The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. –Albert Einstein
Silently, the angel weeps
Update: This post was cross-posted at Balloon Juice by ABL, and a few comments concerned with my wording as to the facts of the crimes arose, so I have edited for clarity.
I don’t use the word evil very lightly, but I will be using it in this post. My colleague, Allan, wrote a brief post about the actual rape cases at Pennsylvania State University involving Jerry Sandusky, the former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator. The facts are not much in dispute Jerry Sandusky is innocent until proven guilty, of course, but I believe the findings of the Grand Jury report – and I will be writing from that view point, and the alleged crimes are horrible. However, the focus of these series of posts is not going to be on Sandusky or on his despicable behavior – instead, I want to focus on two things: 1) the systemic cover-up of Sandusky’s crime by various people affiliated with PSU and outside of the University; and 2) the reaction to the firing of Joe Paterno, the coach who has been there forever and is a coaching icon. I will cover the first point in two posts and the second point in an upcoming post.
Rape Culture/Sports-Venerating Culture
Before I start on my first point, I want to say something up front. We* live in a rape culture and a sports-obsessed culture. As to the former, I mean that we live in a culture that tolerates sexual harassment, rape, abuse, etc., to a highly-unacceptable degree. You only have to look at the Herman Cain case to see how easily the alleged victims are denigrated, belittled, smeared, and dismissed. We don’t take rape as seriously as we should, and we find a million excuses to explain the behavior or rationalize it.
In tandem, we are a culture that glorifies sports and worships our sports heroes. I will say that I am a huge sports fan, despite my severe reservations about our sports culture in general. So, I am not speaking as someone who hates sports or who doesn’t know who Joe Paterno is and what an icon he is in college football. He’s such an icon, he’s been allowed to do whatever the hell he wants as the titular head coach of the football program. Even now, he’s being supported to a ridiculous degree – but I get ahead of myself. That is my second point, and I will get to it in due time.
We give unwavering loyalty to our team, irrationally supporting them no matter what they do. There is a reason fan is short for fanatic, and, unfortunately, we have embraced our fanaticism wholeheartedly. This is part of the reason I have soured on sports in recent years as I am uncomfortable with hero-worship of any sort. Still, I am always ready for some football as anything can happen on any given Sunday.
The reason I am bringing up these two observations is because what happened at PSU did not happen in a vacuum. It was not an aberration, and, sadly, I can easily see it being replicated in colleges across the country in which we revere men like Joe Paterno and the game that he coaches**. Here is an account from a woman who was an athlete at the U of Colorado during its own sex abuse outcry. She closed ranks back then, and she regrets it now. If you still think I’m exaggerating or that the PSU case is being blown out of proportion, that it was just one man involved in secret felonies, let me take you back in time so you can watch the progression of the Jerry Sandusky case unfold.
Call It What It Is: RAPE
Before I do that, however, I have one other thing to say - Jerry Sandusky committed rape if the allegations are true, Jerry Sandusky committed rape. I want to make that absolutely clear. I see the headlines, and they mostly say scandal, sex-abuse scandal, or, worst yet, sex scandal. The word rape is used later in some of the articles, but the headlines are what grab readers’ attention***. Even using the strictest definition of rape – anal penetration – Sandusky committed at least one rape that was witnessed – and yes, I will most definitely get to that later – and using the definition of penetration of mouth and/or rectum without consent, he committed more than one rape. What Sandusky did was rape, and we need to call it that every single fucking time we talk about him.
Finally, a warning, I will be quoting from the Grand Jury Report, and it’s very graphic and disturbing. Normally, I would not do this, but I cannot chart the historical arc of Sandusky’s case and all those who covered it up without quoting, so be forewarned. In addition, the report is not in any particular chronological order whereas I will be working chronologically from the earliest cases to the latter cases, so the victim numbers will be out of order.
Here’s the set-up. Jerry Sandusky had been a PSU assistant for 32 years and defensive coordinator for 23. He was considered Joe Paterno’s heir apparent, but was informed by Paterno in May of 1999 that he would not be appointed the next head coach. A month later, Sandusky retired from coaching, but retained emeritus status. This is important because it allowed him unlimited access to PSU facilities with absolutely no supervision whatsoever.
In addition, Sandusky founded The Second Mile in 1977, a foster group home to help at-risk boys. Over time, it grew into a charity dedicated to helping children with dysfunctional or absent families. The mission of the program was to “help children who need additional support and would benefit from positive social interaction.” Sandusky was the main fundraiser for The Second Mile, which mean he had access to hundreds of vulnerable boys. He resigned from The Second Mile in September of 2010.
The Trajectory of Jerry Sandusky’s Predatory Behavior
Raped by a god; it's still rape
Now, on to the earliest-chronologically reported cases. I say cases because four of them overlap. There was a fourth fifth boy involved, but he’s in the military serving outside the states and was not subpoenaed. Sandusky met all the boys through The Second Mile.
Victim 4, Victim 5, Victim 6, and Victim 7 overlapped timewise. They all met Sandusky in the mid – to -late 90s, and their stories follow a similar pattern. They were all a part of The Second Mile and approached by Sandusky after they had been in the program awhile. They were between the ages of 7 and 13 when the initial assaults occurred. Usually, it started with Sandusky driving the boy (or boys) somewhere and putting a hand on the boy’s thigh as he (Sandusky) drove. At some point, Sandusky would tell the boy they needed to shower. The boy would try to shower away from Sandusky, but Sandusky would either go over to the boy or call the boy over. He would wrestle with them or throw soap to initiate contact. The one constant was that the boy would be uncomfortable, but Sandusky wouldn’t stop unless he was interrupted or the boy got away. The assaults varied in terms of intensity. Victim 4 testified that:
Sandusky would wrestle with him and maneuver him into position in which Sandusky’s head was at Victim 4′s genitals and Victim 4′s head was at Sandusky’s genitals. Sandusky would kiss Victim 4′s inner thighs and genitals. Victim 4 described Sandusky rubbing his genitals on Victim 4′s face and inserting his erect penis into Victim 4′s mouth. There were occasions when this would result in Sandusky ejaculating. He testified that Sandusky also attempted to penetrate Victim 4′s anus with both a finger and his penis. There was slight penetration and Victim 4 would resist these attempts. Sandusky never asked to do these things but would simply see what Victim 4 would permit him to do.
The reason I included this excerpt from the report is to underline my point that Sandusky committed rape. Some of the other incidences have been minimized as inappropriate touching or horseplay or other such nonsense. Bullshit. It’s all on a continuum with this example being at one end of the spectrum and other examples falling at other points along said continuum. I also quoted this excerpt to show that if the investigation as I detailed below had cast its net a bit wider, the investigators could have found Victim 4, which would definitely be a reason to press charges against Sandusky.
In 1998, Victim 6 was also forced to shower with Sandusky who grabbed him around the waist and said, “I’m going to squeeze your guts out.” Sandusky soaped the boy’s back and then hugged the boy from behind. Then, he lifted the boy to rinse the soap out of the boys hair. When Victim 6 got home, his mother questioned him about his wet hair and got upset when he found out that he had showered with Sandusky. She did the right thing and called the University Police. University Police Detective Ronald Schreffler performed a lengthy investigation and then was told to close the investigation by the director of the campus police, Thomas Haron after then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar**** decided there would be no criminal charges. This investigation also included B.K., then 11, the man now in the military and serving outside the U.S – he was subjected to a nearly-identical shower experience.
During the investigation, Detective Schreffler and State College Police Department Detective Ralph Ralston eavesdropped on two different occasions on conversations between the mother of Victim 6 and Sandusky, with her permission. The mother questioned Sandusky about his behavior, and he admitted to showering with other boys. She tried to make him promise that he wouldn’t do it any more, but he refused. She asked if his ‘private parts’ touched the boy when Sandusky bear-hugged him. Sandusky responded, “I don’t think so…maybe.” At the end of the second conversation when the mother told Sandusky that he couldn’t see Victim 6 again, Sandusky said:
I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.
