Kevin. J. Marshall

Kevin J. Marshall is a young black male author, film director and sexual abuse activist. His passion and vision is all about helping people to succeed. This is why he’s raising awareness of sexual abuse and sexual violence within the black community in his new documentary and book, which launches later this year.

To explore this issue in detail, he travelled the world to ask black men why sexual abuse is a secret within the black community?

His findings are unveiled in his maiden documentary - Untold Story. This documentary chronicles stories of sexual abuse from an unsuspecting group of people – black men – and documents how these men, despite their seemingly quiet but torturous struggles rise above their personal tragic experiences after decades of torment.

This isn’t fiction, but an emotive first hand report that’ll send chills down your spine. Why is Marshall’s work so important? It takes inspiration from real life sexual abuse experiences that have been harboured in these men from their early childhood. The documentary elicits all sorts of emotions: anger, bitterness, pain, and even a sense of relief [from sharing their story]. In some places, you can almost feel the intensity of the emotions expressed as tears roll down the cheeks of these powerful and strong black men.

What’s important for Marshall is shedding light on an issue that’s been swept under the carpet for a long time.

The documentary was inspired by his own set of experiences growing up as a child. But in order to tackle this issue from various angles and provide adequate context, he explores the subject matter through the lens of other people who’ve equally suffered abuse.

His charity foundation, “Step Into the Light”, will also help facilitate these conversations, break the mould and support people who’ve endured some form of childhood trauma. This, of course, will be in partnership with Local Authorities and organisations such as ‘Survivor UK’ and ‘One In Four’. His goal is to provide support and counselling for sexual abuse survivors and help combat this issue, the taboos and stigma attached to speaking up.

His message is simple: to empower young black men to speak up. But more importantly, not to run away from themselves but to think of themselves as heroes, not villains.

Take the lead role in your life and speak up because it could be healing for someone else.