fired, others placed in protective custody, and
finger pointing has reached a feverish level,
how about we concentrate on those poor souls
that have felt the most pain in all of this.
Andrea Anushko Phd is my guest writer for the
following piece and she has some Penn State
ties in the family so growing up in Pennsylvania
she knows all to well the "We are, Penn State"
sentiment. I think we can agree with Dr. Anushko
when she asks, what about the victims?
The following are her thoughts on this mess:
There is no shortage of opinions about Jerry Sandusky,
Joe Paterno, and the PSU board of trustees; however,
what has been missing from the media circus is a focus
on the support victims need and what parents, educators,
coaches, and children can do when child abuse is suspected.
Only now are media outlets starting to focus on the victims;
however articles, broadcasts, tweets and you tube videos
addressing what one can do if they are a victim of sexual
abuse, or witness something they feel is inappropriate are
lacking. There has been no information offered to parents
about how to talk to their children about inappropriate
touching or abuse. There have been few messages that as
adults and a university, we can be trusted.
Where are the hotline numbers? The resources for parents?
The resources for kids who have questions?
In all of the finger pointing, blame assigning, and morality
high-horsing few have stepped back to say what can I do to
prevent sexual abuse? What can I do to support victims who
experienced sexual abuse?
Here’s a new idea. While we wait for the facts about the
role of Paterno, McQueary and others, let’s use this media
spotlight on PSU to raise awareness and demand better
resources, better laws, and more responsibility from ALL
adults.
For those of you in attendance at the game tomorrow, in
addition to your “blue out”, how about instead of
“F the Board” you chant “Protect our Children” or
“We support the victims?” How about painting the number
for the National Child Abuse Hotline on your chest?
Show all kids, including the 8 year olds who will be
watching tomorrow, that PSU supports victims, not blames
victims. Show your local and state officials that better
information about what to do if child abuse is suspected
needs to be distributed to all adults, and that better
laws need to be in place to protect reporters of suspected
child abuse.
You are Penn State. You are not only football but academic
excellence. Gather your resources. Find your psychologists,
researchers, and social workers. Ask for information to be
distributed to parents on signs of sexual abuse and how to
talk to their children about abuse before it happens.
Talk to your teacher prep majors and ask them about
communicating the importance of telling an adult if an
interaction doesn’t feel right. Gather you poli-sci and
pre-law majors and review local and state laws. Find out
what else can be done to protect our children and keep sexual
predators off of the streets. Contact university administration
and let them know campus personnel need clear information on
what to do if they witness or suspect abuse. Campus Newspapers,
local newspapers and media outlets help provide quality
information to adults and children about sexual abuse.
The eyes of the entire country will be on you tomorrow
PSU - use that media coverage to show that for the victims
and for all children this is about adults not tolerating
child abuse. Use that coverage to distribute resources and
supports for parents and children – knowledge is the best way
to prevent future tragedies.
Madstork Sports wants you to post information for parents,
children and educators about sexual abuse. List local hotlines
and websites, national resources, or community centers where
adults and children can get information and help. Let’s demand
justice for victims and provide resources to families and
communities to address previous abuse and prevent future abuse.
National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-252-2873
New York City Child Abuse Hotline -
General Public: 1-800-342-3720. In NYC, call 311
New York City Prevention Information & Parent Helpline at 1-800-342-7472
Tweet Thank You Al Davis !
2 comments:
Here's where you're wrong. The focus has been on the victims and apart of that focus is finding out who wronged them and adequately punishing the people involved.
I think everyone has the victims in their minds at all times when talking about this subject, but as a society, we need to out the irresponsible people in this case.
What you should write about are the people who support Paterno and Penn State still, but say they have the victims in their minds. But how can that be possible? You support the irresponsible actions of this university and the children at the same time?
That simply isn't possible.
Thanks for the reply and opinion "anonymous" , but I will respectfully disagree. This isn't a caes of " if you don' t support the war you don't support our troops" , you can be fully supportive o f the troops, in this case the victims, and not support the war, in this case knee jerk reactions.
I am just reading the grand jury testimony, and have come away thus far with the same disgusting feeling you may have. Too many people knew, and yes we all would like to say " I would have...........", but you are lying to yourself if you think you knew for certain. I would like to believe I would have............, Paterno is being scapegoated here as the "only" person who who could have done something, but he wasn't. The president knew, the senior vp knew, the campus chief of police knew, McQueary knew, so many knew, they are ALL responsible, yes as well as Paterno.
You can support bringing the irresponsible to justice, and holding them accountable, AND support the victims, yes this simply IS possible. It is possible to support Paterno to the point that you are willing to say " it wasn't all his fault"
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