Detective Ralston and Victim 6′s mother confirmed these conversations.
In addition, Jerry Lauro, an investigator with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare testified at the time that he and Detective Schreffler interviewed Sandusky who admitted to showering naked with Victim 6 and hugging him while naked. Sandusky said he knew it was wrong. Detective Schreffler advised him not to do it again, and Sandusky said he wouldn’t.
Let me pause in my recitation for a minute to point out the obvious: Had Sandusky been charged at this point or at least banned from PSU and The Second Mile, it still would have been a horrifying story, but it would also show the university doing the right thing by the vulnerable boys upon whom Sandusky preyed. Plus, it would have prevented more boys from being victimized by Sandusky. The mother did the right thing by going to the University Police. They initially investigated and then were told to drop the case by the DA for whatever reason. Sandusky admitted he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he didn’t receive anything but advice. It’s so frustrating that future tragedies could have been stopped at this point, but because people weren’t willing to press harder for whatever reason, Sandusky was allowed to continue molesting boys on the campus of PSU, even after he retired in 1999. The story only gets worse from here on out, as I will detail in my next post.
*Throughout this post, I am using ‘we’ as a reference to American society in general.
**It happens in institutions everywhere, of course. The Catholic Church has been covering child rape cases for decades. It recently came to light that the Boy Scouts of America has covered up sex abuse cases as well. This is part of the rape culture of which I spoke in that it is deemed more important by these institutions to cover their asses and protect their brand name than to, oh, I don’t know, protect children from being raped. By the way, another said case happened in the Boston Red Sox organization, and the story is very similar to the PSU case.
***I have a particular bias against the use of scandal in this situation because it implies something tawdry and banal. This is a fucking outrage, not a mere scandal.
****After an investigation into Sandusky was started in 2005, Prosecuting DA Gricar disappeared. His body was never found, and foul play is suspected.
I want to thank you for this. I think the more people who call it for what it is – RAPE RAPE RAPE
the better.
usually, when we have been talking about football program scandals, we’re talking about:
1. Students taking tests for other students
2. Players being passed for classes they didn’t take
3. the more than occasional sexual assault on fellow students.
in all these cases, as bad they are…they’re still dealing with ADULTS.
not here.
this is about CHILD RAPE.
NOT an isolated case of CHILD RAPE.
BUT REPEATED CHILD RAPE.
I still just get sick writing it.
Instead of a fan “white out” at Beaver Stadium tomorrow, there will be a “blue out” with the fans wearing t-shirts that say “End Child Abuse…and Beat Nebraska”
Who the hell thought that was a good idea to add “…and Beat Nebraska”? Child abuse now reduced to the setup to a punchline. They STILL don’t get it.
MsKitty,
They don’t get it! I read where the interim coach for Penn State say that after today’s football game (where he felt his players fought their hearts out in a losing effort), the “healing process can now begin.”
WTF? I tried really hard not to say bad words but I’m beside myself. It’s fking mind blowing how stupid these mofos are. Healing does not begin with a got d*mn football game. None of these sons of %%%%%%% have been punished. I’ve said from the beginning, the reasoning behind Mcqueary not calling the police was because the 10 year old was a little black boy. Yes, race was a factor! See, in his eyes the child wasn’t valued so he walked out and allowed Sandusky to continue to rape. What a no good bee.itch! I could smack the taste of his mouth!
I’ve said in my post about this case that these at-risk kids were none other than poor blacks, Latinos, and whites–and that they were considered expendable by these mostly middle-class white kids, as well as the college administration and Paterno. I mean, it didn’t touch them, right? I mean, these kids were trash, and they were going to be headed for jail anyway, so it was no skin off their noses.
Yeah, I saw that there were some kids of color who also rioted that night at Penn State, but they were few and far between. But hey, black jocks have their own way of dismissing really bad behavior towards women and girls among themselves as well.
Tweeting this and your other pieces, ABL.
