Aswad Thomas, MSW | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

ASWAD THOMAS: I grew up in a community riddled by poverty and violence. I was shot twice in my back while leaving the corner store in my neighborhood, and those bullets nearly ended my life. Like many of you, I am a survivor of gun violence. I was shot in an incident that ended my basketball career, and like so many people in this room, never received any support or help to help me deal with that. 

I joined Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice on the 6-year anniversary of my shooting. For many victims, you know, restorative practices play a key role in helping survivors identify: what does justice look like? We are a national network of over 200,000 crime survivors from across the country that prioritizes healing, prevention, and recovery over more spending on incarceration. 

I do this work thinking about the thousands of survivors across the country who have experienced some type of victimization and never got any help or resources to help them heal and recover from violence.

Are y'all ready to bring some healing and some change to the Capitol? 

We've been able to cultivate survivors as leaders in their local communities, because as survivors, we are the experts. What it’s meant to me and to our community of survivors is hope. They're able to change policies and that they're able to start their own organizations to provide services that they didn't receive. 

JONATHON LEWIS: Aswad's lived experience has transformed to us passing over 100 bills across the country. 

ASWAD THOMAS: We've been able to establish 54 Trauma Recovery Centers across the country that provides wraparound services to help meet the needs of the survivors who are falling through the cracks. 

JONATHON LEWIS: He's going to push to make sure that every survivor who experienced harm feel that they are treated with dignity. 

ASWAD THOMAS: Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice is our healing community, because we believe that when survivors speak, change happens.