Federal intervention with polygamous sects
I received a response to my last column printed in The Spectrum & Daily News, Sept. 18, which I found intriguing. Particularly because the woman responding is a former victim and child bride from the FLDS Church in Hildale, Utah. I spoke to her on the phone and received permission to post this on the blog for readers to chime in. While she and I disagree about federal intervention in the polygamous sects of Utah and Arizona, we do both agree that more intensive investigation, protective services and other resources need to be conducted to protect abused women and children of both sexes. The main point is that it is the 21st Century and no child, whether in a polygamous, monogamous or other familial arrangement, should be left in a household of abuse and degradation. Please read the following and give your point of view. Keep your eyes open for a print op-ed from Flora Jessop, too.
Dear Ms. Weaver:
My name is Flora Jessop and I am a former victim/member of the FLDS. I ESCAPED twenty years ago and now help others who want to escape and have been working with the states of Utah and Arizona for seven long years in trying to obtain services for the victims of polygamy. As a result I can assure you that you are very wrong in your assessment of the polygamy issue. I am asking that you publish my response as an op ed piece. Here are a few facts for future reference.
"While it is admirable that Reid has recognized the problem and brought national attention to the issue, Utah and Arizona law enforcement and legal teams have been doing exactly what he’s proposed for decades - and with federal support." — The Spectrum
First, I would ask where you found your facts for such an irresponsible editorial? Utah and Arizona were brought KICKING and SCREAMING into this issue by activists determined to protect children. The media, state and local officials have for fifty years shown a pattern and practice of indifference, incompetence, and outright collusion with the polygamist criminal leadership, which denied those trapped within their civil and human rights, and now we see the Spectrum continue with this sad commentary against United States Senator Harry Reid's sound proposals. It is the adult and child victims whose complaints were ignored for decades. Since 1953 the state consistently returned young girls running from rape, euphemistically called celestial marriage, to their abusers. Only quite recently when activists succeeded in gathering enough media pressure to shine a spotlight on the corruption between polygamist leaders in local and state positions of power has a lackluster effort been pursued by law enforcement. In the long interim, scores of people seeking their civil rights and human rights were harmed, many irreparably.
No charges have been lodged in the many trafficking cases of young girls across state and international borders and all reported to state authorities by activists and concerned family members. The many missing and dead are of course silent. Victim/survivors continue to cry out for the same freedoms you enjoy. But none of this bothers you.
State officials are falling all over themselves to reason why 58 unmarked child graves and a death rate of over 50% children is not obscene inside this isolated Jeffs compound. The facts regarding the cheap value child life holds inside polygamy are still unknown. A few days before this editorial the Spectrum ran an incredibly biased news article claiming the high numbers of dead children is nothing to be concerned about, completely irresponsible. Given the honed criminal practices in this cult, including human slavery, Reid is absolutely correct in his assessment:
"For too long, this outrageous activity has been masked in the guise of religious freedom. But child abuse and human servitude have nothing to do with religious freedom and must not be tolerated," Reid wrote. "Individuals who force minors into adult relationships and marriage must be brought to justice."
"Neither state, nor the U.S. for that matter, will benefit from an added governmental layer of oversight into what has taken years of painstaking perseverance and unprecedented patience with the insulated communities, which has made it extremely difficult to protect victims or pursue perpetrators." — The SpectrumNews Flash! It is the victim/survivors who have spent "years of painstaking perseverance and unprecedented patience with" the States of Utah and Arizona documenting and reporting crime after crime to no avail. Still the children remain unprotected. The only reason it is "extremely difficult to protect victims or pursue perpetrators" is that law enforcement has not been willing to PROSECUTE fully and the few cases tried result in perpetrators taking a WALK. It is endemic to polygamy that the captive children are taught there is no escape. When a former captive does find the courage to come forward with the crimes committed against them, they are often treated as the criminal, blamed for the misdeeds of the patriarchy. Then the priesthood perpetrator is sent directly back home to continue the abuse, just like every other day.
