Immigration Abuse & Family Separation
Tribute To Angela Davis
Tribute To Afeni Shakur
Tribute To XXXTentacion
Jehovah Witnesses Child Sex Abuse
Catholic Church Child Sex Abuse
Santa Fe, Texas School Shooting
Racist Tweets Roseanne Barr And Buffalo Wild Wings
You mighty, mighty, Black race, the love you gave was great, as wageless laborers cultivating slave plantations in the United States. There were no reparations, only repayments in the form of degradation, hate, segregation, racism, discrimination, indoctrination, miseducation, labor exploitation, political domination, and self hatred, to name a few. Europeans have ruled you , ridiculed you, and influenced you with blue eyed magic, tragically making the Black race a complicated math equation, with a downgraded estimated calculation. Did it take Facebook to make the Black race share and air the business nationwide?
Blacks have been adding to the rate of incarceration, subtracted from higher education, multiplying in being most likely to die by homicide or be killed by their own kind. The mighty Black race has been divided by white lies and ideas, square rooted by illusions, and reduced like a fraction to the lowest terms. Black men and women are still indentured servants to Caucasian corporations, because black folks don’t know the right angles, or how to build an equilateral triangle of 180 degrees of unity among our people, and until we do and Black youths stop feuding we will remain just a plain complicated math equation2 By: Greg X * Editor In Chief
Unjust Magazine is Recruiting Writers: Guidelines For Submitting Your Written Work: All written work submitted must be an original social awareness written work that’s 500 or more words and must be submitted as a Word Document or PDF file, and must be one of the following: An inspirational story, a feature article, poetry, or an essay that is written about one of the following; discrimination, racism, police brutality, poverty, violence, crime and victims of crime, harassment, or mass incarceration. All writers work must contain your full name, age, city and state you live, and a cover letter telling us about yourself, and a phone contact number. Please Submit Your Written Work and Any Photos with Your Written Work to: unjustmagazine@aol.com
Immigration Border Abuse and Family Separation Causes Worldwide Outrage Against Trump Administration Zero Tolerance Policy
Outrage to the Trump administration’s practice of separating immigrant families at the border swelled into widespread condemnation on Father’s Day, as Democratic lawmakers blasted “inhumane” conditions at detention facilities in Texas and New Jersey, and a leading Republican denounced Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies as “contrary to our values in this country.” U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) joined hundreds of protestors in Tornillo, Texas, the site of a recently erected tent city that houses some immigrant children in what critics call inhumane conditions that include triple digit temperatures during summer months. O’Rourke said the facility plans to expand to house up to 4,000 children. Nearly 2,000 children have been split from those caring for them a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by the Associated Press. They show that 1,995 minors were separated from 1,940 adults between April 19 and May 31.
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There has been widespread outrage over the matter with protests, rallies, and legal advocacy groups mobilizing to help where they can. Reports say some are as young as four months old, and stories of weeping children torn from the arms of their frightened parents have flooded the media. The policy has been widely criticized by church groups, politicians and children's advocates who say it is inhumane.
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The family separation policy, which Trump has falsely attempted to pin on Democrats, has elicited extensive condemnation from immigration advocates, religious leaders and medical professionals, who warn that the traumatic practice threatens the physical and mental health of children and their parents. On April 6, 2018, the Department of Justice announced that the Trump Administration would be instituting a new “zero tolerance policy� regarding border crossings, one that explicitly includes child separation as a part of that policy.
