So, today I thought I would follow up on my last post about dropping off by checking in lol. No, but seriously, my goal was to stay off of polarizing and toxic social media outlets. Thankfully this has not been one of them. I just want to say I fell off the wagon Sunday. I was feeling some guilt about how this is no time to sit this things out. I was feeling useless, hence powerless, and this week was so utterly challenging with everything that has been happening in Kenosha. It has been a doozie.
Special note: I am a little behind on this blog post (my bad). I pooled a lot of resources into this but let’s just take this blog post as a start from Kenosha and the RNC and go from there. Also, worth mentioning, how shock events like Kenosha seem “so yesterday” and just fly off of the radar because something new is happening. Very telling of the troubling times that we are in.
I was glad to have a social media cleanse because I did not have to see which of my friends and relatives were hailing Kyle Rittenhouse as a hero. I also did not catch the comments and posts from friends and family over their inspired feeling of enthusiasm from that “Hatch” job at the RNC. I also WISH that I were a gullible person. I’d truly be a happier person if I could swallow that pill that would make me believe the Corona virus was truly behind me now and that was all in the past.
I did catch some highlights from the RNC and I believe Dan Rather hit the nail on the head when he tweeted: ” The Trump re-election strategy seem to be to argue that only Donald Trump can save America from Donald Trump’s America.” Okay, I know I’m on a roll and I’ll try my hardest to pull it back now.
I also saw a meme about a white woman falling apart because this fight against racism is so exhausting. Like a blubbering idiot she was basically asking when one gets a break or when it’s over. Ouch. I felt that. My last blog post was about how I needed to take a break from everything, more self care, more turning to god, because there has been so much overwhelm from so much that is happening in this nation and the world right now.
The answer from a Black person for “when do you take a break?” or “where does the racism end?” is there are no breaks, and racism has been a lifetime struggle, a multi-generational lifetime struggle. I still hear the call for self care, taking the time to grieve, turning things over to a higher power when emotional burdens becomes far too great to bear that are universal, but I’d have to be some kind of naive if I couldn’t see that some of us are more in need of it than others. Self care is great, but it’s not enough just to lighten your load if you see another person carrying and you have the capacity to help ease their burden too.
I am so torn. I was fooling myself to believe that maybe I could sit things out for the next three months until election time. My excuse was that I live in a deep red State. There are limited electoral votes here, my hands are tied. The best I can hope for is some shade of purple. If I were in a swing state then I’d have to be fighting with everything I had until the end. I’d also accepted the idea that every one knows where they stand now, and there is no changing that. It felt like wasted energy. I even tried to justify my actions by saying I need self care so that I can be strong for those who are campaigning to the end when it comes their time to be tired. I also needed to mentally prepare myself for alternate outcomes.
The truth is, I have never really been very partisan. I’m just not ready for fascism and I’d settle for any truly diplomatic person at this point. Not divisive tactics, not this gaslighting, not this violation of sacred trust continuously out in the open, not this encouragement of a race war, not this emboldenment of private militias, or skewed narratives about who are the real domestic terrorists, not this skewing of scientific data for the sake of public health. An absolute terrifying thought: If Trump wins we get these private militias, if Trump loses we get these private militias. I fear the time to nip this in the bud has past. That train has already left the station. Pandora’s box has been opened.
Now, as I am updating and editing this post, I ran across a story on CNN about the Portland shooter who killed Trump supporter and Proud Boy Aaron Jay Danielson titled, “Suspect in fatal Portland shooting of right wing activist killed during attempted arrest, US marshals say.” This was a breaking story, where all information is still forthcoming, so I will link below. What I find most interesting about all of this is that Jacob Blake, and suspected killer Michael Reinoehl dead. No jury, no trial, neither of these individuals had their day in court.
