Press Release – Child Sexual Abuse in the Black Community

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Child Sexual Abuse Rampant in Black Community: Survey Seeks to Uncover Shocking Secrets of Pedophiles and Pain of Silent Victims

Breakthrough survey examines the hidden lives of pedophiles, the secrets families keep, and the long-term impact child sexual abuse has on Black children and African American communities.

OAKLAND CALIFORNIA – November 28, 2011 –  Social researcher and columnist Deborrah Cooper launched a groundbreaking survey this week, sparking a great deal of conversation about child sexual abuse on Black blogs and social media sites around the web. The survey, entitled “Sexual Abuse of Minor Children in the Black Community,” seeks to uncover hidden secrets and unspoken truths about generational pedophilia amongst African Americans.

Statistics on child sexual abuse are grim: The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2000) reports that 67% of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were juveniles (under the age of 18); 34% of all victims were under age 12.  Most children are abused by someone they know, love and trust, with 96% of reported rape survivors under age 12 knowing their attacker personally: 4% of the offenders were strangers, 20% were biological fathers, 16% were other relatives, and 50% were acquaintances or friends.

“Over the past few years we’ve witnessed dozens of news reports detailing the sexual assaults on Black children and molestation of non-Black children by Black pedophiles. Many of the perpetrators have been influential people that no one would ever suspect of being a danger to children,” said Cooper. “Even with all this happening around us, to date there have been no studies specifically focusing on uncovering sexual abuse in the African American community, and the impact child sexual abuse has on Black men and women as they mature into adulthood. Until now, that is!” Cooper added.

Child abuse statistics report that 39 million Americans are survivors of childhood sexual abuse.  “I think that number is very conservative,” Cooper stated. “Since most children don’t report their abuse until years later, if at all, I believe this statistic represents just a drop in the bucket. Sadly, many African Americans believe that these types of things happen only in White families and therefore such statistics don’t pertain to ‘us’. However, we only have to look at how many 12, 13 and 14 year old girls are raped and impregnated by adult men to see how widespread this problem is in the Black community.”

In spite of the erroneous belief that these things don’t happen in Black households or amongst the educated middle or upper class, studies have found no differences in the prevalence of child sexual abuse among different social classes or races.

“Child sexual abuse is a dirty little secret in Black America” Cooper continued. “I want the secret to come out and the perpetrators of these crimes to be exposed. In the survey victims share, sometimes for the first time in their lives, the story of their molestation – the types of abuse they endured, their relationship to the perpetrator, the long-term emotional and mental ramifications of being abused, and the real reasons they didn’t tell.”

The study will also investigate the socialization of Black women that encourages them to keep family secrets of ongoing sexual abuse from generation to generation.

Preliminary results indicate that Black parents must double their efforts to educate their offspring about the behaviors that constitute sexual abuse. The vast majority of the respondents to date indicated that they didn’t tell about their abuse when it happened because they had no idea that what was being done to them was wrong.

“Parents must be clear that sexual abuse includes many different types of sexual activity, including peeping, sexually oriented conversation, fondling, forced touching of the genitals of the abuser, vaginal, anal, or oral rape and forcing children to watch or participate in pornography, prostitution or sex acts. Parents that refuse to educate their offspring about these realities are setting their children up to become victims” warned Cooper.

“Black children across the nation are being robbed of their innocence. It bothers me that so many Black families are more concerned about what people will say, protecting their family image and the assailant’s reputation instead of focusing on the children these people have hurt. We must all become more informed about how pedophiles have victimized children in the past, so we can do more to protect our young in the future.”

The landmark Sexual Abuse of Minor Children in the Black Community survey is completely anonymous and available on Surviving Dating.Com until March 15, 2012. To schedule an interview, please call 510-863-0320.

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