Clara54’s Interview With Beverly Peterson-part 2

Beverly Peterson, a filmmaker out of New York captured my attention & hopefully the worlds when she began to screen her latest documentary There Oughta Be A Law. She so kindly took time from her busy schedule to give Clara54 this indepth interview:

BP. The great thing about having the power to make a film is that it gives you a megaphone to shout aloud the dirty little secrets that those abusing power don’t want told. However, while there may not be a law to protect victims, there is one to protect the abuser and ensure we are silenced. It’s one of the hardest challenges in doing this project. We can’t point and say: “He did it! Joe Blow destroyed my career, and devastated my finances & health. And the management at the XYZ Company let him get away with it.” If we do that we’ll be sued for libel. Our experiences, pain and personal stories become censored to the point that there are so many witheld details it seems like abstract whining. That’s why I decided to use the internet to launch this video project . The internet is a place where the private becomes public. I want my website to become a safe place for victims to come out of the shadows & talk as openly as they can about the devastating impact of psychological harassment in the workplace.

The next posting is the story I was filming last weekend in Wisconsin. Jody was a young mother who worked as an Xray technician in a hospital clinic. Her boss decided to target her and the harassment became constant. Jody came from a large extended family & they all offered support. Jody tried to lateral out to another position but kept getting passed over. She was finally told by HR to bring in a list detailing her boss’ harassment…That was when she hung herself…

It is incredibly humiliating to make a list that looks like petty grievances and it’s even harder to convey on paper the horror of being viciously targeted for no reason by another human being. Jody left behind a husband & two small children.

C54. What can folks do to help bring awareness to this problem by employers in the workplace?

BP. I think the most important is exactly what you are doing, writing articles to get the word out. Your readers can easily email your article to everyone they know and those people in turn can do the same…

As I said Beverly Peterson is on a mission and I’m encouraging everyone who read clara54 to take action. This interview gives a wealth of information which I will be posting in its entirety on my column for chicago women’s examiner.com. There is an important date that Beverly speaks about & you should note. On May 28th Illinois passed a bill to study hostile work environments that just needs the Governor’s signature. She’s encouraging folks to make sure that this study doesn’t languish & eventually disappear…If you haven’t seen There Oughta Be A Law, or visited Beverly Peterson’s website, please refer to 1st part of interview…