From current information, what I am gathering is that law enforcement officials acted as judge, jury, and executioner right there on the spot for Blake and Reinoehl. While white nationalist Kyle Rittenhouse, is still very much alive and is even being hailed a hero. There is something about all of this that bothers me immensely. New information is still forthcoming and I’m just saying, none of this is a good look for our country right now. I also want to add that I do not condone violence from either side.
I did post recently about Mark Zuckerberg and how Facebook did not remove a call for people to take up arms in Kenosha. John Oliver recently traced the actions of Kenosha shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse, to Tucker Carlson that were so far fetched that they were very spot on. Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones have been adding fuel to the fire. I’d thought about quoting their fiery remarks that also helped to encourage this vigilantism but decided against it. I will link below.
As far as partisan conventions go, It is good to know what the other side is up to. I tried to remain respectful during the RNC. The DNC had their moment, the RNC then takes their turn. This is democracy, this is how democracy is supposed to work, but when I saw all that political theatre at the White house on display illegally, I was just floored. This is what fascists do. They flaunt their rule breaking out in the open and expect the masses to embrace it as “completely normal.” It is testing boundaries out in the open.
This is where I get triggered. I am an abuse survivor. Do you know what kind of sick game sexual predators play out in the open? If you don’t know, count yourself as one of the lucky ones, if you do know, I don’t have to explain it to you. When you know you know. It is all a part of the same toxic energy.
Ugh. I guess I am going to elaborate. Sexual predators will pull their predatory behavior out in public right under people’s noses to see if they can get away with it. It’s fun for them to watch those observing question their own concept of reality, and to see if their victims will sit their mute and dumbstruck, mine did.
I tell you what, if I ever see ANYONE pulling that crap on someone in front of me at a pool, bus, subway, park, I am not going to question MY perception of something I just saw with my own eyes. I will call the mother F’er out and my advice to all is that if you ever see something that you feel is inappropriate happening before your very eyes, you should call it out too.
With all this recent attention to Save the Children, I thought I would just throw that little blurb in here. One does not have to be partisan to be alert to their surroundings and PLEASE if your intuition is telling you something is off when it comes to a minor child, listen to it, investigate further, confront if necessary. Also, can someone please stop with the Qanon conspiracy crap that Donald Trump is the sole savior of children and that the alternate side cares so little about them? Get real. I don’t know a single rational person from both sides of the aisle who can not get behind saving children from sexual abuse, exploitation, or human trafficking.
I read something the other day about Qanon and I so felt it. I can tell you what Qanon has been accomplishing for sexual abuse survivors who have lived it. “Qanon is spiritual bypassing that undermines the immense undertaking of sexual violence survivors to relive their trauma by coming forward [to] endure the victim-blaming scrutiny that follows.” Explained, this means that true survivors can see there is an alternate agenda here that is not about saving children. These alternate narratives are so far out in left field nobody is near the bull’s eye. I am talking about the eye of a storm where most children are in danger. Meanwhile Q has made it mainstream instead, to chase down fictitious narratives and phantom fallacies.
This has forced former abuse survivors to come out and say, “hey…this is not how it happened for me, this has not been my experience, I don’t think it happens in this way…” and BINGO you’ve got Q conspirators jumping all over them telling them they don’t know what the hell they are talking about, forcing abuse survivors to be victimized twice.
This whole narrative with the the Q crew has been traumatizing for a lot of people. Like, legit, if anyone really cares about what sexual trauma does to children, the long term detriment it brings to them throughout life, and where the real danger lies then please, please, please, sit down and talk to survivors. If a survivor has felt the overlying pressure to share their story because these fictitious narratives have forced it from their mouths, then PLEASE do not take their words and trample them beneath your feet.
I have quit attending church with “other sisters” for this very reason. I’ve sat with other women who are experiencing all these triggers that I speak of now, and we get it. We get each other. WE ARE ANGRY. We are beyond angry. We’re gathering in huddles calling these women “cross fit Karens” and “oily Bitches” trying to be okay, because this is not okay. Like legit, I want to scream in their faces, “spare me your illuminated knowledge you proclaim to know so much about when you have never been bogged down in this mire!”
