Frankie White Will Peace Prevail? BY GERRI R. COLLIER Frankie White believes that her belief and faith in God saved her. She believes that, if you believe in Jesus the Christ, you can overcome any adverse situation. Frankie was reared in a multigenerational household with her hardworking mother, her alcoholic father, her sister, her brother, her aunt and her grandmother. She read library books, studied for school and helped her siblings with their own schoolwork. Her life took a turn when, at 15, Frankie began a relationship with a 15-year-old neighbor, even though their fathers were antagonistic toward each other because of a childhood feud. During their relationship, Frankie’s thenbest friend arranged for her to be raped by two grown men. The men subsequently destroyed Frankie’s reputation by bragging about the incident, claiming Frankie was promiscuous and consented to the sexual crime. Needless to say, Frankie ended the friendship, though she was too scared to tell her parents about the gang rape. It would only get worse. The next day, Frankie was raped by her boyfriend as well. He refused to believe she had been raped, nor did he accept that he was raping her as well, as he claimed that, since she had sex with the two men, she could have sex with him. They continued to date, and her boyfriend became more and more abusive over the course of their 15-year, on-and-off relationship. He controlled her. He abused her physically, emotionally, financially, sexually, verbally, psychologically and mentally. Later, he became addicted to drugs. After Frankie acknowledged his addiction, her boyfriend left for two years, promising he would get himself together, but when he returned, Frankie soon found out he had not changed. She had two children with her then-boyfriend by age 24. Each time Frankie tried to escape from him, he would find her and inflict additional harm upon her and whoever was helping her. He stole money from her. He would come to her workplace and make unreasonable demands. He would threaten to harm her family and their children. One day, he almost strangled Frankie to death. Her only thought was, “God, don’t let my mother find me dead on this couch.” She says a spiritual realm opened for her. She saw a light, and an angel told her to start saying the Lord’s Prayer. She did, and it felt as though strong arms pulled her boyfriend off of her. She escaped by running up the stairs and hiding in a locked room until her aunt came home. Frankie told her to call the police and that her boyfriend had tried to kill her. The aunt went back downstairs, and the boyfriend left the house. This was the first time Frankie had fought back. That night, Frankie says, the angel told her to go to LSS Choices for Victims of Domestic Violence for. The next morning, she told her neighbor about her boyfriend’s abusive behavior and asked her for help. She gave the neighbor her keys and told her to sell all of the valuables in her house. Frankie took her youngest son with her to CHOICES, while her 3-year-old stayed with Frankie’s mother. ENVISIONPROVENSUCCESS.COM | 27
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