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Despite repeated denials by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen during a June 18, 2018 press conference, this child separation policy has explicitly been described by the Trump administration as a move whose main goal is to act as a deterrent to illegal immigration. Officials have said so since at least March 2017; Chief of Staff John Kelly said so as recently as May11, 2018. Convoluted arguments presented by the DHS to the contrary notwithstanding, the policy as described by Attorney General Jeff Sessions requires the prosecution of “100 percent� of illegal entries, and therefore that entails forcible separation of children from their parents once those parents are arrested: 12
People are not going to caravan or otherwise stampede our border. We need legality and integrity in the system. That’s why the Department of Homeland Security is now referring 100 percent of illegal Southwest Border crossings to the Department of Justice for prosecution. And the Department of Justice will take up those cases. Jeff Sessions has put in place a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal entry on our Southwest border. If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. 13
In the first six weeks following Session’s announcement, at least 2,000 children were separated from their parents, at least according to numbers released by the Department of Homeland Security. The required prosecution of their parents necessarily results in their being referred criminally to the DHS, and their children detained under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Things become especially problematic after the two parties are placed on these divergent paths, the New York Times reported, because the timelines that parents follow are often times much shorter than the ones for the detained children: 14
In federal court, parents typically plead guilty to the misdemeanor offense of illegal entry. Many are then likely to accept “expedited removal� from the country, in the hope of being reunited quickly with their children. But children cannot be subject to expedited removal; they are automatically entitled to a full hearing before an immigration judge, and their cases take longer to resolve. No protocols have been put in place for keeping track of parents and children concurrently, for keeping parents and children in contact with each other while they are separated, or for eventually reuniting them. Immigration lawyers, public defenders, and advocates along the border have been trying to fill the void. Nor is there any guarantee that a deported parent will be reunited with their child before being removed from the country or a guarantee that a child would be notified if their parent had been deported.
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Sandweg reiterated this point to several other outlets as well. “If the administration doesn’t reunify these children very quickly, which is logistically very hard to do, you’re going to have a lot of permanent separations,” he told a reporter for the Canadian outlet Global News. The most recent surge in separated families at the border appears to highlight the fact that there are few, if any, existing safeguards to prevent such scenarios from occurring, and suggests that the government has not developed a workable system to ensure communication between all the relevant parties. 16
Jennifer Podkul, who is the policy director of [immigrant-rights group] Kids in Need of Defense, told [The New Yorker] that advocates are trying to piece together information about the whereabouts of children based on the federal charging documents used in the parent’s immigration case. “You can try to figure out where and when the child was apprehended based on that,” she said. “But where the child is being held often has nothing to do with where she and her parent were arrested. The kids get moved around to different facilities.” Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat who led a delegation of lawmakers to see the impact the “zero tolerance” policy was having on the border [2] said he hadn’t received a clear answer on the how the government planned to return children to the parents, in particular in the case of asylum-seekers. “My impression has been that in general many are not being reunited after they do their time served 2 that they are in fact not reunified while awaiting their asylum claim,” Merkley told Buzz Feed News. “There’s great confusion on this point.” 17
Although the zero-tolerance policy was officially announced last month, it has been in effect, in more limited form, since at least last summer. Several months ago, as cases of family separation started surfacing across the country, immigrant-rights groups began calling for the [DHS] to create procedures for tracking families after they are split up. At the time, [DHS] said that it would address the problem, but there is no evidence that it actually did so. 18
[Three separated] children were “huddled together, tears streaming down their faces,” he said. Officials had told them their parents were “lost,” which they interpreted to mean dead. Davidson said he told the children he didn’t know where their parents were, but that they had to be strong [2]. During his time at the shelter, children were running away, screaming, throwing furniture and attempting suicide, Davidson said. Several were being monitored this week because they were at risk of running away, self-harm and suicide, records show. 19
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A Tribute to Angela Davis Now & Then Angela Davis is an Iconic Black Activist Inspiration to the 60’s Generation of Young Black American Communities and people Incarcerated and an Iconic Black Activist and Educator to Today’s Generation of Young Black American Communities and those incarcerated2.
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Angela Davis, activist, educator, scholar, and politician, was born on January 26, 1944, in the “Dynamite Hill” area of Birmingham, Alabama. The area received that name because so many African American homes in this middle class neighborhood had been bombed over the years by the Ku Klux Klan. Her father, Frank Davis, was a service station owner and her mother, Sallye Angela Davis, was an elementary school teacher. Davis’s mother was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), when it was dangerous to be openly associated with the organization because of its civil rights activities. 22
As a teenager Davis moved to New York City with her mother, who was pursuing a Master’s degree at New York University. While there she attended Elizabeth Irwin High School, a school considered leftist because a number of its teachers were blacklisted during the McCarthy era for their earlier alleged Communist activities. In 1961 Davis enrolled in Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. While at Brandeis, Davis also studied abroad for a year in France and returned to the U.S. to complete her studies, joining Phi Beta Kappa and earning her B.A. (magna cum laude) in 1965. Even before her graduation, Davis, so moved by the deaths of the four girls killed in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in her hometown in 1963, that she decided to join the civil rights movement. By 1967, however, Davis was influenced by Black Power advocates and joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then the Black Panther Party. She also continued her education, earning an M.A. from the University of California at San Diego in 1968. Davis moved further to the left in the same year when she became a member of the American Communist Party. 23
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In 1969 Angela Davis was hired by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) as an assistant professor of philosophy, but her involvement in the Communist Party led to her dismissal. During the early 1970s she also became active in the movement to improve prison conditions for inmates. That work led to her campaign to release the “Soledad (Prison) Brothers." The Soledad Brothers were two African American prisoners and Black Panther Party members, George Jackson and W. L. Nolen, who were incarcerated in the late 1960s. On August 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson, the younger brother of George Jackson, attempted to free prisoners who were on trial in the Marin County Courthouse. During this failed attempt, Superior Court Judge Harold Haley and three others including Jonathan Jackson were killed. Although Davis did not participate in the actual break-out attempt, she became a suspect when it was discovered that the guns used by Jackson were registered in her name. 25
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Davis fled to avoid arrest and was placed on the FBI’s most wanted list. Law enforcement captured her several months later in New York. During her high profile trial in 1972, Davis was acquitted on all charges.
