Mo'Nique: Big 'Push' Help Tell Of Her Own Incest

By Brennan Williams, BlackVoices.com

Over the past 10 years, Mo'Nique has become one of the foremost funny-woman in Hollywood.

But the plus-sized comedienne's recent revelation of teenage sex abuse is no laughing matter.

In the October issue of 'Essence,' the Baltimore native reveals that she was sexually abused by her brother at the tender age of seven.

"I was molested by my older brother," she tells writer Audrey Edwards during one of her most candid interviews ever. "And even when I confronted him and told my parents, he said I was lying, and nothing was really done."

'The Parkers' star said that her brother molested her four times over the course of four years, using certain tactics such as candy to lure her into the bathroom.

Her parents, she said, were in disbelief, but she didn't hold them accountable "because me and my brother were both their children, and I just don't know the kind of position they felt they were in."

However, the way her parents handled the situation left her bewildered.


"My father was very upset, but it never got mentioned again," she added. "I'll never forget my mother saying, 'If it's true, it will surface again,' and I remember thinking, 'Why would I lie? Why is there even an if in this?' I was angry with them for so long, because I felt as if they should have seen what was happening."

Mo'Nique's alleged sexual abuse came full circle when playing her latest role as an abusive parent in Lee Daniels'; forthcoming film, 'Push.' Based on the seminal 1996 novel of the same name by Sapphire, the story is a graphic account of a young black woman growing up in a cycle of incest and abuse.

"My brother was a monster to me," she commented. "When Lee [Daniels] would say 'Action,' I became my brother."

Her brother, she said went on to serve 15 years in prison for sexually abusing another girl and never made amends for the abuse.

"He still acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about," she vented in the magazine, which hit newsstands today."So screw hurting your feelings. You need to get your feelings hurt, and you need to get some help."

Mo'Nique, who serves as Guest Editor of the magazine, a special issue dedicated to plus-sized women, admitted to being nervous about telling her painful truth but felt it was her duty.

"It makes me nervous. It's like, Oh, God, what will it do to him when people read this? And then another part of me is like, Goddamn it, it's my obligation to let people know, and to tell women to watch their children."


Mo'Nique is very brave to share her story with the world, and once again parents please listen and pay attention to your kids. The signs of sex abuse are always there.

If you or anyone you know are going through or have gone through this please contact the following organizations online.

rainn.org, nca-online.org,ncvc.org and jfcadvocacy.org.

Oliver O'Grady

Just to let you know our president, president Bush pardoned this bastard.


Oliver O'Grady (born 1946) is a former Irish Roman Catholic priest who has raped, molested and abused many children in California from 1973 onwards. He wrote a letter of confession to parents in 1976 and a copy was given to the Bishop of Stockton at that time.

Early life

Born in Limerick, Ireland, O'Grady was ordained into the priesthood at seminary in Thurles, County Tipperary during the late 1960s. He emigrated to the United States in 1971.^[1] He served as a priest at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi, California from 1971 to 1978. He later served at Church of the Presentation in Stockton, California, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock, California, St. Andrew's Parish San Andreas, California, and St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Hughson, California.^[2] He later claimed to having been himself molested by a priest at the age of 10, and that he was involved in sexual abuse in his own family, both as perpetrator and victim.

Crimes

In 1993 he was convicted on four counts of "lewd and lascivious acts" on two minors, the brothers John and James Howard, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Attorney Jeff Anderson said the Howard brothers were repeatedly molested between 1978 and 1991, from age three to 13. Anderson argued that church officials knew that O'Grady had abused children as early as 1976 and 1984, but had done nothing. In 1998 a civil jury ordered the Catholic Diocese of Stockton to pay US$30 million in damages to the brothers. A judge later reduced the amount to $7 million.^[4] O'Grady was paroled from prison in 2000 after serving seven years, and went to live in Ireland after being deported from the United States.

