Warren Jeffs appears in Las Vegas Justice Court on Thursday morning. Jeffs, who was escorted by members of the Las Vegas Police Special Emergency Response Team, is accused of marrying a girl younger than 18 to an older man and insisting she procreate against her will. Photo by Clint (www.reviewjournal.com/.../Sep-01-Fri-2006/news/)
PUBLIC STATEMENT ISSUED ON BEHALF OF :
Telephone: (902) 443-9341, ext # 62
Email: info@restoringdignity.org
Tapestry Against Polygamy
Tel: 801-467-2467
Email: vickyprunty@aol.com
Altering Destiny through Education
Tel: 250-428-9688 email:
Email: dlprice@uniserve.com
Stop Polygamy in Canada
Telephone: 780-768-2180 phone/fax
Email: mereska@digitalweb.net
SNAP (Survivors of Those Abused by Priests)
Tel: Phone: (314) 566-9790
Email: SNAPClohessy@aol.com
On Tuesday, August 29th, 2006, 50-year-old fugitive Warren Jeffs, leader of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was arrested without incident. Mr. Jeffs was wanted “for the alleged sexual assault of a minor in 2002 and for one count of conspiracy to commit sexual assault with a minor that same year. The alleged offenses took place in the vicinity of Colorado City. Additionally, Jeffs is wanted In Utah as an accomplice to rape.” “The capture is the 453 rd arrest of an FBI Most Wanted figure since the program to catch fugitives was established in 1950. “ (http://www.fbi.gov/page2/aug06
This is a major capture for those of us in the movement against institutional child abuse. The man in police custody here still wields a lot of control on the polygamist following; that said, the lives of the gross amount of children he is fathering (over 250 children) are already damaged and will have a lot more damages to contend with after the prosecution is over. The following of the polygamist movement which would include Warrens Jeffs groups and other polygamist groups is said to be 100,000 members.
The polygamist lifestyle is socially regressive and male dominated, where women are subservient to men. Polygamist survivors claim that while in compounds run by FLDS orders, they suffered harsh treatment and sexual abuse. Female children barely reaching their teen years are wed and are bearing children to men double and triple their age. Many boys and young men are being forced out of the polygamist compounds by the polygamist leaders in a bid of competition for young females. There are stories of the older youth that were of age to rent, were renting spaces big enough for groups of ten. The reports go on to say that the properties were trashed by these children and young men, because they had not experienced independence and were not prepared for it. There have also been reports of corruption which follows young men who leave the polygamist compounds. On August 2, 2006, William John Aldrich Green, an 18-year-old son of imprisoned polygamist Tom Green, was arrested for investigation of two counts of rape of a child for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet. These are learned behaviors, not the acts of an evil person. The evil is the lifestyle they were born into, not of their making or choosing. There have been also allegations of sexual abuse of male children laid against Polygamist leaders. There even rumors of a mass gravesite of children buried in unmarked graves in the state of Utah.
Beyond all this, there have been reports from polygamist members who make claims of positive experiences.
It is a salient feature in the response of many survivors from various forms of institutional child abuse to adapt various methodologies in order to deal with the impact of institutional child abuse. This does not mean that what these people experienced (whether they would agree it is or not) was not abuse. It was then; it is now and will be considered abuse in the future.
There were times in the history of our countries that practices such as racial discrimination, child labor, child exploitation, child abuse, inequality of gender, and various other violations of human rights were rampant. Our countries have since adopted constitutional rights to protect the most vulnerable of society, children, women, marginalized groups and cultures. The success of those rights will be under minded if we cannot, as a society, understand the context of history behind movements like the polygamist lifestyle. The polygamist lifestyle cannot be compared to such genres as racial equality, same sex marriage, gender equality, AIDS movement, etc.
The concept of one father and many mothers in one family bearing scores of children represents the displacement and disconnection of countless young lives. How will these children fare in society if they are to leave these compounds and come to live on the outside? How will they deal with the deficits that come with the displacement and disconnection in a new life and society? For those who survive, and are released from their dreadful existence behind those compound walls without the proper tools to fend for themselves, they will be unprepared for adult life. Who will fend for them then?
Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote in his works “The social contract”:
“To renounce liberty is to renounce being human, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For they who renounce everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with human nature; to remove all liberty from their will is to remove all morality from their acts.” (Note: political incorrect terms have been replaced with politically correct terminology)
Any person trapped inside such a compound cannot reasonably make an informed decision as to whether or not it is a morally sound or a healthy lifestyle. The members of the polygamist compounds are cut off from all communication form the outside, television, internet, and telephones are prohibited. For so many growing up in these compounds, the polygamist lifestyle is all they know and they are taught to distrust and to fear the outside. Fear and deceit are hallmark features of oppressors.