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The incident nonetheless generated an outcry against Davis and then California Governor Ronald Reagan campaigned to prevent her from teaching in the California State university system. Despite the governor’s objection, Davis became a lecturer in women’s and ethnic studies at San Francisco State University in 1977. Angela Davis is an icon of black politics and social activism in the United States dating back to the 1960s when she was a leader of the Communist Party USA and had close ties with the Black Panther Party. 28
Angela Davis taught for 15 years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where after retiring in 2008, she is now distinguished professor emerita of history of consciousness—an interdisciplinary PhD program— and of feminist studies. In recent years, Angela Davis has focused on a range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early 1970s as a person who spent 18 months in jail and on trial after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” She was charged with conspiracy as a result of having purchased firearms used in an armed takeover of a Marin County, Calif., courtroom, in which four persons were killed. She was acquitted of this charge and later became a co-founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison– industrial complex, a term used to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social, and political problems. 29
Tribute to Afeni Shakur Davis Afeni Shakur Davis * Iconic Black Activist Mother of Iconic Rapper Tupac Shakur
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Afeni Shakur was born Alice Faye Williams on January 10, 1947, in Lumberton, NC she was the daughter of Rosa Belle, a homemaker, and Walter Williams, Jr. a trucker. Afeni Shakur and her sister, Gloria Jean, had a troubled childhood. "My momma left my dad because he was kickin' her ass," Shakur said in a 1997 interview in People magazine. In 1958 Afeni Shakur, her mother, and sister moved to New York City, where Afeni Shakur attended the Bronx High School of Science as a troubled child, later reporting that she began using cocaine when she was about fifteen years old, and she struggled with drug addiction most of her life. Afeni Shakur joined the emerging Black Panther movement in 1964, she later told Jasmine Guy that the Black Panthers "took my rage and channeled it, they educated my mind, and gave me direction.“ Afeni Shakur joined the emerging Black Panther movement in 1964, she later told Jasmine Guy that the Black Panthers "took my rage and channeled it, they educated my mind, and gave me direction." 31
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In 1968 Shakur moved in with fellow Panther Lumumba Abdul Shakur and changed her name to Afeni Shakur. Afeni Shakur and twenty fellow-Panthers were arrested on April 2, 1969 and charged with several counts of conspiracy to bomb police stations, department stores, and other public places in New York City, Afeni Shakur was released on bail in the fall of 1970 and became pregnant by William Garland. Shortly after, Afeni Shakur's bail was revoked, and she was returned to jail to await trial. Afeni Shakur and the other defendants went to trial in 1971, in what came to be known as the Panther 21 trial. Afeni Shakur defended herself, despite objections from her codefendants, the case lasted for more than five months and Shakur was largely responsible for defeating the prosecution's case, according to an account of the trial in the book The Briar Patch, by former lawyer Murray Kempton.