In a 2005 video taped deposition, O'Grady revealed that he had abused as many as 25 children in and around Northern California.^[5] Recently, there have been lawsuits filed accusing O'Grady of abusing children while even in the seminary in Ireland.

Deliver Us From Evil

O'Grady is the subject of the 2006 Academy Award-nominated documentary, Deliver Us From Evil. In the film, O'Grady states, "I want to promise myself this is going to be the most honest confession of my life." He then details how he preyed on children, and claims that church officials knew about his abuses, but protected him by moving him from parish to parish.^[6][7] When questioned whether his bishop knew that he had abused children in 1976 and before, O'Grady confirmed this was true, and despite that he was made pastor of another parish.

Uganda: Child Sexual Abuse Eating Our Future Away

By: Anslem Wandega

The media recently reported various cases of child sexual abuse in Uganda. This social upheaval continues to rank high amongst other forms of child abuse in our country today.

In traditional African society, defilement was rarely heard of. It may, however, have been happening but the society at large had created a system where children were protected through many avenues, ranging from stringent taboos centered on relationships and living arrangements.

Anybody who touched a child inappropriately or even made an attempt to sleep with that child was not only considered an imbecile, but was severely punished by the society. Such a "societal predator" was better seen dead than alive by society members.

These days, things have changed! Our society's most trusted individuals-parents, relatives, church leaders, friends, teachers, etc have turned to wreak havoc on children. In faith-based institutions, some men of god have not escaped Satan's temptations as they have turned to vulnerable children for sexual gratification.

Schools which used to be safe havens for children have turned into places where teachers admire their pupils, proceed to establish sexual relationships with them only to be discovered when the girls get pregnant.

The dot com era has also brought with it pornography. Urban and peri-urban youths and adults after enjoying seeing pornographic materials in the mushrooming video dens and internet cafes resort to sexual abuse of children.

Some parents fear to report child sexual abuse in cases where alleged offenders or their relatives are richer or are in positions of higher authority. Others fear the cost involved in facilitating the police to arrest the alleged offenders and in meeting related medical exam fees. Many others fear "bringing shame" to their families when their close relatives are found to have defiled their children.

Sexually abused children are at a risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Pregnant teenagers who abort and do not receive proper treatment and support in time to save them from the complications of an aborted pregnancy die.

These children also suffer long term psychological trauma, which manifests in form of pelvic pains, headaches, asthma and gynecological problems. Some in the long run, even fail to make the best sexual and reproductive health decisions for themselves, and are often unable as adults to negotiate safe sex, or enjoy intimacy relationships. Many others accept victimization as an inevitable aspect of being female whereas others fail to trust even their husbands viewing them as potential defilers.

This should end or else children will continue to suffer and regard sexual abuse as normal and continue to be abused.

We urgently need a strong law against pornography so as to shield children from pornography-induced sexual abuse. The government should then earmark substantial financial and other resources to enforce it as well as other laws against child sexual abuse.

There is a need to build the capacity of non-governmental and governmental institutions to offer child-friendly services to enable child-victims of sexual abuse to return to normalcy. Other programs to uplift the social and economic standards of vulnerable families and encourage reportage of child sexual abuse with ease should be developed and executed.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) in one of his most popular pieces wrote that the only opportunity for evil to prevail is when good people sit back and watch. Time to save our society from becoming extinct is now.

Mr Wandega is a development worker in Addis Ababa , Ethiopi

Project Walk Across Oregon – Eliminate Oregon’s Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse

Project Walk Across Oregon – Eliminate Oregon’s Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse

Month-long Walk Event to Raise Awareness and Funds for Wintre’s Wishes Foundation and Goals to Eliminate Child Sexual Abuse in Oregon

PORTLAND, Oregon -- Join or support Project Walk Across Oregon, beginning Monday, September 1 in Ashland and ending Sunday, September 28 in Portland. Project Walk Across Oregon is raising awareness and support to eliminate Oregon’s statute of limitations on child sexual abuse. Detailed itinerary schedule is listed on Wintre’s Wishes Foundation website.

