Putting an end to child sexual abuse
To the Editor,
As reprehensible as it is and painful to look at, child sexual abuse happens; it is an epidemic. The statistics — one in three or four girls and one in six boys — are not merely numbers but represent actual children.
What we are witnessing in our town right now is so sad and awful — the 19-year-old trusted caregiver and the well-known neurosurgeon and the two nurses in jail, accused of heinous sexual crimes against children. Thankfully, they have been caught and we can identify and help these kids and their families begin to heal.
Please call us, Survivors Healing Center, 423-7601, if we can assist you, your family, school or workplace. We have been doing this work for the past 30 years. Now, let’s work together, with open eyes, to put an end to child sexual abuse.
Amy Pine
Co-founder of Survivors Healing Center
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Leave historical statues and dedications alone
To the Editor,
It’s a disturbing trend, not just here in the United States, but in countries all over the world. Four historically significant statues of Confederate Civil War notables were removed in New Orleans. James Phelan’s name was erased from the University of San Francisco campus residence hall he was named after. Many are working to remove President Woodrow Wilson’s name from being associated with a building at Princeton University. Justin Herman is also in the running of his name being expunged from the San Francisco plaza he is named after. The site of Adolf Hitler’s birthplace is being threatened with destruction. Statues of former leaders of the Soviet Union have been removed, destroyed and warehoused. Landmarks related to Saddam Hussein have been destroyed.
If I was in charge I would order all the statues put back, and would stop any other efforts to suppress history. Because that’s
exactly what is happening when these memorials and dedications are removed: a suppression of history. Yes, Confederate personages like Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, etc., as well as James Phelan, Woodrow Wilson and Justin Herman had racist views. But it was not their racist views that created their renown. It was success on a battlefield, or in the political, business or philanthropic arena.
Rather than remove these dedications, all that needs to be done is modify them, letting those interested know they all had troubling views on race.
No sites related to Adolf Hitler should ever be suppressed. Like the death camps remind us of the slaughter, we need to be reminded that Adolf Hitler was a human being who was born, and devised those horrors from places on this earth. Same should be with Saddam Hussein and the former communist brass Lenin and Stalin. Their memorials and images are history to remind us. If their “memorials” are not there we cannot be reminded.
Notable billionaire tech titans Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Benioff have their names associated with charities, hospitals and high rises. Who knows after, say in 75 years, they are gone, what kind of troubling behaviors of theirs we may discover? And if so, let it be. Let their names stay, and modify their history.
Charles Birimisa
Watsonville
