Amanda Berry surprise appearance onstage a step toward 'normal life'

Amanda Berry, who was one of three women held captive for a decade in a Cleveland house, on Saturday made her first public appearance since being freed. Amanda Berry joined rapper Nelly onstage at a music festival. 

|
Courtesy Brian Harrell/AP
Amanda Berry (2nd l.), one of three women held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade, makes a surprise appearance at the RoverFest concert in Cleveland. Berry appeared at a public event for the first time since her rescue, a day after her abductor pleaded guilty in the case. The rapper Nelly called Berry back to the stage after his music set.

For victims of the sort of trauma that three kidnapped Cleveland women faced, held in captivity and sexually abused for a decade, the biggest challenge can be just "figuring out what's normal," says University of California at Irvine psychologist Jodi Quas.

This weekend, Amanda Berry showed the world that she is apparently learning that lesson quite well.

The first public appearance by any of the three women turned out to be a surprise visit by Ms. Berry to the stage of the RoverFest music festival in Cleveland as rapper Nelly was performing Saturday night. Berry didn't say anything, but she later returned and Nelly dedicated a song to her.

Reports of the event by the Cleveland Plain Dealer say Berry got the loudest applause of the night.

Berry disappeared from her Cleveland neighborhood in 2003 at age 16. A year earlier, Michelle Knight disappeared at age 21, and a year later 14-year-old Gina DeJesus went missing. On Friday, Ariel Castro admitted to kidnapping and sexually abusing them in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty but assigned him a life sentence without parole, plus another 1,000 years in prison. Paternity tests have showed that Mr. Castro fathered a 6-year-old daughter with Berry.

The deal also ensured that the women would not have to testify at a trial, something they sought to avoid.

It is not known if the timing of public appearance one day after Castro's plea was significant or coincidental, but it was noteworthy. Berry and Ms. DeJesus, in particular, were abducted so young that they are now just learning how to live their lives.

"The 14-year-old was really at a transitional period in her life" when she was kidnapped, Professor Quas told the International Business Times.

At the festival, Berry appeared at ease and happy, smiling and dancing to the music. Her appearance marks part of the three women's slow return to public life. Earlier this month, they released a video in which they offered thanks for the support they and their families have received before and after Berry escaped Castro's home and called 911 on May 6. 

"I'm getting stronger each day and having my privacy has helped immensely," Berry said on the video. "I ask that everyone continue to respect our privacy and give us time to have a normal life."

Saturday night, it seems, was another step in the right direction.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Amanda Berry surprise appearance onstage a step toward 'normal life'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2013/0728/Amanda-Berry-surprise-appearance-onstage-a-step-toward-normal-life
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe