Sexual abuse is a crime that cuts into the very soul of the victim and leaves untold emotional devastation that – in some cases – can last a lifetime.

There have been several high profile cases in the media lately that angered residents of the region because of the disregard for the victims, many of whom were children; the Catholic priest sex scandal and the Jerry Sandusky cases being the most prominent. Detectives with the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victim’s Unit are also investigating several new sexual assault cases; including the assault of a 14-year old girl who was gang raped by five males on Monday, April 8.

All of these cases only illustrate the need for greater public awareness of sexual abuse and ways to recognize and prevent it. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the United States and different organizations, like Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR) and Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN) work to educate communities on how to prevent sexual violence and report it.

According to Scott Berkowitz, President of RAINN, someone in America is raped every two minutes – a shockingly high percentage. Berkowitz said that a rapist can look like anyone and that because the crime is under reported - only about 20 percent of victims file police reports - not every case gets prosecuted; hence rapists tend to repeat their crimes.

“That’s because there’s such a low chance of them being caught and punished,” Berkowitz said. “Those that are inclined to commit this crime have no disincentive to stop. Rapists tend to be serial criminals, which is one of the values of having a national DNA database run by the FBI; it helps to identify patterns in solving these cases.”

One of those cases – a 17-year old murder case, was recently solved by matching an already incarcerated suspect’s DNA through the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System or CODIS. Seventeen years ago on Oct. 2, 1996, police found Anjeanette Maldonado dead on Hope Street in North Philadelphia. Her murder remained unsolved until this month when a DNA sample obtained during the investigation and entered into the CODIS database matched Rafael Crespo, 46, who was already incarcerated in Florida. On Monday, April 8, Crespo was been charged with murder, rape, sexual assault and related offenses.

“I agree with what Berkowitz said, every two minutes in America someone is raped,” said Carol Johnson, Executive Director of Women Organized Against Rape. “Statistics show that 1 in 4 girls will be raped before her 18^th birthday and 1 in 6 males before age 18. Children are the most vulnerable because of their age and young people in their teens are vulnerable. But this is a crime that cuts across every level of our society. There are some misconceptions; people think that the rapist comes out of the bushes and attacks the victim. The image many people have is one of a dirty, leering man with an evil face when in truth it’s most likely someone wearing a suit and carrying a brief case; it’s hard to put a label on it. Most of the victims who come to WOAR know the rapist; it’s a sibling or a parent or step parent. It’s their mother’s boyfriend or a trusted teacher – not a stranger.”

Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for raping several young boys over a period of at least fifteen years. Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse for molesting 10 boys over 15 years, accosting some of the victims in the football team’s showers on campus.

According to statistics provided by RAINN, on the average, 207, 754 victims age 12 or older are raped and sexually assaulted every year. Approximately two-thirds of the assaults are committed by someone the victim knows; 44 percent of rape victims are under age 18 and 80 percent are under age 30.

On Monday, April 8, just before 11:00 p.m., a 14-year-old girl was walking home from a store in the 2600 block of Collins Street. She was attacked by five males who grabbed her, took her to a nearby street, threw her onto the ground and raped her. Police officers on patrol saw what was happening and arrested two suspects and are looking for the other three. One of the suspects in custody is a 14-year old boy.

“Rape is one of the most under-reported crimes in America – 6 out of 10 victims don’t report it and the reasons for not reporting have changed over the years,” Berkowitz said. “At one time victims didn’t report it out of fear of not being believed. Victims often didn’t report the crime because their behavior was called into question. Now a rape victim will often say they just want to put it behind them or try and keep it as a private matter. Self-blame in common because of the nature of the crime.”

Carol Johnson said there are several indicators that a parent should look at if they suspect their child has been victimized.

“Changes in behavior are one of the most common signs.” she said. “But there are others such as persistent nightmares, or the child has become withdrawn or starts behaving badly in school all of a sudden. Also, if they seem to be uncomfortable around someone they were previously comfortable being around. These are indications that the parent or guardian should be concerned about. Again, anyone, even men can be victimized by rape.”