"A lack of resources kept prosecutors' hands tied and mouths shut. They only were able to do so much with the reports, which admittedly was minimal in Utah, since the state Legislature only allocated enough funding for one investigator." — The Spectrum"A lack of resources kept prosecutors' hands tied and mouths shut?" Did you intentionally set out to insult the victim/survivors of this abuse? If someone comes forward with allegations of abuse and crimes outside of polygamy, it is not a problem to prosecute. Only when it is a victim inside polygamy those resources are lacking. There have been dozens of reports made to Utah and Arizona authorities by polygamy victim/survivors who were brushed off because there was no will to prosecute. And it should only take ONE investigator to take victims statement, find the necessary evidence, and move forward with prosecuting the perpetrators. And now we find the AG's of Utah and Arizona have created something much more "misdirected and unproductive" than anything Senator Reid concocted by their creation of the so-called 'Safety Net Committee’. Activists were led to believe this group was to offer aid and assistance to polygamy survivors who wanted OUT of the abuses but once again we found a boatload of questionable practices between authorities and polygamist cult members. This so-called Safety Net has done nothing but sabotage the escaped victims of polygamy. Then they provided a platform for polygamists to discuss the decriminalization of polygamy. The ONLY thing the Utah and Arizona AG's have done to date is TELL US what a good job they are doing when in reality they endorsed a committee which gathers all the criminal polygamous cults together to plan for legalizing polygamy and all of this under the guise of freeing the trapped and oppressed. Decriminalizing polygamy would deny every survivor his or her basic human and civil rights. You claim we do not need federal oversight and seem to believe this is a state rights issue and the federal government should stay in Washington DC. That's what the original slavers claimed as well and now you side with the modern day slavers, the polygamist white brotherhood, masquerading as a 'church'. Possibly you've forgotten this so called church is a noted white supremacy hate organization? I say we desperately need not only federal intervention into why the separation of church and state failed so miserably in Utah and Arizona but international help as well. Who supported and protected these criminal white brotherhoods, if not the governments of the two states bowing to the powerful influence of the LDS Church mandate to do nothing: maintain the status quo. The polygamists live in an LDS protectorate, barren areas in the West first settled by LDS polygamists escaping the federal law. These LDS members then became the judicial, legislative, and legal authority who then ran these isolated city and county governments where they allowed any crime against a child to go unnoticed and unprotected, even death. Consider Orrin Hatch and Mike Leavitt, two powerful LDS men who have both stated support for polygamists. I have been to Salt Lake City and met with LDS Quorum member Jeffery R Holland to ask the LDS Priesthood to support services for the women and children fleeing polygamist oppression. Brother Holland then sent me a nice letter informing me that the LDS Church does not get involved in private ventures. Utah and Arizona are the only states I know of where abuse and human slavery are considered a ‘Private Venture’. Since you see nothing wrong with these practices, send your daughter, sister, cousin or Mother into polygamist servitude. Only then will you have the right to voice an opinion of the wonders of being enslaved and abused in the name of eternal salvation (for the abusers) and eternal damnation (for the victims).
Sincerely,
Flora Jessop
Child Victim Advocate
Contact Editorial Page Editor Jennifer Weaver at 435-674-6202 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com. For more commentary on this issue visit www.southernutahblog.com.
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Comments
Jennifer, this is a wonderful topic and post.
I missed the article about the dead children. I find the numbers horrifying. My fear is for the survivors who may have witnessed what happened. What kind of broken people are we going to have to deal with in the future?
Flora, I admire your tenacity and courage. There are issues I feel as strongly about and I think I understand your visceral emotional reaction. I don't necessarily disagree or agree because I don't feel I know enough of the facts of the issues you present.
I have a few questions and comments. First, my experience with Jennifer has been that she tries very hard not to deliberately insult anyone.
I agree with Flora's assessment of LDS church attitudes toward polygamy and sexual crimes. While they are making serious effort, and have come a long way, I have found through personal experience that they will try as hard as possible to side step the issue.
This leads to perpetrators feeling justified and victimized and those who have been abused feeling
that they are at fault, troublemakers.
Flora, I wonder what you make of the polygamous families who proclaim their fathers are prophets and live in poverty and degradation all over southern Utah? We have many of these families in our area. The children are illiterate and live in filth. I've seen it. They are not traditional polygamists, but I fear they are falling under the radar in the hoopla about Jeffs and Colorado City.
Lastly, I wonder why Senators Hatch and Bennett are not aligning themselves with Harry Reid on this? I wonder how much partisanship and the upcoming elections are affecting their decisions.
Posted by: Arlene Ball | September 28, 2006 11:35 AM
I am so glad to learn:
1- There are some that escape and become strong people ready to act upon the challenges and protect to the best of their ability those trying to escape too.
2- The Media is helping (yes, not soon enough) pay attention to the real issues in the poligamist communities.
I am sad to learn:
1- Not much is being done beyond just "paying attention" to what is going on there.
