journalists more than ever. what finally started this rec onning and ended this decades-long cycle of abuse was investigative reporting. without that first indianapolis star story in august of 2016, without the story where rachel came forward publicly shortly the thereafter, he would still be practicing medicine, treating athletes and abusing kids. let that sink in for a minute. right now he would be at his office on hague dorn and hannah, not far from this courtroom in the michigan state university campus, abusing children had it not been the investigative reporters and rachel who brought this case. we know federal law enforcement did not stop him nor did trab trainers or coaches or deans or
them came and made complaints to msu and coaches and police and parents, they were ignored. as a result of that, the abuse went on. we also find in this case that even one victim settled a case and there was a confidentiality agreement in that case preventing other women who had similar complaints from knowing that there were other women who shared their pain and would have given them the courage to come forward. it s just the most tragic case of this kind i think i ve ever seen. let s listen to some of tho victims. i am not weak and will not accept the feelings of embarrassment or shame. i m leaving those here with him. i want you to apologize to me right here. i want to hear you regret all of the hurt you ve caused.
automatically met with skepticism and doubt, treated as liars until proven true? what do we take away from this? these have been important narratives to hear and witness and listen to. they will be the words that burn down cultural stereo types and cultural myths. and i have a few takeaways and lessons i hope anyone watching these past seven days has learned and will take away with them. the first is that we must start by believing. other adults must start by believing when children and young people report abuse, regardless of who the perpetrator is, no matter his education, his position, the respect he commands, or the awards and adorations he has received. research shows that false allegations are slim, that most
heroes and this is significant, told parents they should not blame themselves for not discovering the abuse. as we know, there were a number of times where parents or at least occasionally where parents were present and didn t even know, didn t understand what was going on. the parents have been haunted by the guilt of not seeing what was happening to their children. in some cases the children made comments to the parents that should have triggered a complaint to the police or it was useless to a complaint apparently to msu or even to the sports authorities involved in this case. as to the first point about the ua gis knack ticks association, you re going to see an avalanche of civil lawsuits and litigation arising out of this case. because so many made legitimate complaints and they were
they chose to believe his lies over the words of a young woman who had nothing to gain by coming forward. nothing. some of his support wavered after he was charged with possessing tens of thousands of images of child pornography. yet, still there were people in power who had ideas he was framed and the images were planted, who was telling other victims this as they knew their truth. at the same time that these folks were supporting him and putting out those false narratives, these women and countless more you haven t met and who may be watching and reading knew their truth. they knew he had abused them and they watched him continue to lie about committing that abuse. it has not been an easy process for these victims, especially rachel.