UNSAFE & UNSOUND: SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

The recent Penn State scandal is a personal shot to the gut. As a father of 3, It packs a powerful punch.
Sexual abuse, in general, and sexual abuse of children is a disturbing epidemic in this country.
The 3 most alarming areas where sexual abuse is a cancer these days are in the schools, the sports arena and the church.

According to a recent major national study by the American Association of University Women, during the 2010-11 school year, 48 percent of students in grades 7-12 experienced “some form of sexual harassment in person or electronically via texting, email and social media…..It’s reached a level where it’s almost a normal part of the school day….It’s somewhat of a vicious cycle. The kids who are harassers often have been harassed themselves.”
The survey asked 1,002 girls and 963 boys from public and private schools nationally whether they had experienced any of the various forms of sexual harassment: unwelcome sexual comments about/to them, being physically touched in an inappropriate sexual manner, being shown sexually explicit photos, being called gay or lesbian in a negative way as an insult, and having to deal with unwelcome sexual rumors and malicious gossip.

In the sports world, Penn State scandal is just the latest of several incidents of sexual abuse, harassment and improprity that have come to light.

A report by Edward Williams in The Grio online site highlighted the case of Ernest Lorch, a millionaire investment attorney and founder of the very successful Riverside Church Basketball program in Westchester County and Bob Oliva, head of Christ King Regional High School basketball program in Queens, NYC.
The Christ King program has won 5 city championships. Many of its players, like Lamar Odom of the Lakers and former Nets Jayson Williams, are known NBA ers. In 2009, Bob Oliva was “forced to resign in shame after accusations of child molestation and an investigation which led to him (Oliva) pleading guilty of all charges listing him as a sexual predator.”
Ernest Lorch also became the target of an investigation into sexual abuse charges when a former player came forward with the revelation that he had been sexually abused since the age of 12 by Lorch, who tried to buy his silence with large sums of money to keep silent.

In 2010, Bishop Eddie Long, a mega church Georgia minister was accused of several accounts of sexual abuse of young men, from their early teens until they turned 17. Long, at first, denied any wrongdoing, but soon settled financially all the accusers claims to stem the tide of growing sexual abuse complaints.
Added to the Catholic Church priests scandal, sexual abuse cases have involved religious denominations from Baptists to Jewish rabbis.
There is a common thread running through a majority of these cases: the victims are overwhelmingly from underprivileged backgrounds, so-called at-risk kids, throwaway children, neglected youth, nameless, faceless and voiceless who “were invited to play a sick, dangerous and twisted game, while many good men watched in silence, and did nothing.” (words of Ernest Williams).

Young African-American boys have been especially the victims of these predators. Perhaps it is because they are labelled “at-risk”, “underprivileged”. They have the least defense mechanisms and resources to fight back, and so are the most vulnerable.
The sports arena predators use the athletic dreams of Black boys to build their trust. such as Lorch, Oliva and Sandusky at Penn State did with their basketball programs and football youth academies.
When that trust is betrayed and the sexual abuses and rapes occur, these boys/victims are afraid to report the abuse. Who will believe them? Men can’t report such abuse. Especially by another man. That will show that they are a real man. Or the monsters of abuse will pay off the victims to maintain their silence.

As a father, a man, a basic human being, this evil compels me to work harder against such and any instances of sexual abuse. We all good people cannot be silent and allow it to continue. Like the Good Samaritan in the New Testament, we must ask ourselves, “If I don’t act, what will become of that abused soul?”.

posted by Erik Younge: comments at eryounge@gmail.com