2- All the terrible crimes are still hapening, will continue to happen and we still have not allocated the "resources" (or the will to be honest) to stop them once and for all.
I am sorry that the "religious flag" is interfeeting with true "Justice for all". I have nothing against poligamist as a religion. I am against the crimes that come along with it. I don't believe that is the way it was many years ago when the entire LDS religion was poligamist. Something went sour and it is a shame.
Posted by: Gloria Bertram | September 28, 2006 02:38 PM
I wanted to make a comment to Arlene Ball about her statement
"Flora, I wonder what you make of the polygamous families who proclaim their fathers are prophets and live in poverty and degradation all over southern Utah? We have many of these families in our area. The children are illiterate and live in filth. I've seen it. They are not traditional polygamists, but I fear they are falling under the radar in the hoopla about Jeffs and Colorado City."
I wonder if you realize that most if not all of these polygamist strongholds are made up of people who were excommunicated from the FLDS church for one reason or another? Probably from having a differing opinion from Jeffs. Aren't the FLDS claiming that their leader is a prophet also? You also wrote:
"Flora, I admire your tenacity and courage. There are issues I feel as strongly about and I think I understand your visceral emotional reaction. I don't necessarily disagree or agree because I don't feel I know enough of the facts of the issues you present. "
What I see Flora giving us here is facts. Not a mere emotional reaction. She speaks the truth. Who better than she to tell all those outside of the cult how the cult is run?
Posted by: Stephanie Miller | October 1, 2006 06:30 PM
You're right about Flora's reaction, of course, Stephanie, but those outside of the issue won't understand that. I've advocated with facts in many issues that I feel strongly about and my emotions shine more clearly than facts. I find that neither bad nor good, just a "fact."
I was asking Flora's opinion on all the splinter polygamous groups in southern Utah. I don't think it matters so much how they evolved as how they are mistreating their cildren. I do believe they are flying under the radar and their children live lives of degration and poverty.
Posted by: Arlene Ball | October 3, 2006 08:49 AM
Abuse and neglect are a human issue, not a religious one. It is always so amusing to read comments about the lives of polygamists from people who do not know anything about my life. Flora is an authority on HER life, not mine or those around me. Flora's pain from HER experiences, has made her paint all polygamists with the same broad black brush.
To follow that logic, there must not be any abuse or neglect among the "rest of you", for surely if there is one case there are millions. Yet this month we are reminded about 1% of the population of St George last year that reported domestic violence cases.
The Spectrum did a story about that cemmetary. It has been there for decades. Dedicated to stillborn and baby deaths.
To say that 50% of the babies die is an out and out untruth.
The Safety Net committee is grossly misrepresented in Flora's OP ED. Flora has not been part of that committee. The people in that committee have worked very hard to make help available to those that reach out. All they have to do is make a phone call.
The only agenda the Safety Net meeting has had is to make it easier for those feelings abused to get out. Safety Net certainly is not a pro polygamy group. It is not an anti-polygamy group either. The people there come from ALL walks of life. They have tried to find common ground in order to help those in need.
Do not fear that only the FLDS have had their lives under the microscope. The two states of Arizona & Utah have made sure to equally investigate all things polygamist.
It is easy to hate those who you do not know. It is easy to say "wipe them out". Just remember that we are all Brothers & Sisters in the eyes of God and should treat each other with respect as though the Lord was standing by and watching.
Posted by: AW | October 5, 2006 04:29 PM
I think anyone who cannot be a Dad because he thinks he is a GOD is the worst kind of slave master. Children do not need a physical God, they need parents who will love and protect them not enslave and victimize them. As for those men who claim to be Prophet's, I say that was not a Revelation you had but a hallucination. Many polygamous families live in poverty for the reasons the rest of us do not have more children than we can afford to feed. I have learned that 'family' does not mean those who are supposed to be the ones who love you most are the ones who make you suffer worst and yet this seems to be a common thread of most polygamists. It is also common to isolate and shred a women's self worth as well as destroy any worth within her children, deny them an education, make them work and turn over their paychecks thus ensuring the continuation of the poly family.
As for many polygamous children being overlooked I agree with you. The government seems to believe that if they prosecute Warren Jeffs we will all go on home and be good little housewives and forget about all the children still suffering within polygamy. The problems will not go away by prosecuting WJ they will just continue until UT and AZ prosecutes ALL abusers. WJ is just a handy scapegoat for many including the government, but we are not going away.
Now to the last post:
“Flora's pain from HER experiences, has made her paint all polygamists with the same broad black brush”.