I’m holding judgement on whether these at-risk kids were black and Latino. Full disclosure: I’m a Penn State Alum. I share your outrage and horror. But nothing suggests that they were boys of color other than the nomenclature “at-risk,” “under-privileged” and “single moms.”
If you look at the demographics of the area, it would all but rule out boys of color. Clinton County is 98% white and Centre County is 89% white. Centre County where PSU is located has a population of 3% AA. They are almost exclusively adults, students and faculty of the University.
Is it possible he target boys of color? Yes, but right now, we have nothing firm to pin that allegation to other than as I said those terms and in Clinton and Centre Country, many white boys are at-risk, underprivileged and have single moms.
I believe that Mike McQueary turned away not because it was a little black boy but because Sandusky was Sandusky and PSU football was king and right now, I have nothing firm to suggest that the boy in that shower was a black boy.
Having said that, I think even little white boys getting raped would have been hidden and for now, my presumption is that this is what we are dealing with…the larger point, the football program was to be protected at all cost and it could have been any of us who was not a part of that team, and McQueary would have done nothing but turned away.
Thank you for that information on the demographics of the two counties near Penn State and The Second Mile. Usually, when one hears those code words, they could mean people of color. I did want to leave open that possibility as well when I mentioned it in tandem with white children.
Exactly, this was RAPE, RAPE, RAPE. What is it with our media that they always use minimizing terminology. We have to start calling things by their names. I am sick of seeing things like “abuse” or “inappropriate sexual conduct” – in the case of the Catholic Church defense and hiding of child rapists I saw this minimizing all the time in the media.
When people do these things we need to make sure people know about it, even if the words make some feel “uncomfortable.”
Forced oral sex, forced sodomization/anal rape. Say it so people know the full horror of it. People SHOULD be made to feel uncomfortable about it, because it’s wrong!!!
Even more;
Apparently, according to other reports he’s in protective custody because of this.
I am so sick of this pattern! It’s always the same thing. A pedophile rapes children, and organizations blame the victim, cover it up, move them to another position, or allow them to “gracefully retire,” all in the name of “protecting the organization.”
All it really does is protect the rapist. It will eventually come out, and if there’s anything to be learned from these examples, it’s that the coverup always backfires. Far better if they’d done what they should have: Turn it over to the police, fire the rapist, and announce it. Never blame the victims.
I fear this is only the surface of this whole cesspool. This man created a charity to “raise” prey. There were never any good intentions from this demon. He didn’t just turn into a pedophile at 50 years of age. He didn’t just start committing these acts in 1994. There are victims out there from the 70s.
This thing is going to get even uglier.
I just gathered up enough nerve to read the Grand Jury report which includes chilling accounts of the victims own testimonies, and I am just horrified. Based on the accounts of what alledgedly happened to some of the young boys at Penn State alone, not only do I think Penn State’s final home game should NOT be played on Saturday, I feel there should never be another football game played on those premises. The entire complex should be burned to the ground/demolished and the entire football program should be closed down.
As someone who dearly loves sports of all kinds, including football, let me just say that I could not agree more with what you say. Although, we should let justice take its course before anyone actually sets fire to anything. But other than that, this is all exactly right.
It is complete madness to me that Penn State is playing football games right now. A temperate response, given that there was enough to fire a coach, would have been to cancel the season. And if I were in a position of authority, I do not think I would have been given to temperate responses.
Thank you for writing this. You’re performing a public service.
agreed.
Somebody please, please help me out here because I just don’t get it:
From published reports we know that:
The Vice President of Finance @ Penn State University knew
The Director of the Athletic Department @ Penn State University knew
A Coach Assistant @ Penn State University and his daddy knew
The Head Coach of 46 years@ Penn State University knew
The janitors @ Penn State University knew
The janitors’ Supervisor@ Penn State University knew
The campus police @ Penn State University knew
The local police knew
The District Attorney (who may have been “Hoffa-ized”) knew (This is one of 2 men we can’t ask because neither his body or the harddrive of his laptop have ever been found. He was legally declared dead this year. The other man is supposedly in a mental institution with dementia.)