Contact staff writer Larry Miller at 215-893-5782 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The city is holding a memorial today to commemorate the deaths of three Philadelphia firefighters who were killed in the line of duty just one year apart.

Captain Michael Goodwin perished when the roof of a burning three story building collapsed beneath him on Saturday, April 6. Lt. Robert P. Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney gave their lives fighting an inferno of a warehouse fire in Kensington on April 9, 2012. Firefighter Andrew Godlewski was seriously injured while trying to recue Goodwin, who will receive a posthumous promotion during the ceremony.

“Today, we mourn the loss of Captain Michael Goodwin of the Philadelphia Fire Department and the injury to Firefighter Andrew Godlewski who tried to save him,” Nutter said in a press statement. “Captain Goodwin was a leader who for 29 years put on the uniform of our respected department and risked his life on a daily basis in order to protect all of us from the ravages of fire and destruction. On Saturday, while leading his ladder company in the suppression of a raging fire, Michael Goodwin, husband, father of two, brother to three siblings, perished in the inferno. This tragedy comes just three days before the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Lt. Robert P. Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney who gave their lives fighting a raging warehouse fire in Kensington. Members of the Philadelphia Fire Department are in mourning again for one of their own and recall these two fallen heroes. Our firefighters need our support and prayers, but we know that every minute of every day, they are protecting us with all their skill and heart and we thank them.”

Goodwin, 53, died on Saturday while fighting the fire of a three-story fabric store in the city’s Queen Village section. He was on the roof battling the blaze when it collapsed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Another firefighter, Andrew Godlewski, 23, was burned while trying to rescue him. Goodwin was a 29-year veteran of the Department.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

“Like Capt. Goodwin, firefighter Andrew Godlewski, a five-year veteran, fought the blazing fire and with all of his professional training risked his life in an effort to save Capt. Goodwin. Please join with me in praying for firefighter Godlewski’s swift recovery,” said Nutter.

Last year on April 9, two firefighters, Lt. Robert P. Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney were killed and three others suffered injuries while fighting to control a massive five alarm inferno in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

Neary and Sweeney were killed when the ceiling and a wall collapsed inside a furniture store that was burning at Boston Street and Kensington Avenue.

After a two week recess Congress returns to work with a full agenda - and at the top of the list is the continuing and controversial debate on stronger gun laws. It’s an issue that isn’t going to just go away, with recent polls showing an increasing number of Americans favoring stronger firearm laws.

President Barack Obama is bringing 11 families of those killed in the shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School to Washington on Air Force One. Family members will be allowed to speak to lawmakers, a move to try and encourage votes in favor of the president’s initiatives.

But while lawmakers wrestle over the need for and constitutionality of an assault weapons ban, extensive background checks for all firearms and other proposals, the question remains of just how much of an impact an assault weapons ban is going to have on crime in the Black community, where illegal firearms are a major part of the problem.

“Well, I think that’s true - and we need laws that stiffen the penalties for straw purchasing and possessing an illegal guns. It’s a huge problem,” said Rep. Bob Brady, who strongly supports President Obama’s push for stronger gun laws. “You can’t stop people from committing a crime, but we can make the penalty for straw purchasing stiffer and that’s one of the proposals we’re looking at. There are penalties for carrying an illegal gun, but it needs to be tougher too. One of the things I see often on I-95 are three or four police cars stopping a suspicious vehicle. One day I stopped and asked one of the officers what was happening. He said it was either illegal drug arrests or gun traffickers. The NRA’s biggest fear is that if we pass these laws there will be more to come. I have a minus zero rating with the NRA - and I want it to stay that way.”

As tragic as the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., and at Virginia Tech and Columbine are, young Black men and women are being cut down on the streets of America’s cities every single day. Some of these victims are members of violent drug gangs, but all too often they are innocent bystanders. These are the victims of gun violence who are not murdered by killers armed with assault rifles loaded with high capacity magazines; their killers more often than not used illegally purchased handguns, as Philadelphia city Councilman Kenyatta Johnson recently pointed out.

