*Update*: Please see further information on this story here.–DE
I have to say, if someone had told me last week that I would be making a post about Kristina Hansen, I would have scoffed at the idea. Life delivers twists, though, and this is one of them.
One of the reasons I tried, though unsuccessfully, to make AVFMs parting with Hansen as copacetic as possible was because she was purportedly continuing with men’s advocacy in the form of founding The Earl Silverman Center. It was to be a shelter for abused men dedicated to the memory of Earl Silverman, a Canadian man who struggled for years to establish such a resource and ultimately committed suicide in frustration over the lack of support he encountered.
In these last few months I have quietly hoped news of progress on that front, and more recently I have become concerned with not hearing of any. After all, Hansen raised over $5,000.00, most or all of it directly from the men’s rights community. AVFM donated $250.00, a move we rarely make due to budgetary consideration. Also, Managing Editor Dean Esmay coughed up $500.00 (which he could not really afford) out of his own pocket.
I had just about reached the point where I was going to make some inquiries about what, if anything, Hansen has accomplished with those funds, when a Twitter exchange between her and Agent Orange was transmitted to me.
This brings up some serious questions that require me not only to make mention of Kristina Hansen again on this site, but to insist that we have some answers forthcoming about the use of funds she solicited in the name of one of our fallen.
I want to know what, precisely, “on hold” means, regarding her work on the Earl Silverman Center. I also want to know what important matters have arisen that require her not to pursue the project for which she accepted monetary donations, because simply taking the money and not doing the work promised for it could constitute a criminal fraud.
As much as dedicating any more column space on this site to this person troubles me, there are some moral imperatives here that I don’t think can be ignored. One, not only did AVFM part with badly needed funds to support this project, I personally encouraged readers of this site to do the same, apparently to good effect. I owe those readers and donors follow through with this project.
Even more importantly to me, though, Earl Silverman took his life hoping to inspire people to step up and continue his work. When Kristina Hansen announced to the public and said she was going to do that, and asked for financial backing, it appeared that Earl’s dream might be realized. It appeared that we did not have to worry about it.
The idea that someone may have stood on his grave to raise money with ill intent is unconscionable to me. Indeed, the idea makes me bitterly angry.
Kristina Hansen owes a full explanation of why the project she asked for money to complete is “on hold.” She owes an accounting of what she has done with those funds, what work she has done toward making the Earl Silverman Center a reality and when we can expect to see that work come to fruition.
And she needs to provide these things to us, publicly, or more privately to the authorities.
This is not an accusation. I have no direct knowledge what Hansen meant in her exchange with AO. I have no idea how she spent the $5,000.00 that she raised for the Earl Silverman Center. And I have no idea what she intends or does not intend to do in the future regarding the project. But enough time has passed, and given the things she said in her Tweet, the time to demand some answers is here, and to keep pushing by whatever means are necessary until they are obtained.
I have no intention of letting this matter fall by the wayside, or of remaining silent if Earl Silverman’s death has been used for personal financial gain.