It bothers me that I’m angry. It bothers me that I’ve stereotyped these women. It shouldn’t have to be this way. In an ideal world, women would stand together as allies. It bothers me that White suburban women are being targeted right now, their worst fears preyed upon, in a way that is absolutely sinister. It bothers me more that certain women are falling for it hook, line, and sinker.
I must now say that I found the back history on RNC speaker Abby Johnson to be troubling when it comes to the female vote. I find it even more disturbing that it would come on the tails of Trump pardoning Susan B. Anthony. I even fact checked Johnson’s proclaimed voting philosophy via Snopes. It’ all there. Johnson supports household voting, where each household gets one vote. If a husband and wife are divided on a vote her solution would be “In a godly household, the husband would get the final say.” All of this was tweeted by herself on May 2, 2020.
Say what you will, about her anti-abortion stance, but her voting philosophy should sound the alarm for female voters nationwide. I can only view it as an immense conflict of interest if Trump is pardoning Susan B. Anthony, which can only be interpreted as political theatre if you are featuring a speaker who goes against everything that Susan B. Anthony fought for.
I must also throw in a jab about the gift that has been offered by Trump to White suburban women such as myself. Might I also add that these gifts that are being offered are fear based. Trump stated on Twitter, “the suburban housewife will be voting for me”… “they want safety and are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood.” Okay, Trump don’t do me any favors.
Politico is reporting that the gap for suburban voters (and white, female, suburban voters) is shortening. They are even reporting that many are questioning his gambit of “hellish predictions of rampant crime coming to the suburbs” and “forced low income housing driving down suburban property values.” These methods procured by Trump are being scrutinized because the abandonment of white Suburban women-many of whom are college educated who had previously voted for him, will not be brought back by “racially divisive rhetoric” or “outmoded gender norms” when these talking points are what have driven these women away in the first place.
I must bring this blog post full circle now and revisit the fear based Q-rhetoric that is also targeted towards white suburban women, particularly women who are mothers that particularly preys upon our most protective instincts when it comes to our children. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this Q stuff seems like an ominous effort to exalt a savior dignitary based off of every mother’s worst nightmare. I am not going to downplay that human trafficking is a problem and that sexual predators exist. I’m not going to downplay that our children are being exploited on line.
Child sex-trafficking is valid, legit, and disturbing enough without adding on additional conspiracies like underground tunnels beneath Covid hospitals where movie stars or politicians are waiting to harvest children. There has recently been some news coming from Georgia where 15 sex-trafficked children were recovered among 39 missing children, and of the 39, 26 were considered endangered.
I might also add that this operation led to the arrest of nine people, some of whom face sex trafficking charges. How many of the nine are facing sex- trafficking charges is unknown. Other charges that are being brought up among the nine include “parental kidnapping, registered sex-offender violations, drug and weapons possession, and custodial interference” (Springfield News-Sun).
The Springfield News-Sun, also reported that “of the 421,000 children missing in the US, 91% are considered endangered runaways”…” and about one sixth of those are likely to become sex-trafficking victims.” When combing through this story my ultimate conclusion was not 39 children were sex trafficked by nine people. It was 15 children were being sex trafficked by an unknown amount of people out of the number nine. ANY AMOUNT is not okay. Each child is precious and worth saving. Any sex offender who is caught and apprehended is a remarkable victory and absolutely commendable.
Excellent work, and nearly every media outlet liberal and conservative have reported on this (a simple Google search will confirm this) despite accusations that “only the right” or the “Q-crew” care about children and the left has remained silent. I resent that statement.
This has also brought up a prior sting operation that happened in Michigan, that yet again the left is being accused of being silent about that happened two years ago. Hence, goes the news from Michigan “Authorities find 123 missing children in just ONE day during a Michigan sex-trafficking operation” (MSN). Okay, I saw multiple friends post this on social media and my first reaction was “OMG. 123 children were all found in one day who were being sex-trafficked?” I am telling you, my panic button was pushed.
