The top headlines of the news today describe a situation in Texas that may be the biggest child custody case in U.S. history and has many Texans concerned. Their main question is “How can something like this be happening right under our noses?” The spotlight is centered on the Mormon community and is not likely to extinguish any time soon.
It is not certain exactly how many women and children were taken from the compound into state custody, but officials have said that interaction with the children is a curious thing. They have no concept of what a crayon is, no toys, and a hostility toward outsiders- believing that they are the ‘devil’ and told to avoid them AT ALL COSTS.
The main girl of 16 who originally called and filed a complaint of abuse against the group- has vanished into thin air as well as another female caller from the Colorado area. Police are beginning to suspect that maybe she didn’t exist at all, when maybe they should suspect foul play in her disappearance instead.
The main leader is in jail and a female representative of the women in the group spoke to reporters in an apparently coached speech displayed on television. She used exact figures, big words, and spoke like a politician of the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ as well as comparing their confinement to the Jews of Nazi Germany extermination camps.
All this media coverage has authorities and residents of Utah examining their own dismissal of what may be happening with child sexual exploitation in the name of this religion.
Here is an excellent comment found on the Times Online, about the topic:
I’m currently living on Baker Street, San Angelo, West Texas and Fort Concho, where the 417 children plus various mothers from the FLDS “Yearn For Zion” sect are being protected, is at the end of this street.
I’m a British author (Sarah Holland, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/sarah-holland/ and I can SEE these women and children with my own eyes every time I drive or cycle past the fort. I’m appalled at some of the comments I read above from my countrymen back home in England. The women and children at the Fort are absolutely terrified of what’s happening to them. They’ve been brainwashed on an horrific scale, trained to believe sexual abuse of minors is God’s dearest wish and that if an elderly man wants to have full sexual intercourse with lots of different 12 year old girls in his care this is a cause for joyous celebration.
People here are saying, rightly, that this is like the M. Night Shyamalan film THE VILLAGE, where an entire community do not realize the world outside exist
Sarah Holland, San Angelo, TX 76903, USA
Thank you Sarah for giving us a realistic view.