I have not painted anyone at all. It is the polygamists themselves who are using a broad black brush to cover themselves thinking no one will be able to see the truth if they just continue applying a new coat of paint. It is not I who have said that abuse only exists in polygamous homes but rather the polygamists who claim there is NO abuse in ANY polygamist home. Wake up and pull your heads out of the sand. Check the court records for how much abuse does not exist in polygamy and out of polygamy. It is not just children inside of polygamy who are suffering it is children everywhere. America as a nation has failed children.
“To say that 50% of the babies die is an out and out untruth.”
Honey I did not say that 50% of the babies die. I said that 58 unmarked child graves and a death rate of over 50% children…. Since we seem to have trouble comprehending I will clarify for you….
After DOCUMENTING all of the graves in the CC/Hildale cemeteries we discovered that not only were there 58 unmarked child’s graves but also that 58% of all MARKED graves within the community are children between the ages of birth and 10 years of age. Again, 58% OF THE GRAVES ARE CHILDREN 10 AND YOUNGER. I for one wholeheartedly wish that this was not true but sadly this is fact written in headstone.
Now to the SAFETY NET!
For those who think I am not involved, I am involved in picking up the pieces of the failed SAFTEY NET. There are many women and children who have been turned down for help through this NET and others who are given help only to lose their children to the abuse they fled. Here are a FEW of the things the NET resources have provided:
Demand children be given visitation to the abusive husband/father.
Refusal to help women obtain orders of protection
Threaten women with loss of legal representation if they turn to other advocacy organizations for help
Net members gaining access to DV services for the abusive FA and the MO is the one with the bruises
Refusal of aid to mothers w/newborns that are living on the streets because father is also trying to exit polygamy and they do not help women if she has a man in her life.
Refusal of aid to mothers due to unsubstantiated reports of abuse from the abusive husband who is a convicted felon
Programs set up by this committee seem to serve those not exiting polygamy but rather those trying to ensure no one can get out. A common topic of discussion at these meetings is also “How do we decriminalize polygamy?” And you say I have misrepresented it?
“Just remember that we are all Brothers & Sisters in the eyes of God and should treat each other with respect “
Sweetheart, we are not the ones THROWING OUR KIDS AWAY!!!!!!
Finally, children growing up in polygamy do not really know anything about Love, Family, God, Marriage, Safety or Freedom.
Imagine how much bonding a Mom and newborn get when she has 10 other children to care for.
Imagine 20 children so desperate for daddy's love, acceptance and attention that he gets stressed and smiles turn to frowns and fists.
Imagine children raising children because Mom is busy cooking, sewing, or having another child.
Imagine growing up thinking the very person you are taught is your God is the one hurting you.
Imagine being taught to treat girls as snakes and the next day thinking you can love a wife.
Imagine being taught women cannot get to heaven without her husbands’ permission and living with the competition, jealousy and abuses of sister wives who take out their frustrations on you and your children.
Imagine safety comes only when you climb under a car and hide on a hot July summer day.
Imagine freedom of choice not as a gun to your head but rather a gun to your soul.
Imagine begging God on your knees to let you die rather than let the pain inside you continue.
Imagine being told your are Evil for standing up and stopping the beatings upon your children.
Imagine what it takes for a child to think Hell would be better than Heaven.
Imagine everyone you know treating you as though you are dead for choosing NOT to live as they do.
Imagine Polygamy!
Posted by: Flora Jessop | October 8, 2006 03:57 AM
I don't hate polygamists.
I know a lot of the non-traditional ? polygamists, I'm surrounded by them in the area I reside, and they all reflect the same general air of malaise.
Their homes are filthy, their children are uneducated and neglected.
This has nothing to do with hate, this has to do with personal experience.
Either people who would live like that no matter what are attracted to the alternative lifestyle, or the lifestyle encourages a low-life type of life.
Either way, it's true. I know a lot of "plygs" and I don't know any who live anything near a productive life.
Posted by: Arlene Ball | October 8, 2006 09:11 AM
Bush is forever saying that democracies do not invade other countries and start wars. Well, he did just that. He invaded Iraq, started a war, and killed people. What do you think? Why has bush turned our country from a country of hope and prosperity to a country of belligerence and fear.
Are we safer today than we were before?
The more people that the government puts in jails, the safer we are told to think we are. The real terrorists are wherever they are, but they aren't living in a country with bars on the windows. We are.
Posted by: Antibush | February 17, 2007 05:52 AM