I decided to investigate this story further. Also it took me a moment to realize that this story was from two years ago, because the way it was presented to me, made me think that this was all happening in the now (not that it really matters when heinous events have occurred because they are equally heinous). I was just gobsmacked because I thought this event in Michigan and Georgia had happened simultaneously. Anyway, I ran across two other headlines that didn’t necessarily put my mind at ease, but did soften the blow to a fraction of a degree.
In conjuncture with the story provided by MSN, I read these headlines, “No, 123 Michigan Children were not being Trafficked” (Deadline Detroit) and “U.S Marshals Service Says it recovered 123 Missing Michigan Children, but did it?” (Huffington Post). According to The Huffington Post, only four of the 123 missing children were actually missing. The majority of the children had been missing, but had not been reported as returned home from their guardians.
In essence, the reporting on the recovery of these 123 children had largely been an embellished press release. The press release did say that “three cases were listed as possible sex trafficking cases, and one homeless teen was transported back to the command post.” There were some runaways and some children that had been homeschooled. A large portion of these were not roaming the streets or in the hands of criminals but were found with their guardians. My biggest question is, “Why all these loose ends when it comes to children?”
Since I started the writing of this blog post, new information has come forward about the Georgia recovery effort. Snopes ran a story titled, “Were 39 Children Found in a Trailer in Georgia?” The final analysis was 13 of the 29 were verified in safe locations and 26 of the others were rescued from various locations, so they were not all found in one trailer.
Snopes stated that they had reached out to the USMS, and reported, “The other children were victims of parental kidnappings, children who absconded from the Division of Family and Children Services (DFACS), Department of Juvenile Justice custody, and were believed to be in danger or critically missing. A majority of the children were runaways who fell into the human trafficking realm.” Again, with the runaways and a most recent FBI statistic was given.
According to that statistic, “there were 421,394 reported cases of missing people below the age of 18 in the U.S. in 2019. Out of those, 90 to 91% were considered endangered runaways…and one in six of those endangered runaways were likely to become victims of sex trafficking.” I am not trying to undermine the notion that every child found should not be a cause for celebration, these recovery efforts to ensure the safety and well being of children are vital.
The point I am trying to drive home is that maybe what is happening with human trafficking and missing children doesn’t exactly look like the dramatizations we are being conditioned to believe all the time. As a parent, I should be leery and watchful yes, but I don’t need to be freaking out that 39 children were all being sex-trafficked in one trailer in Georgia in conjunction with 123 sex-trafficked children in Michigan. The real bottom line is as leery as I should be about stranger danger, most of the real sexual predators my children could encounter would statistically be someone they know.
I would recommend to anyone that they should do some thorough research on child sex-trafficking statistics and NO, Qanon or anything else dipped in conspiracy would not be the best place to start. I did run across some valuable statistics obtained by the CTDC (Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative). Even I was surprised to discover that “Family Members are involved in nearly half of all child sex-trafficking cases.” Other statistics were given for intimate partners. friends, or other, as well as statistics for forced labor and the main methods of control that are used by initiators.
Also, I saw a tweet the other day. Of course child sex-trafficking information should not be obtained from a tweet, meme, or even a chintzy low budget YouTube video for that matter but it did address the obvious that many of the Q folk seem to be ignoring, and that is-that our government lost track of countless children and there are some serious accusations coming out about ICE right now.
Claims about non-consensual hysterectomies should sound the alarm for every person who has also been sounding the alarm for organ harvesting. See more research pertaining to mass sterilization and early genocide. If it turns out this is not really how it’s happening now, it most certainly has happened in the past. I wish this were all fictitious fantasy. I am absolutely petrified, but what scares me the most, is that this is becoming just another day with this administration, and that everyone is becoming conditioned to this new unthinkable.
So this was the Tweet: “Why do the Qanon folks never talk about the fact that in the last 5 years there have been almost 5,000 cases of REPORTED child sexual abuse by ICE?”