Presently, Oregon is 1 of 34 states in the nation that sets statutes of limitations on sexual abuse crimes. That means unprosecuted perpetrators are allowed to continue their abuse to a mostly young and silent group of victims – children without legal recourse. Project Walk Across Oregon is part of an effort to pass a bill in the 2009 Oregon Legislature that will eliminate the statue of limitations for criminal prosecution of sexual abuse.

"The Project Walk Across Oregon is one way Wintre’s Wishes Foundation is raising awareness about a dark, silent epidemic," said Matthew Nees, co-founder of Wintre’s Wishes Foundation. "Our goal is to bring individuals and families together to break down the stigmas associated with sex abuse and to leverage a platform where our voice stands against perpetrators and offenders. Wintre’s(cq) Wishes Foundation is dedicated to SUPPORT, PREVENTION and ADVOCACY for survivors and their supporters. We want the Oregon public to know there are people and organizations in their community working together to make Oregon safer for children and put an end to this heinous crime."

Wintre’s (cq) Wishes Foundation, an Oregon organization dedicated to raising awareness and support survivors of sexual abuse, and NAPSAC (National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children) are sponsors of the walk. Donations are accepted and supporters are welcome to join the walk at any point along the way.

For more information, contact:
Matthew NeesCo-founder, Wintre’s Wishes Foundation (http://www.wintreswishes.org/)6107 SW Murray Blvd, #406Beaverton, OR 97008503.780.1965mattn@wintreswishes.org

BACKGROUND:

Child sex abuse is a crime that usually stays hidden until the victim is old enough or strong enough to speak out about it. Approximately 95% of victims of child abuse are 18 years old and younger; 51% of them are under 12 years of age. The mean age for reported sex abuse crimes is 9 years old. At least 90% of reported crimes are by someone close to the family, and yet 88% of sex abuse crimes still go unreported. Because of the nature of these crimes, victims often don’t come forward with information about them until they are adults. By the time they are reported, if a state has a statute of limitations for the crime, such as Oregon, there is no recourse for the victim.

The effects of child sex abuse do not stop when the actual abuse ends. The repercussions are often life long and debilitating. Consequences of child sex abuse on the survivor manifest in health and behavior problems. Victims experience PTSD, school and learning problems. They may develop more anxiety disorders and are more likely to develop depressive disorders as adults. It is often difficult to make the transition to adulthood. Many seek out self-medication or inappropriate sexual behaviors. They may become abusers themselves, and commit other crimes, as well.

Child sex abuse advocates note that murder has no statute of limitations and believe that child sex abuse is equally heinous and should not be restricted by a statute of limitations. It is to this end that Project Walk Across Oregon and Wintre’s(cq) Wishes Foundation is dedicating its efforts to pass a law in Oregon that would eliminate all statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes.

About Wintre’s Wishes Foundation (http://www.wintreswishes.org/):

The Wintre’s Wishes Foundation is an organization developed to raise awareness[and eyebrows] of child sexual abuse in Oregon. Wintre’s Wishes Foundation is dedicated to SUPPORT, PREVENTION and ADVOCACY for survivors and their supporters. Our goal is to bring individuals and families together to break down the stigmas associated with sex abuse and to leverage a platform where our voice stands against perpetrators and offenders. All money raised through this foundation goes to support survivors and prevention of further sex abuse.

Through the Wintre's Wishes Foundation, we seek to:


Educate adults on the techniques used by sex offenders to identify and groom children, and techniques they use to avoid getting caught and prosecuted.

Make a difference for Oregon's children by eliminating the statute of limitations on reporting and prosecuting sex offenders.

Work with other victim's rights groups to ensure victim's and families of victims voices will be heard in our courtrooms.

Raise money to help cover some of the therapy costs for survivors who do not have the resources.

Contact:b
Matt Nees, Wintre’s Wishes Foundation, www.wintreswishes.org mattn@wintreswishes.org, 503.780.1965