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In Afeni Shakur’s cross-examination of undercover detective Ralph White, Afeni performed like a seasoned attorney and won her freedom in May of 1971 and on June 16, 1971, Afeni Shakur gave birth to her son, whom she reportedly named Lesane Parish Crooks, but who she later dubbed Tupac Amaru Shakur, a name derived from the Inca words for "shining serpent." 34
Afeni Shakur never returned to the Black Panther movement, but remained proud of that period in her life, saying in a 2004 interview with Tavis Smiley, that the Black Panthers taught her "to always believe in yourself, and as a woman who was in the Black Panther Party, to believe that my opinion is worth more or as much as anybody else." Afeni took a job as a paralegal working for Richard Fischbein in the Bronx and married Mutulu Shakur, who acted as stepfather to her son and became the father of Shakur's daughter, Sekyiwa. Mutulu Shakur supported Tupac as his son even after his relationship with Shakur ended in 1982.
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Mutulu Shakur was an activist in the New Afrika independence movement of the 1960s and later became a prominent drug-detoxification and acupuncture specialist in New York City. Afeni later described herself as a poor mother, though she was always proud of her son, Tupac, who showed an early promise as a performer and exhibited his mother's independence. In 1984 Shakur moved her family to Baltimore, Maryland, where her son attended the Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, studying dance and music. 36
Afeni became addicted to crack cocaine in the early 1980s and was unable to hold a job, using welfare payments to care for her children. She said of this period to Smiley, "When I was on drugs my spirit was dead." Afeni Shakur moved her family to Marin County, California, in 1988 in an attempt to leave her drug use behind. Tupac left in 1989 because of her drug use and had no contact with his family for a couple of years. Tupac started performing as a dancer and "hype man" with the alternative rap group Digital Underground, and in 1991 released the album 2Pacalypse Now, which became a major hit and launched the young rapper into stardom. Afeni Shakur returned to New York City in early 1991 and began attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. She managed to overcome her addiction that spring, "through the grace of God," as she told Smiley. Soon afterward she reconciled with her son.
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Tupac rapidly became a multimillion-dollar recording star, and he brought his mother to the public eye through such tribute songs as "Dear Mama," in which he explored his feelings about his mother's drug addiction and the difficulties of his youth. In 1994 Tupac Shakur was shot five times and recovered, blaming a feud within the recording industry for the attempt on his life. Tupac’s life ended in September of 1996 when he was shot four times and pronounced dead at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1997 Afeni Shakur created Amaru Entertainment, a company established to handle the release of her son's posthumous material beginning with The Don Killuminati in 1997 and followed by eight additional albums, a licensed film biography, and several books about her son's life. In 2007 Afeni signed an agreement with Ever Green Copyrights to release a number of new albums, including remixes of Tupac Shakur's biggest hits and, potentially, a Broadway show from a script entitled "Live 2 Tell" written by Tupac Shakur. 39
Afeni Shakur used part of her fortune to establish a charitable organization, the Tupac Amaru Foundation for the Arts, which sponsors programs to help young people succeed in art and musical projects. The foundation features a day camp for children, provides scholarships and grants for young artists, and hosts charitable events. Afeni established the Makaveli Branded clothing line in 2003, with a portion of the proceeds used to support expansion of the Tupac Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia. 40
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$66 Million Dollar Class Action Law Suit Filed Against the Jehovah Witnesses Organization4.
A group of alleged sexual abuse survivors from across the country have filed a $66-million class action lawsuit against the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The suit accuses the religious organization of having rules and policies that protect child sex abusers and put children at risk. 42
“The Jehovah Witnesses Organization’s policy and protocol for dealing with allegations of sexual abuse is seriously flawed, and results in further harm to victims of sexual abuse and results in legitimate allegations of sexual abuse going unreported,”
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“This is an issue that the wider community should be concerned with, and not just Jehovah’s Witnesses,” says Tricia Franginha. She says her first 14 years of life as a Jehovah’s Witness were filed with sexual abuse. “As a result of their procedures, when abuse allegations come forward, these sexual offenders are left at large,” Franginha says. “As most people know about Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are the ones who come to your door on Saturday mornings, when your kids are home, and for all you know, that person has offended more than once.” 44
None of the allegations in this the suit have been tested in Ontario Superior Court. A spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witness says that while the suit has been filed, the organization hasn’t officially received it yet, so they can’t comment on the details. “Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and would never shield any perpetrator,” says spokesperson Mattieu Rozon. The organization also says congregation elders comply with child abuse reporting laws. Franginha says that when she went for help, she was shut down. “When I was around 12, I was told that I didn’t have two witnesses and I needed to respect my parents – not to talk about it,” she says. The need to have two witnesses corroborate allegations of abuse is singled out in the suit. People who have been sexually abused must present two credible witnesses to their abuse, explains Franginha, who adds that the eyewitnesses must be other Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing in the church. “This, obviously, never happens,” she says. “The very nature of the crime is that it’s secret.” 45
The suit also alleges that police are not called when allegations surface and instead they’re handled by church elders inside Kingdom Hall. “It is our information, based on people who contacted us that the systems in place don’t guard against sexual abuse happening and when allegations are made, inadequate measures are in place to ensure that the complaint reaches the proper authorities,” says Bryan McPhadden, laywer at McPhadden Samac Tuovi, which is representing the victims. The victims are seeking $20 million for damages from sexual and mental abuse by elders, $20 million for failing to protect children, and another $20 million for breach of duty of care. The lawsuit is expected to take years to wind its way through the courts. If you believe you qualify to join the class action suit, you can reach out at www.mcst.ca. 46
Former Jehovah Witness Wins her Child Sex Abuse Case Against Jehovah Witnesses and Watchtower4..
Stephanie Fessler, now 28, a former Jehovah Witness child abuse victim and her legal team have effectively turned the tables on Watchtower and issued a “public reproof” to Jehovah’s Witnesses. 47
Stephanie Fessler was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness by her parents, Jodee and Kevin. Her father is an elder in the Spring Grove Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in York County, Pennsylvania. At the age of 14, she became friendly with Terry Seipp’s (now known as Terry Monheim) children and would visit them at their home in Hampstead, Maryland. In the summer of 2003, her relationship with Terry turned sexual. Terry at first hugged, kissed (intimately), “made out” with, “humped” and consoled Stephanie when Stephanie became upset over her mother’s mental breakdown due to depression. However, this later escalated to oral sex and digital penetration. 48
Over the next two years, Stephanie was abused at Terry’s home, at Terry’s daughter’s homes, Terry’s place of work and in her vehicle, as well as at Stephanie’s parents’ home. In the summer of 2004, Terry’s daughter, Amber, became suspicious that there was an improper relationship going on between Terry and Stephanie. She raised her suspicions to Stephanie’s mother, Jodee Fessler. When Jodee saw Terry and Stephanie together at the Spring Grove Congregation, she too became suspicious. She searched Stephanie’s room and and found a “love letter” in the form of a card. It was written by Stephanie and mentioned intimate kissing and how much she loved Terry. After showing the card to her husband, Kevin Fessler, both parents confronted Stephanie. Stephanie could not deny the intimate nature of the relationship.
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Jodee and Kevin shared this information with Eric Hoffman who was a long-time family friend and fellow elder within the Spring Grove Congregation. In turn, this information was shared with Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and with elders from Terry’s Kingdom Hall, the Freeland Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Maryland. Because the elders never contacted the police or child welfare authorities, the physical and sexual abuse of Stephanie continued for more than a year later. 50
In 2005, Terry’s then husband, Dana Seipp, hired a private investigator to follow Terry (50) and Stephanie (15). Dana obtained photographic evidence of the two together. Dana brought this evidence to the elder’s attention. In September 2005, Stephanie disclosed the abuse again. And again, no report was made to the authorities. It wasn’t until 2011, when Stephanie Fessler was 22 years old, that she ultimately disclosed the abused directly to the police. The police investigated and charged Terry Seipp with multiple criminal violations. Terry ultimately pleaded guilty to indecent assault and corruption of a minor and was sentenced to prison and probation. The Jehovah Witnesses notoriously reprove and disfellowship their members, even if that member is a child and has experienced sexual abuse. Following four days of intense testimony at City Hall in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Watchtower’s defense strategies collapsed.
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Despite spending tens of thousands of dollars and nearly 3 years in preparation for this case, by noon on Monday February 13th, Watchtower yielded to the plaintiff, packed up their briefcases, and agreed to an undisclosed settlement. A strong message has been sent to the Watchtower organization: You can’t break the law when you learn of an accusation of inappropriate behavior with a minor. It must be reported to the police and child protection authorities.
Jehovah’s Witness leadership dismiss nearly every opportunity to report suspected abuse. Witness clergy mandate that when “wrongdoing” is discovered, they must immediately convene an internal tribunal of several elders, who are briefed on what happened. If the “sin” is serious, they form a Judicial Committee of three elders, then bring the victim before this committee to answer for her involvement. In this case, trial evidence showed that Jehovah’s Witness elders in the Spring Grove PA congregation were aware of a “consensual” relationship between 49-51 year old Terry Seipp, who attended the Freeland Maryland Congregation, and the victim, Stephanie Fessler. 52
For 3 years Seipp played the role of surrogate mother to Fessler, all the while taking sexual advantage of Stephanie, a matter brazenly overlooked by both congregations. Or did they overlook it? In 2004, elders were informed that there was inappropriate kissing and touching between Seipp and Fessler, yet they failed to report this under the Pennsylvania mandatory reporting laws which apply to all clergy, or elders who learn of suspected abuse. By 2005, elders had significant evidence of extensive sexual encounters between the victim and her abuser, yet continued to apply their own internal measures – a decision which forever damaged Stephanie Fessler, preventing her abuser from facing justice and ending the relationship. It is of great interest that the Watchtower organization urges elders to maintain confidentiality, when they legally impale themselves by breaking confidentiality the moment they share a confession with other elders.
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Most “worldly” or non-Jehovah’s Witness people are unaware that a religious organization resides in their midst, completely insensitive to the protection of their family. Not only have tens of thousands of Jehovah’s Witness children suffered, but evidence shows that scores of sexual assaults have occurred throughout the global Jehovah Witness community because the offender was not reported to the authorities. 54
A Long History of Catholic Church Child Sex Abuse
For more than three decades, the Catholic Church has been rocked by sex abuse scandals spanning the globe. For decades, the Catholic church has been accused of protecting itself rather than the victims of child sexual abuse. Here are some major scandals and revelations involving the Catholic Church and allegations of abuse.
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2018: Father Louis Brouillard accused in 124 Guam sex abuse cases: Brouillard's peaceful life stands in stark contrast to the torment of 122 men and two women – all middle-age or retired now — who accuse him of sexually molesting them as children on the island of Guam. They have broken long-held silences and filed lawsuits. Some have protested and begged for justice. Some have left the church. A long time ago, some of them complained. Brouillard confessed, and was told to pray and try harder. Eventually, the island's Catholic church simply sent Brouillard away. 56
2018: Chile’s bishops have tendered an unprecedented mass resignation over a decades-long abuse scandal after Pope Francis accused the country’s church of destroying evidence of sexual crimes and “the gravest negligence” in the protection of minors. 2017: Cardinal George Pell, one of the most senior members of the Catholic Church, was charged with multiple historical sexual assault offenses in his home country of Australia, police said. Pell serves as a top adviser to Pope Francis and is the Vatican's top financial adviser. In 2013, he was named one of eight cardinals tasked with investigating ways to reform the church. He is the most senior member of the Catholic Church in Australia. Pell said he's innocent and maintains that the charges are false. Earlier in the year, a commission found that 7% of Australian priests were accused of abusing children between 1950 and 2015.
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2014: Jozef Wesolowski, a former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors by a Vatican tribunal and defrocked in 2014. He was accused of sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography during his time as papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic. Italy's Corriere della Sera reported that Wesolowski's laptop contained more than 100,000 files with pornographic images and videos. Wesolowski was the highest-ranking Catholic official arrested for alleged sexual abuse of minors. He died in 2015, before he could be put on trial.
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2011: Thousands of children suffered from sexual abuse in the Dutch Roman Catholic Church over more than six decades, and about 800 "possible perpetrators" have been identified, according to an independent Commission of Inquiry, issued in 2011. The Commission of Inquiry said it received 1,795 reports of church-related sex abuse of minors and the "reports contained information about possible perpetrators." 2010: Allegations of sexual abuse spread across a half dozen countries -- including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Brazil, home of the world's largest Catholic population. Revelations about church abuse included the Munich, Germany, archdiocese where Pope Benedict XVI once served as archbishop. Under the Pope's tenure as archbishop in the early 1980s, the Munich archdiocese ignored warnings to keep a molesting priest away from children, said the doctor, Werner Huth, who issued those warnings. Huth demanded the priest, Rev. Peter Hullermann never be allowed to interact with children again. Instead, the church allowed the priest to return to work and to deal with children. Hullermann was convicted of abusing minors in 1986. Pope Benedict had left the Munich archdiocese for a new post in 1982. 59
2009: A bombshell report commissioned by the Irish government concluded that the Archdiocese of Dublin and other Catholic Church authorities in Ireland covered up clerical child abuse. The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation's 720-page report said that it has "no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up" from January 1975 to May 2004, the time covered by the report. The commission had been set up in 2006 to look into allegations of child sexual abuse made against clergy in the Irish capital. The report named 11 priests who had pleaded guilty to or were convicted of sexual assaults on children. Of the other 35, it gave pseudonyms to 33 of them and redacted the names of two. 2004: Children accused more than 4,000 priests of sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002, according to a report compiled by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
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2002: Former priest John Geoghan became a central figure in the clergy sexual abuse crisis in Boston, along with Cardinal Bernard Law who admitted receiving a letter in 1984 outlining allegations of child molestation against Geoghan. Law assigned Geoghan to another parish despite the allegations. From 1962 to 1995, Geoghan sexually abused approximately 130 people, mostly grammar school boys, according to victims. Church officials ordered him to get treatment or transferred him, but kept him on as a priest. The Boston Globe coverage on sexual abuse by clergy brought the issue to the forefront. The story was later adapted into the award-winning movie Spotlight. Geoghan was found guilty of molesting a boy in a swimming pool and sentenced to prison in 2002. A year later, he died after an attack by another inmate at the state prison. Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002.
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1998: Cardinal Hans Hermann GroĂŤr of Vienna was forced to give up all his duties amid allegations he molested young boys. A statement by Groer asked for forgiveness but made no admission of guilt, reported the BBC.
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1985: Father Thomas Doyle warned of sexual abuse by clergy in a report given at the US conference of bishops. It was ignored. Gilbert Gauthe in Louisiana became the first to gain national attention in a case of a priest accused of sexual abuse. In 1985, he admitted to abusing 37 boys and pleaded guilty to 34 criminal counts, reported the New York Times. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but released after 10 years. 63
Santa Fe, High School Touched By Mass School Shooting Tragedy44
On May 18, 2018 the unexpected tragedy of another school shooting once again has brought unforgettable sadness to another community, this time the mass school shooting took place in Santa Fe, Texas, a rural community located outside of Houston, Texas.
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The mass shooting — which killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in this rural community outside Houston — again highlighted the despairing challenge at the center of the ongoing debate over how to make the nation's schools safer. It also hints at a growing feeling of inevitability, a normalization of what should be impossible tragedies. The gunman in Santa Fe used a pistol and a shotgun, firearms common to many South Texas homes, firearms he took from his father, police said. So there were no echoes of the calls to ban assault rifles or raise the minimum age for gun purchases that came after the shooting three months ago in Parkland, Fla. Most residents here didn't blame any gun for the tragedy down the street. Many of them pointed to a lack of religion in schools. "It's not the guns. It's the people. It's a heart problem," said Sarah Tassin, 61. "We need to bring God back into the schools." Texas politicians are pushing to focus on school security — the hardening of targets. 65
Governor Greg Abbott said he planned to hold roundtable discussions starting Tuesday on how to make schools even more secure. One idea he and other state officials mentioned was limiting the number of entrances to the facilities. Rep. Randy Weber, RFriendswood, said Congress eventually would consider legislation focused on "hardening targets and adding more school metal detectors and school police officers."
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Norman said he saw school security as a way to control, not prevent, school violence. And the school district had some practice. In February, two weeks after the Parkland shooting, Santa Fe High went into lockdown after a false alarm of an active-shooter situation, resulting in a huge emergency response. The school won a statewide award for its safety program. "We can never be over-prepared," Norman said. "But we were prepared." 67
His school board approved a plan in November to allow some school staff members to carry guns, joining more than 170 school districts in Texas that have made similar plans. But Santa Fe was still working on it, Norman said.
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People needed to be trained. Details needed to be worked out, such as a requirement that school guns fire only frangible bullets, which break into small pieces and are unlikely to pass through victims, as a way to limit the danger to innocent students. All of these efforts, Norman said, are "only a way to mitigate what is happening.“ The search for red flags about the alleged gunman's intentions continued Saturday — another familiar hallmark of school shootings. 69
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the 17-year-old student who police said confessed to the shooting, was being held without bond at a jail in Galveston. Wearing a trench coat, he allegedly opened fire in an art class, moving through the room shooting at teachers and students, and talking to himself. He approached a supply closet where students were barricaded inside, and he shot through the windows saying "surprise," said Isabelle Laymance, 15.