The Child Welfare Department knew
The State’s Grand Jury knew
The Administration of the organization founded by the scumbag perp knew
Numerous students @ Penn State University joked that the victims had been “Sanduskied” knew
and did NOTHING.
WHY??? How could all these people interact with and allow one man to walk around laughing, talking, attend various functions of the university and organization and their family gatherings to freely rape/sodomize boys as young as 7 and 8 years old and not do or say one damn thing to stop these atrocities???? WHY?? How could they justify their silence? Money?? Did they too participate in these heinous activities?? Since, to date, no women have been implicated, was this a “good ol boys” thing???
I just don’t get it…
They know and did nothing because of one thing…Penn State Football. It is heady and powerful and dangerous and to be honest I see nothing changing. Sadly and to my great regret because they believe it was a systemic issue but just some bad actors.
All anyone needs to ask is, would this coverup have happened if Sandusky were a PSU professor for 32 years? Of course the answer is NO. He would have been treated like the vile criminal he is. From as far back as grade school, I’ve been disgusted by how star athletes are treated vs. star academics. As you already made clear in this post, this country has a serious problem picking heroes and role models.
The reality is that sexual abuse against a child is a nationwide cover up. The only time this gets the public’s attention is when the press decides to report the actions. Children are molested, raped, and physically abused daily. My point is that public is shocked by what comes out in the press, the story goes away, the public forgets.
I feel no sympathy for any of Penn State Faculty, I have sympathy and understand what the victims go through on a daily basis.
Thank You ABL for a great article.
The vileness of the PSU students rioting to support Paterno, against the raped kids, was amazing. It’s almost funny that in an attempt to get better PR, they’re doing a “blue out”, purporting to support child abuse victims.
Fuck PSU and anybody affiliated with it.
Thanks for telling the TRUTH, ABL. I’m dropping this link wherever I can, including 3CHICS.
I really wish I had answers as to why this shit goes on so often or why the instinctual response is to cover-up rather than to protect the kids…well, that’s an answer in and of itself, I guess. More to the point, I wish I had answers as to how we can change the systems that support and even promote this kind of behavior (the covering-up aspect).
Once again, I thank everyone who reads my posts in this series and who comments because you’re giving me strength to keep on writing.
Great recap of all this, angry black lady. Follow the money and look to who ‘controls’ things. Millen of ESPN has vociferously insisted he was only a “honorary board” member. Nonsense, Second Mile tax returns show him as a “DIRECTOR”. ESPN needs to explain why Millen is not telling the truth, on their network. Also look into Raykovitz and Genovese, the married couple, that also in controlling positions at Second Mile. See deadspin.com for tax returns and other, as yet, unidentified individual controlling Second Mile.
This whole thing is metaphor for the country. This area in particular has been hard hit economically past 30 years. They have raped the economy, now raping the children. Schultz was pulled into investigation because he is finance guy, and above all, finances control. This is but a small fiefdom of pernicious folks controlling things through boards, city councils, ‘police depts’, charities, etc. It is so far ranging as to boggle the mind, and it is but one of many, and older than the hills.
here’s my my point, furthered.
judge who set sandusky’s bail…turns out she is volunteer for sm. Gr8
http://deadspin.com/5859075/judge-who-set-unsecured-bail-for-jerry-sandusky-is-a-second-mile-volunteer
they are going to use corp law, trusts, and other ‘entities’, and all kinds of legal prestidigitation to rig this thing.
I’m not defending anyone, and I read the Grand Jury Report and believe the horror stories it contains. That being said, as a journalist (not sure if you are or not, but applies to anyone publishing anything in print or online) you cannot say things like, “Jerry Sandusky committed rape.” Until someone has been convicted (found guilty) of the crime, we have to use the language “allegedly, accused of, charged with” etc. Like I said, I hear where you’re coming from, just wanted to make sure you are aware of the libel laws.
Duly noted, ERS, and changed.
There was an investigation started in 05? Is there a source for this?