RALLY FOR THE CHILD VICTIMS ACT
LostMessiah, May 3, 2016
Over the last few days, LM along with a host of websites, Facebook sites and other journalistic sources have been accused of directing our collective attention to the sexual abuse within the ultra-Orthodox communities to the exclusion of drawing attention to sexual abuse within other communities. We believe this levying of such accusations is ignoring the plight of children.
What makes the situation within the ultra-Orthodox community so disturbing is the public position taken by organizations like Agudath Israel which are trying to block the legislation from being enacted. We find it troubling that anyone would want to block its passage. We feel that by advocating for blocking the passage of legislation, which would give ALL children the opportunity to prosecute crimes when they are old enough to defend themselves against counter-balancing accusations, is unequivocally anti-child. It in our view represents empirical proof that the community covered under the Agudath Israel umbrella simply has no interest in protecting Jewish children.
The Catholic Church, which was also plagued with incidents of sexual abuse by trusted individuals and the sports community is supporting this bill.
If our criticism of organizations like Agudath Israel raises questions of anti-Semitism than perhaps a clear understanding that this law is intended to protect all children demands that naysayers reconsider chalking this up to hatred for Jews. There is no denial that we detest Rabbis who abuse those entrusted in their care and anyone who covers up the abuse. Similarly we detest the same actions in any community, whether religious, sports or others. We are anti-abuse.
Labeling calling out a community in which sexual abuse is currently an epidemic as anti-Semitic is simply another way to shut our eyes and ignore problems. It is another way of saying that we don’t care enough about our children to protect them. Raping a child is not only a physical abuse but a rape of that child’s future. The Child Victims Act cannot remove the devastation of the rape but it can ensure that it does not happen twice.
Call us anti-Semitic. We will return the disparaging comment by calling anyone who does not advocate for this law complicit in the sexual abuse of children and in perpetuating it further, not just Jewish children but ALL CHILDREN.
The New York Daily News Reports:
Abuse survivors and advocates will fight for justice in 2-day Albany rally
Dedicated advocates who want to see children protected from predators and many others are offended by the persistent cover-up child sex abuse crimes in schools, religious, sports and youth organizations are rallying in Albany for two days this week.
They are calling upon legislators to ask them to reform our statute of limitations laws that prevents most victims of these crimes from ever getting justice. These same too-short statute of limitations also encourages too many organizations and institutions to hide perpetrators and permits them to continue to molest new generations of children.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
New York State lawmakers have prevented sex abuse victims from seeking justice as adults.
They want the Child Victims Act to become law to completely eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes. New York is among the very worst states in America for how it treats victims of childhood sexual abuse. The advocates and survivors of abuse who are coming to Albany this week want to change that deplorable situation.
VICTIMS WILL RALLY TO URGE N.Y. POLS TO APPROVE CHILD ABUSE LAW
During two days of public programs, we will hear from adults who are survivors of abuse. They will tell their stories of how they were molested as children and the consequences for their lives in a world that permits pedophiles to get away with their crimes. Survivors range from a world champion ice-skater, a teenage hockey player, a budding hip-hop artist, private and parochial school students and some abused by family members and neighbors. What they have in common is that their pleas for help were ignored, and their abusers have been protected by the existing statute of limitations.
We are also devoting a whole day to the message of the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight,” which tells about the Boston priest scandal where church hierarchy covered up for a notorious pedophile to continued his evil deeds.
The message for New York State legislators from all of these survivors is that denying victims of child sex abuse crimes to have their day in court is wrong. The present law protects pedophiles. Their victims, the survivors, deserve their day in court and organizations and institutions that cover up abuse deserve to be held accountable. This outcome is good for victims, good for their friends and families, and good for society.
Markey (D-Queens) is a New York State Assembly member
LOSTMESSIAH 
Why in heaven’s name would you bother to even dispute those accusations? Who is even making those accusations? Who cares?
Your website was created to continue the work of FM (and thank you again for that!) and should be focused on cleaning house in the frum community. Do we care if there is abuse in other communities? Yes but those communities are covered by lots and lots of professional and paid and volunteer media. Plenty of places to go and read about them. I have no doubt that if that monster principal was at ANY OTHER SCHOOL in the country the video would have been on Yahoo’s front page last year!
Your accusers are obviously only trying to deflect attention from the real problem. Since when do they worry about other communities? Since when do they do anything but denigrate and demean the Catholic and Sports communities?
They used to say it doesnt happen in frum-land. Now that they have to admit it does – well we are no worse than our neighbors who we consider lesser beings in the first place…well most of us are at a point that we are thinking the rate in the ultra- frum community is way higher than elsewhere but that remains to be proven…(probably very soon and why the Agudah is fighting this bill)
Either way in a place with so much ‘piety’ even one clothed instance is sickening.
LikeLike
Every once in a while there is a crisis of confidence among us. We can’t keep up with the scandals at this point and minimizing the damage to children by calling the attention given to article son the subject anti-Semitism is unsettling. Thanks for your name and for paying attention.
LikeLike
We think the Catholic Church is now supporting the bill. We think you are right about the work for the Ramapo BofE.
LikeLike
This was one of the bills that Shelly Silver helped scuttle in exchange for sex with Patricia Lynch.
Ms Lynch lobbied for the Catholic Church and the ultra Orthodox to prevent lengthening the statute of limitations for pedophiles. If I’m not mistaken she also worked for East Ramapo Board of Ed.
LikeLiked by 1 person