Clearly, any practice which is so socially regressive, male dominated, where women are subservient to men is oppressive.
Polygamy has a long history as many other forms of institutional child abuses have. Such examples are the child migration and home children schemes carried out in both our countries.
“Child Migration was devised as offering underprivileged children a 'new start' in a fresh country. It was also a way for Britain to solve its social problems. It was a means of 'seeding the empire', and was pursued with missionary zeal. The children were not adopted out, nor were they, in the usual sense of the word, fostered. Though government sponsored, the sending and receiving agencies were for the most part Christian charities who shared this goal and saw their work as inherently noble.” “The receiving Countries shared Britain’s enthusiasm. The desire of the Dominions - in particular Australia, Canada, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to increase their white, preferably Anglo-Saxon populations coincided with the desire of the mother country to rid itself of excess children of the lower social orders." – Alan Gill “Children of the Empire”
These practices started in the United States during the colonial period. Children were used for child labor and were brutally physically and sexually abused.
Additionally these children were shipped in from outside countries, stripped of their identities and left displaced from their families and countries. Since that period, other forms of institutional child abuse have included residential school settings for the deaf, blind, mentally challenged, , youth detention centers, sport groups, social groups such as the boys and girls clubs, medical institutions, clergy sexual abuse, group homes, foster homes, daycare centers, etc ..
We encourage the LDS church to come forward now and take responsibility for its role in the polygamist movement. While the church has stated a number of times that it s has disavowed polygamy practices by its members, it has never apologized. It is a fact that polygamy is a derivative of LDS beliefs, and it is where it was founded from. In Canada our Federal Government has apologized to the Japanese for its role in the mistreatment and discrimination of their people, Canada and even some churches have apologized to the First Nations people for their mistreatment and abhorrent human rights violations against their people, to name a couple. Criticism is not always easy, but it is necessary, it is as necessary as pain in the human body. It calls our attention to what Winston Churchill once referred to as “attention to an unhealthy state of things.”
Failure to do so encourages the practices such as polygamy to continue. The acknowledgement and an apology of that history are fundamental to change.
We are not advocating for the end of the LDS church, churches like many things in life have their place in society. However, when the beliefs or practices of institutions such as churches begin harming others, we must never be afraid to question and challenge those beliefs and practices which threaten our rights and freedoms.
So by tragic necessity we have inherited the struggle of our forbearers, those rights granted to us through them. The rights and freedoms of our constitutions will not be afforded to us so long as we are willing to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which our countries have always been committed.
A clear definition of what institutional child abuse is has never been established anywhere in the world. A legal definition is also needed to help establish public education, understanding and identifying the hallmarks of institutional child abuse. Such a definition would greatly assist in ensuring any institution which is charged with the care and/or protection of children and harms them will be held accountable. Such a definition would help to establish a standard of diligence and care for our most vulnerable.
States such as New Hampshire have already begun establishing legal definitions of institutional child abuse. This is a positive first step in dealing with the larger problem.
There are a number of concerns from the groups involved in the anti-polygamist movement. Mr. Jeffs and his membership have a history of violence. There are concerns of safety for potential witnesses who may appear before the courts against Jeffs. There is also a concern that there may be an uprising as a result of Jeffs's arrest by pro-polygamist supporters or compounds. We also foresee that because of the profile of Jeffs Case, that victims from the polygamist compounds may see this as a safer time to attempt an escape.
Additionally, with the majority of the population of state of Utah being Mormon, there are serious concerns that the justice system in that state will not be impartial. Earlier this week, police were reported by CNN reporters as supporting Warren Jeffs and the polygamist compounds in Colorado. This is a problem which will require strong leadership.
We believe that as groups who are involved in eradicating institutional abuse generally and helping victims of institutional abuse that we have a collective responsibility to inform the authorities and public of what lay ahead on this arrest and that there are support groups who are willing and able to help those who are trying to escape the lifestyle of polygamy and to ensure the authorities are working with these support groups to help move the judicial process along without incident.
On the same note we want to do so in a non-fear mongering manner to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective. The focus here is truly the safety of witnesses and the safety of women and children trapped in these compounds.
We hope that Mr. Jeffs will do the right thing and cooperate with the judicial process in order to spare his victims any lengthy drawn out court proceedings. Prolonging the process for his victims will not weaken our resolve in ending institutional child abuse. We are united in our support for the victims. The book of proverbs says that those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind. Justice will prevail.
We encourage the Attorney General offices in the State of Utah and in the province of British Columbia and the respective law enforcement agencies to work with us in providing support and protection to potential witnesses testifying against Warren Jeffs and victims who may be attempting an escape from the polygamist compounds. To those people in polygamist compounds struggling to break the bonds of oppression, we pledge our best efforts to help them, for whatever period is required.
This will not happen without everyone working together to ensure the strong are just and the weak safe.
May God bless the victims and their families.
Teen sues sect leader in effort to have contact with mom
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_5367608,00.html
He last spoke to his mother, Elsi Jessop, two years ago and has no idea where she is.
Now, the 18-year-old Jessop has sued Jeffs in hopes a judge will order the sect leader to put the teen in contact with her. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, also seeks damages for destroying their relationship.
The lawsuit alleges that Jeffs has "systematically" destroyed hundreds of families as leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by driving out men he deems unworthy and boys he views as competition for plural wives.
The Diversity Foundation, which works with many of those teens - the so-called Lost Boys - estimates that since 2002 as many as 400 have fled or been kicked out of their homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
The two towns are the home base of the FLDS church, which adheres to a 19th-century version of Mormonism that includes the practice of plural marriage. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly disavowed polygamy in 1890 and now excommunicates those who espouse or practice it.
Like Jessop, many teens from the twin towns have been cut off from their families, but others say they have some contact with their parents.
Jessop has written two letters to Jeffs, who is incarcerated at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah, pleading for information about his mother's whereabouts.
There has been no response, said Roger Hoole, Jessop's attorney.
"There is only one person in the world who can authorize this mother to contact her son, and that is Warren Jeffs," Hoole said. "We're asking him to do it and, absent that, we'll ask the court to order him to do it because there is a pattern of minor children being cut off from their parents and that is untenable."
Jeffs instructs the FLDS to cut off ties to family members who apostatize from the faith.
Jessop was 10 when Jeffs expelled his father from the faith and reassigned his mother to then-FLDS bishop Fred Jessop. At 13, Jessop ran away for several days, joining older friends in Hurricane to party; an older brother tracked him down and told the boy Jeffs wanted him out of the community.
For the next two years, Jessop bounced between homes of friends and relatives, landing in juvenile court at least three times. Each time, he was ordered to rejoin his mother, but, the suit claims, Jeffs would not allow it and Jessop ended up staying with relatives.
In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune in December, Jessop said his behavior caused ongoing friction; he smoked, drank and wore short-sleeved T-shirts, which are taboo among the FLDS. He was pegged as a troublemaker and "evil."
When Jessop was 15, he left the FLDS community and turned to the Diversity Foundation for help.
The foundation, based in South Jordan, Utah, is the creation of Dan Fischer, a successful dentist and entrepreneur who left the FLDS church about 15 years ago.
Jessop insists that, despite his wayward behavior, his mother loves him and wants to have contact with him - if only Jeffs would permit it.
Jeffs is scheduled to stand trial on April 23 on two felony charges of being an accomplice to rape for conducting an arranged marriage between a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
 | Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. |
Help for children being abandoned in Colorado City
http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3a613deb-b9e0-42dc-92f6-05d20a101e35
There's a new exodus from the polygamous communities along the Utah Arizona border. It's smaller than the exodus of a few years ago when Warren Jeffs transplanted some of his people to Texas to build a new community and temple on the YFZ Ranch.
This time just over a dozen of his most faithful including some relatives have been moved out.
One other wrinkle to this exodus: Jeffs apparently ordered a handful of children abandoned. Parents allegedly left kids (usually young boys in their teens) not only in their communities, but also in Hurricane, St. George and even Las Vegas.
Stefanie Colgrove said these teens are ill equipped to survive in the outside world, "They don't even know how to take care of themselves."
As others left Hildale, Colgrove moved back. She's took over a large house recently occupied by John Gilbert Jeffs and invited all those left behind to come and stay with her. Its a place where she said, "somebody can love you, make sure you get your laundry washed, and have a family again. That's the essence of it right there. If you're raised in a family and then all of a sudden it's removed, you've lost something serious not just a mom and dad, but a whole family."
Explaining why she's undertaking such a daunting task, Stefanie Colgrove said, "This is my community. These are my people."
In fact she is the great-granddaughter of Leroy S. Johnson, the man who founded Colorado City and became the leader of the largest polygamist group in North America.
She moved away when she was 20 but always knew she would return.
Now she is sickened by what she sees. Colgrove said she was raised in a community where neighbors talked to each other and trusted each other.
Now she said, Jeffs has turned neighbors and even families against one another. Where the town was once open, there are now walls, fences, "no trespassing" signs and even surveillance cameras. She is especially angry that so many families have been torn apart.
Colgrove is calling her shelter "Affinity Home" -- a place that will restore hope to children who have been discarded by their own.
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