Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2451

Tonight's special guest is Jessica De La Cruz (Negra) from Kent, Washington, a survivor of child abuse. Originally from Texas, her young life was spent with a strict and violent step father. When her mom left him, she began using and dealing drugs with her new boyfriend .. cocaine and heroine. Negra stole her mother's car at 12 to go to McDonald's and was beaten for it later. But, since she could drive, she became her mom's taxi driver. At 13 she began being promiscuous. The relationship she had with her mother grew worse. "She blamed me for being a little slut, drinking more and leaving me out and alone like always. I started running the streets, with friends and random guys." A couple years later she was initiated into a gang, living with a boyfriend who was also a drug dealer. He would beat her up when he was high. The pattern repeated several time with various men over the next few years. Pregnant for the first time at 16, she had a miscarriage, lost in a rest stop on the way to California. Traumatized by both her mom's and her own experiences, Negra knew that she had nobody like me to care and talk to me. She bounced from man to man. "I struggled with myself, my exes and our children until my early 30’s. And now I’m finally in a stable and healthier environment. I take as much care and time with my kids as possible because I know better now, because my (seven) kids have a great mother." she goes on, "I don’t believe or trust in anybody but myself and my children and that’s hard sometimes because our feelings get in the way and cloud our judgements." Negra knows she's just getting started healing, concluding, "All I’ve gone through it’s sad but true and can serve as an example."