 2004), p. 288

    You are quite the troll, son!

  • Anonymous

    Poor child- that does not alter one fact about the serial killers listed there.

    Not one thing is affected by the other stuff they have.

    Try again. You have come up with excuse # 128,867 not to believe the facts of this matter.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    There are large swaths of America filled predominantly with large numbers of whites and relatively few blacks. If a study of rape was done that ONLY studied rape in urban areas where the numbers of whites and blacks were relatively equal and therefore interracial encounters were more frequent, the disparity would be even more lopsided.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    I emailed CCSA, the organization cited by this retarded black person, pointing out the stat and calling it into question: here is the reply got:

    Thank you for your email. You’re right. Those statistics are no longer accurate. Can you please let me know where you’re seeing those attributed to CCASA so we can remedy that?

    Thank you,

    Erin Jamison MPA
    Executive Director
    Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA)

    When I have more time I plan to email her back and ask her when those numbers were ever valid. 1830?

  • Anonymous

    I am going to respond to your other dumb comment about higher incidences of black on white rape in urban areas. This is so idiotic, I’m not even sure why I am responding to it. You do realize that even with a higher black population in urban areas, it doesn’t mean that blacks (relatively) will rape more whites. You seem to be overlooking a simple flaw with your illogical reasoning. MOST sexual assaults and rapes (according to statistics) are committed by NON-strangers. I will be more specific. It is 79% for white women, raped by NON-strangers. (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf  — Table 7) With the clustering of racial groups in urban areas, yes, even big cities like Philly, a white woman is more likely to be raped by her neighbor, friend/acquaintance, relative, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend — people who are MORE LIKELY to be white than black. Get your rubbish white power talking points out of here. 

    Fine…toss away the data I quoted. Why don’t you dismiss the NVCS 2006 numbers I used instead. Also note that the 2009 data is not too far (about 5%) from the 2006 data I used earlier about preference of victims (race) by the perp.

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    did I not say I couldn’t refute your facts. It just now gives me an idea on your personal beliefs and political leanings now. And I will call you out on them

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    I think there problem here is, like most blacks, you’re not very good at math.

  • Anonymous

    Typical racist douche. Do you want us to compare our college grades in math courses? Guffaw. I’m actually ASSuming you went to college because peoplewith such ignorance are usually high school dropouts. Conclusion: You can not discredit the data I put up.

  • http://twitter.com/Nietzschean John Smith

    I got a 760 on my math SAT’s. What’d you get, von Neumann?

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram