Sandusky, Paterno, Penn State and Young Black Boys
The Sandusky scandal may be a teachable moment for child abuse aware groups anxious to educate the public on the importance of contacting the police immediately in suspicious situations. But let's make darned sure we learn the right lessons. That is, if we think that this incident is only about child abuse in general, then we have truly missed the point. At a more fundamental level, this scandal is about the special vulnerability of young inner city black boys to sexual molestation.
New reports have now revealed that most, if not all, of the eight known victims of Sandusky's sexual predations were at-risk black boys. And that brings me to my larger point. Had the child that assistant coach Mike McQueary witnessed being molested had blond hair and blue eyes, the outcome would have been different regardless of the damage to Penn State's reputation. The husky McQueary might even, in a fit of rage, have clobbered the man engaged in sodomizing a ten year old boy. Why? It is because the assistant coach would have seen in the victim an image of his own child, or nephew or neighbor. The same goes for Joe Paterno and Penn State officials. Instead, they handled this case the way a man might if he walked in on a colleague having sex with a prostitute.
Pittsburgh radio host Mark Madden came out with shocking new claims on WEEI's The Dennis and Callahan Show, namely that "Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors." This rumor is presently being followed up by two investigative reporters and I will be paying attention to developments as well regarding the Second Mile Foundation. Sandusky founded the organization in 1977, presumably to help at-risk boys.
Columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson has written an insightful piece on the relevance of race to the Sandusky scandal. He asserts:
Mr. Hutchinson continues by citing a study in the March issue of the Journal Pediatrics, "Racial Bias in Child Protection? A Comparison of Competing Explanations Using National Data."
". . .poverty was a huge determinant not only of levels of abuse. The study predictably found that a disproportionate number of the reported child abuse cases in 2009 which spanned the gamut from neglect to child rape were African-American children. The study directly linked the abuse to poverty. Parents and caregivers that are desperate to provide their children with a pathway out of harm's way from any and every type of abuse that comes with poverty latch on to organizations that promise to provide resources, mentoring, nurturing, and a protective environment for at risk black children. The Second Mile Foundation that so persuasively and passionately marketed itself under its accused founder Jerry Sandusky, and with the resources, clout and national name recognition of Penn State University's premier football majordomo Joe Paterno to boot, as just such an organization would be hungrily grabbed at as the ticket out of the ghetto for the kids. Given the name and the prestige of those behind this Foundation, why would anyone in their wildest nightmares ever think or suspect that colossal evil lurked underneath the façade of its alleged unadulterated philanthropic and do good aims? In the days to come as more details unfold about how the Foundation under Sandusky used its good name to commit alleged serial heinous crimes, all with the tacit blessing of Paterno and university officials, the hard suspicions and hints that the target of the crimes were young black males may well be confirmed. If that's the case, then the deep soul search that university and others everywhere who turn a blind eye to child abuse must undergo will be rudely forced to confront one more horrifying possibility. And that's that race was one more reason for that blind eye."
America may have a black president. But this incident at Penn State is one of the most racially demoralizing moments in recent memory. Our nation needs to confront this issue head on rather than allow it to get lost under the banner of "child abuse awareness."
RELATED POSTS:
New reports have now revealed that most, if not all, of the eight known victims of Sandusky's sexual predations were at-risk black boys. And that brings me to my larger point. Had the child that assistant coach Mike McQueary witnessed being molested had blond hair and blue eyes, the outcome would have been different regardless of the damage to Penn State's reputation. The husky McQueary might even, in a fit of rage, have clobbered the man engaged in sodomizing a ten year old boy. Why? It is because the assistant coach would have seen in the victim an image of his own child, or nephew or neighbor. The same goes for Joe Paterno and Penn State officials. Instead, they handled this case the way a man might if he walked in on a colleague having sex with a prostitute.
Pittsburgh radio host Mark Madden came out with shocking new claims on WEEI's The Dennis and Callahan Show, namely that "Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors." This rumor is presently being followed up by two investigative reporters and I will be paying attention to developments as well regarding the Second Mile Foundation. Sandusky founded the organization in 1977, presumably to help at-risk boys.
Columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson has written an insightful piece on the relevance of race to the Sandusky scandal. He asserts:
. . . with the strong hints came the public finger point by a parent of one of the victims that they were in her words, " Blacks about 10-12 and had a tall slim muscular build." The Second Mile Foundation's founder and accused Jerry Sandusky openly bragged that it was in the business of helping "underprivileged" youth, always the polite code word for poor, at risk, young blacks and Hispanics, it's hardly a stretch to connect the dots to race. Put bluntly, if Penn State officials kept their yaps shut for years in the face of open knowledge of and strong suspicions of the child rapes and the victims were young black males, than the last dot connected is the charge that black lives are routinely devalued when it comes to officials taking action to protect them. This charge has repeatedly been leveled in serial murders, inner city gang carnage, and against child service agencies that ignore or downplay repeated reports of abuse when the victims and the abused are black. That's only part of the problem. Race can't be separated from poverty or "underprivileged" in the parlance of Sandusky's The Second Mile Foundation.
Mr. Hutchinson continues by citing a study in the March issue of the Journal Pediatrics, "Racial Bias in Child Protection? A Comparison of Competing Explanations Using National Data."
". . .poverty was a huge determinant not only of levels of abuse. The study predictably found that a disproportionate number of the reported child abuse cases in 2009 which spanned the gamut from neglect to child rape were African-American children. The study directly linked the abuse to poverty. Parents and caregivers that are desperate to provide their children with a pathway out of harm's way from any and every type of abuse that comes with poverty latch on to organizations that promise to provide resources, mentoring, nurturing, and a protective environment for at risk black children. The Second Mile Foundation that so persuasively and passionately marketed itself under its accused founder Jerry Sandusky, and with the resources, clout and national name recognition of Penn State University's premier football majordomo Joe Paterno to boot, as just such an organization would be hungrily grabbed at as the ticket out of the ghetto for the kids. Given the name and the prestige of those behind this Foundation, why would anyone in their wildest nightmares ever think or suspect that colossal evil lurked underneath the façade of its alleged unadulterated philanthropic and do good aims? In the days to come as more details unfold about how the Foundation under Sandusky used its good name to commit alleged serial heinous crimes, all with the tacit blessing of Paterno and university officials, the hard suspicions and hints that the target of the crimes were young black males may well be confirmed. If that's the case, then the deep soul search that university and others everywhere who turn a blind eye to child abuse must undergo will be rudely forced to confront one more horrifying possibility. And that's that race was one more reason for that blind eye."
America may have a black president. But this incident at Penn State is one of the most racially demoralizing moments in recent memory. Our nation needs to confront this issue head on rather than allow it to get lost under the banner of "child abuse awareness."
RELATED POSTS:
- Disturbing Twist in Sandusky Case; Mysterious Disappearance of District Attorney
- Why Penn State Officials Ignored Eyewitness Account of Sandusky's Rape of 10 Year Old Boy
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