Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

We need more advocates in all communities

Now granted, I don't really know the situation, so this man might be an absolute nutjob for all I know, but he seems to be honestly bringing to light child sexual abuse within his community. And after all, it exists in every community, regardless of religion or culture. So I'm glad to see he is expected to recover. He's certainly very outspoken, has been ostracised by many in the community (a Hasidic ambulance service apparently wouldn't pick him up; he had to wait for the EMS, according to one report I saw), and he's angered many with his very public accusations. But someone has to be an advocate for children abused in this and every setting, and they shouldn't have people attacking them in the streets. The attack comes just a day after the conviction of Nechemya Weberman, who was accused of sexually abusing a girl who had come to him for counselling.

Chemical Thrown at Rabbi Who Aided Victims of Abuse
An outspoken advocate for child sexual abuse victims in the Satmar Hasidic community was injured by a chemical he believed to be bleach that was thrown in his face as he walked down the street in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood on Tuesday.

The advocate, Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, who runs a Web site and telephone call-in line that publicizes claims of sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community, said in an interview at the hospital where he was treated that he was walking on Roebling Street about noon when a man came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“He has a cup of bleach,” Rabbi Rosenberg said, adding that he recognized the man. “And then he says ‘whoops’ and throws it in my face and walks off.”

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