One highlighted response caught me right in the feels and reiterates a point I’d been trying to hammer out earlier: “If they actually cared about children, they’d be focusing on the fact that the majority of sex abuse victims know their abuser. It’s not some shadowy org abusing children, it’s uncle Bob. ” Granted, shadow figures do exist, but no doubt, they are not the bulk of it.
Also, it is absolutely saddening the number of children in border detention centers who have had to defend themselves in court. I read a disturbing article about immigrants in a detention center that had been impacted by Hurricane Laura titled, “Hurricane Laura Floods ICE Jails in Louisiana as asylum seekers from Cameroon Protest Conditions.” According to a discussion lead by Democracy Now, detainees stated that in the wake of the Hurricane “two facilities flooded with urine and feces and lack[ed] electricity, clean food or water.” My question was, “were there any children involved?” Where’s the outrage from the Q crew now? Where is the outrage from anyone who can clearly see human rights violations, and no, I’m not talking about not wearing a mask.
Somebody brought up some interesting points about sex trafficking and I really had to ponder and sit with them for awhile. It wasn’t easy, but it made me aware that to address sex-trafficking we also need to address other issues that may make us uncomfortable such as rejected LBGTQ kids as runaways, inter-country adoptions (its not all Angelina Jolie) foster care, deeper vetting of domestic adoptions, family separation policies at the border and (gulp) perhaps rethinking criminalizing sex work to make it safer for sex workers to expose sex-trafficking rings.
I struggled with the last one, I won’t lie. I’m still trying to sit with that one but logically it makes sense. Perhaps more of these sex rings would be exposed if those who have fallen privy to it could oust their perpetrators without fearing incarceration.
I also had to think about a big time mega change that recently happened in my state (Utah). For the record, I can tell you what a lot of sex-trafficking looks like here. It looks an awful lot like polygamy. It always amazes me that the Mormon women around me want to discuss secret Cabals but fail to acknowledge where a large bulk of child sex-trafficking has actually been occurring in our state right under our noses.
In essence a bill to decriminalize polygamy earned unanimous approval from a Utah Senate Committee. Largely, for some of the same reasons suggested for decriminalizing sex work. The hope is that all this secretive hiding out and threats of being taken from family from early childhood, will create more openness and transparency where those who want to come forward will no longer view outsiders as the enemy and these sexual abuse cases and arranged marriages with minors will stop flying under the radar. Also, this new legislation is not without its critics. I might also be somewhat of a critic.
Anyway, this post is long and I’ve poured a lot of my soul into it. It’s been a sequence of time lapsed bits I’ve had to compose together under a slew of events that have been ever evolving and constantly shifting. For example three major events have happened since I started this post:
- Ruth Ginsberg has died.
- Qanon is no longer anonymous. We know who the perpetrators are and more elaboration can be found in this article: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/men-qanon/story?id=73046374&cid=social_twitter_abcn&fbclid=IwAR2I2pTwZ92JNIYrvYiAI0IIMuEfAokHv4hOj5mJgm-du2qKQ0ylGTnE7Hc
- I have recently watched the documentary The Social Dilemma on Netflix, which has made me re-think the way I feel about cross fit Karen’s and oily bitches. I thought about changing my title, but I wanted to drive my point home, that I too, am a work in progress.
I want to add that another blog post is likely forthcoming about our present social dilemma. I also wanted to share a bit about above listed number two and something that is stated in that Q article that really shook me:
In a series of recent interviews, Brennan said that last year’s trio of mass shootings — at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart; two New Zealand mosques; and a San Diego synagogue — perpetrated by alleged 8chan users finally forced him to reckon with the real-world consequences of anonymous online hate.” Q Followers were also associated with a New York fatal shooting and “a man using an armored truck to block traffic on the Hoover Dam in 2018.