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The gunman shot a school police officer who approached him, then talked with other officers, offering to surrender. The entire episode lasted a terrifying 30 minutes, according to witnesses and court records. The Pagourtzis family released a statement saying they are "shocked and confused" by what happened and that the incident "seems incompatible with the boy we love.“ Nicholas Poehl, the Galveston attorney for Pagourtzis, said his client appeared "pretty dazed" when he met with him Saturday and that it would take time for him to learn what happened. The alleged gunman's classmates and parents said they saw no signs of trouble before the shooting, though some said he had seemed somewhat depressed in recent months. Bertha Bland, whose grandson is good friends with Pagourtzis, said she knew the teenager well and described him as "an outstanding kid" and a good student. 71
Scott Pearson, whose son played football with Pagourtzis, described him as a quiet, normal kid. He didn't talk to him much when he took him home from football practices, but he never got the impression that he was dangerous. He noticed that Pagourtzis regularly wore a trench coat but didn't think much of it. "Kids do weird stuff," Pearson said. "I don't understand when my son wears a hoodie out in 90-degree heat, either."
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Pagourtzis improved as a football player between sophomore and junior years, moving from second to first string as a defensive tackle on the junior varsity squad, according to Rey Montemayor, an 18-year old senior quarterback. Pagourtzis spent a lot of time in the weight room. Eventually Pagourtzis, who wore number 69, was doing reps of 185 pounds on the bench press. "He worked hard," Montemayor said. "Even got stronger than me." On the team, Pagourtzis was well liked and respected, even though he mostly kept to himself, ear buds in his ears in the hallways and in the locker room. He was "very normal, cool," Montemayor said. "He would joke around but was also quiet — not an open book.“ Local and federal officials revealed little new information about the shooting or the investigation on Saturday. So far, investigators have not found any link to terrorism or political extremism in the suspect's background that would offer a motive for the attack, according to a person close to the investigation. 73
The town did not come to a standstill as it dealt with the aftermath of the shooting: People still ran errands and had yard sales and barbecues. The community library closed "out of respect for the victims," but organizers of a library benefit sale decided to hold their event as planned in the lobby and parking lot. The Santa Fe High baseball team was still scheduled for a playoff game Saturday night after canceling one on the day of the shooting.
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The shooting didn't seem to rattle beliefs or prompt the calls for change that followed the Parkland shooting. Norman Franzke, 69, whose granddaughter safely escaped Santa Fe High, noted that guns have been part of the culture here for generations. When he attended, students kept shotguns on racks in their pickups, ready for hunting after school. "I don't think this will change the mentality of this community," Franzke said. "There may be some changes in how kids enter and leave school. But even then, he was a student, so he would still have had access.“ At Red Cap restaurant, a popular diner down the road from the high school, the sign outside no longer advertised fried green tomatoes and Boudin balls. It had been changed to read "Prayers for Santa Fe."
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Roseanne Barr’s Racist Rant Cost Her Job4
ABC cancelled "Roseanne" after Roseanne Barr made racist remarks on Twitter. It's not the first time she's said racist things. She made a vulgar reference comparing Susan Rice to an ape in a now-deleted tweet from 2013. Barr has a history of making racist and inflammatory remarks, which makes some question why ABC revived "Roseanne" in the first place. The dustup comes amid ABC pulling an episode of "Black-ish" about racism and the NFL protests. •
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"Roseanne" was cancelled after its star, Roseanne Barr, compared former Obama adviser Valerie Jarett, who is black, to an ape. But it's not the first time the star has made racist remarks. In 2013, she also called Susan Rice, a National Security Advisor in the Obama administration, "a man with big swinging ape balls" in a now-deleted tweet.
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Barr's views have been widely known for years. In the past few years, she promoted the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, which posits that Hillary Clinton is running a child trafficking ring in the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzaria (there is no such thing); suggested that David Hogg, a teenager who survived the Parkland shooting, is a Nazi (he is not); and said that the Jewish financier George Soros, who survived Nazi-occupied Hungary as a teenager, was a Nazi collaborator (also false). So while ABC is being applauded for cancelling "Roseanne," people are also asking why the show was ever rebooted in the first place. 78
Buffalo Wild Wing Employee Racist Tweets
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