I’m not going to add much to what I’ve written about Penn State so far, at least not until more information comes out (and it most certainly will). But for those who are interested in a detailed timeline of what happened and when, asiangrrlMN has a great three-part primer over at Angry Black Lady Chronicles. (Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here.) I encourage people to read it, but do be warned that it is triggering, even for those of us fortunate enough not to have suffered abuse.
One thing I do want to highlight from her posts is this:
I want to share a resource for boys and men who have been sexually assaulted. It’s called 1in6.org, and it’s called that for a reason. 1 in 6 men have been sexually assaulted, and we don’t talk about it. Women who have been sexually assaulted have resources and support and can at least talk about it with some people. It’s still a terrible, difficult thing For men, there are different issues of shame and isolation and simply not having the resources. That’s why we have to talk about it and keep talking about it, screaming about it, really, even if people tell us to shut the fuck up. That is part of the reason I’m writing about the PSU outrage – we can’t afford to let this be a two-day wonder.
That is absolutely right. More women than men have suffered sexual abuse. But the number of men who have been abused, especially those abused as children, is still staggeringly and depressingly high. And they must be told, in no uncertain terms, that it was not their fault, that they did nothing wrong, and that all decent people support them unconditionally. Anyone who is raped or sexually assaulted is deserving of our support and compassion. And anyone who rapes or sexually assaults someone is deserving of our opprobrium. Gender is irrelevant to those statements.
Word on the street is that all or most of the boys Sandusky molested were underpriveleged Black kids.
That is what I have heard as well.
According to this NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/sports/ncaafootball/internet-posting-helped-sandusky-investigators.html?pagewanted=3&ref=education
Well the Times description of Sanduskys behaviour certainly matches with the usual patterns of pedophiles. My guess is that the Black kids may not be coming forward because underprivileged Black youth have a lot to fear from authority figures. And that white kids would feel more entitled to getting help, protection and justice. I hope this doesn’t mean that the Black children get swept under the rug and left to suffer alone.
There aren’t that many black people in Central Pennsylvania. Just based on the demographics, I would guess that most of the victims are white.
“My guess is that the Black kids may not be coming forward because underprivileged Black youth have a lot to fear from authority figures. And that white kids would feel more entitled to getting help, protection and justice. ”
Black people feel pretty damned entitled too. And I don’t know what authority figure a young Black man coming out to expose previous abuse would have to fear.
How about the mob rallying in defense of Paterno? Or police that seem very willing to harass or jail or dismiss Black people? How about a university that did everything in its power to squash the knowledge that they had a pedophile in their midst? How about the unique shame of being male and a rape victim? How about all those people who will shame their parents for not realizing what was going on? Or not demanding justice for their children?
Naw. There’s no risk to Black folk in this. I don’t know why Paterno’s been fired. Its Sandusky who’s ass needs to be kicked outta that school and thrown in the slammer.
Um…because he’s complicit in covering for a pedophile for 15 years and did the bare minimum, which covered his ass. Legally he may not have done anything wrong, morally he’s disgusting. A football team and a hero do not merit the suffering all those boys went through.