Anyway, this is all tiring and overwhelming, and as you can see by this blog post I have not given up, but will need plenty of breaks to meditate and take care of my own wellness and tap into the things that are vital to maintain vitality and wellness with me and my own family. I got sucked into this because issues of minors and sexual abuse are so deeply personal to me. Writing it off my chest does help.
Like, legit, my next post is going to be as light hearted as I can make it. Perhaps I will blog my family’s recent trip to Yellowstone while escaping the worst of the fires, or how I’m flying to Hawaii in a pandemic because my daughter needs me. Perhaps I will write about how the beauty of the fall season has been seducing me every day with the golden hour because my god, I need it. We all need a little somethin’-somethin’ and I feel you.
I want to leave you all with a final quote:
“Staying positive does not mean that things will turn out okay. It means that you will be okay, no matter how things will turn out.”
Then there’s this. My absolute favorite meme at the moment and I’ve listed articles below for further reading.
Until next post!
Rachelle Whiting
Abusaid, Shaddi. “15 sex trafficking victims among 39 missing children recovered in Georgia.” Springfield News-Sun. 28, August 2020.
Democracy Now. “Hurricane Laura Floods ICE Jails in Louisiana as Asylum Seekers From Cameroon Strike Over Conditions. Democracy Now. 1, Sept. 2020. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/1/louisiana_ice_detention_cameroonian_immigrants
Crane, Emily. “Authorities find 123 missing children in just ONE day during a Michigan sex-trafficking operation.” Daily Mail via MSN News. 9, October 2018. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/authorities-find-123-missing-children-in-just-one-day-during-a-michigan-sex-trafficking-operation/ar-BBOaeIp
CTDC. “Family Members are Involved in Nearly Half of Child Trafficking Cases.” https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/39-missing-children-trailer-ga/
Hagle, Courtney and Little, Olivia. “Alex Jones encouraged vigilante violence in the days before a gunman killed Kenosha protestors.” Media Matters for America. 28, August 2020. https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-encouraged-vigilante-violence-days-gunman-killed-kenosha-protesters
Hunter, George. No, 123 Michigan Children Were Not Being Trafficked.” Deadline Detroit. 11, October 2018. https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/20792/no_123_michigan_children_were_not_being_trafficked
Ibrahim, Nur. “Were 39 Missing Children Found in a Trailer in Georgia?” Snopes. 2, September 2020. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/39-missing-children-trailer-ga/
Lohr, David. “U.S Marshals Service Says It Recovered 123 Missing Michigan Children, But Did It?” Huffington Post. 10, October 2018. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-marshals-service-123-children-rescued-michigan_n_5bbe49e3e4b01470d0583d5a
Mcgraw, Meridith. “Trump makes fear-based appeal to women after Biden picked Harris.” Politico. 12, August 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/12/trump-makes-blunt-appeal-to-women-after-biden-picks-harris-394493
Media Matters Staff. “Rush Limbaugh: “Well, where are all the people with the guns” to “push back” against the left?” Media Matters for America. 15, June 2020. https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/rush-limbaugh-well-where-are-all-people-guns-push-back-against-left-0
Mikkelson, David. “Did RNC Speaker Abby Johnson Advocate ‘Household Voting’?” Snopes. 28, August 2020. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/abby-johnson-household-voting/
Passantino, Jon. Ortega, Bob. Puy Kamp, Majlie de. “Suspect in fatal shooting of right-wing activist killed during attempted arrest, US Marshals say.” CNN. 4, September 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/us/portland-protest-suspected-killer/index.html
Rosen, Christopher. “John Oliver Draws a Straight Line from Kenosha Shooter to Tucker Carlson.” Vanity Fair. 31, August 2020. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/08/john-oliver-kenosha-tucker-carlson
Winslow, Ben. “Polygamy is Essentially decriminalized in Utah under a Bill signed into Law.” Fox 13 Salt Lake City. 29, March 2020. https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/polygamy-is-essentially-decriminalized-in-utah-under-a-bill-signed-into-law
The Obstinate Fig 
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