“Philadelphia is among the top three [cities in the nation] in terms of African-American young men being murdered,” he said during a session of City Council discussing upcoming hearings on gun violence. “So, I’m looking forward to this discussion — but the majority of shootings in the city of Philadelphia are by handguns.”

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School where 26 adults and children were murdered, the Obama administration came up with a list of proposals that included reinstituting the ban on assault weapons that expired under the Bush administration, a ban on high capacity magazines, and universal background checks. Those proposals have been met with potent opposition from those who see any strengthening of the nation’s gun laws as an infringement of Second Amendment rights.

Some gun control advocates say that imbedded in the conversations regarding those killed at Sandy Hook and other mass killings are what has been called the “slow-motion massacres” that happen everyday in America’s cities. Young Black men slaughter each other with an alarming frequency. In Philadelphia 331 people were killed in 2012 and most of the victims were young Black males. As of Tribune press time 56 people have been murdered in Philadelphia this year, and after more than two weeks without a homicide, two African Americans were gunned down over the weekend.

Statistics show that in Philadelphia during 2011 there were 324 homicides; 265, or over 81 percent were committed by firearms and only 3 of them were committed by a shotgun or rifle. Statistics also show that 56 were done with a .9mm, the preferred handgun of choice for street crime, 23 were committed by a .45 caliber and 27 by a .40 caliber handgun. In other cases handguns of various calibers were used. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report for 2011 shows there were 12,664 murders reported in the United States; 67.8 percent were committed by firearms and 72.5 percent were done by handguns.

Right now in Pennsylvania there is a mandatory five-year sentence for defendants convicted of multiple straw purchases. Recently, State Senator Mike Stack and District Attorney Seth Williams announced the passing of legislation that levies a two year minimum sentence for carrying an illegal gun. The former statute was signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett in 2012 but criminals continue to find people without a record to purchase firearms for them.

“The reality is that America isn’t ready for sweeping stronger gun control laws but we have to start some place and we have to begin staging this. I would love to say America is ready but the truth is we’re not,” said former Court of Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes. “It would not be appropriate to say that banning assault weapons will stop the street violence in our neighborhoods but it is a step in the right direction. Unfettered access to firearms isn’t going to make us safer.”

“I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”

Those were the last public words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. He was assassinated 45 years ago on April 4, 1968 and his murder was one of the defining moments in American history and yet, one that seems to have been forgotten or ignored by many African Americans in 2013.

As of Tribune press time there were no statements issued from the White House. Only a handful of national events commemorated the assassination. A notable event in Memphis, Tenn. was spearheaded by the sanitation workers whose strike brought King to Memphis.

“I have to say that I’m not really surprised that there hasn’t been a lot of media coverage regarding Dr. King’s assassination. When you talk about a man who was inspired to help all of humanity you also have to talk about policies and the institutional racism,” said Chad Lassiter, president of Black Men at Penn. “When you bring up the murder of Dr. King you have to highlight things that don’t make America feel good about itself. You also have to ask yourself what role the government played in his assassination. The FBI tried to vilify and discredit him through its COINTELPRO operations.”

Officially, King was shot and killed by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, one day after his last speech. The motive behind the killing was Ray’s well-known racism, but there has always been speculation alleging that the United States government, fearing an uprising of angry Blacks, was involved.

On Nov. 1, 1975, William C. Sullivan, the former assistant director of the Domestic Intelligence Division of the FBI, testified before a Senate committee on intelligence activities that from 1963 up to his assassination, King was a “target of an intensive campaign by the FBI to neutralize him as an effective civil rights leader.” According to a report released under the Freedom of Information Act, Sullivan said that the war against King was no-holds-barred.

“As a consequence, there was a regeneration of the widespread speculation on the possibility that the Bureau may have had some responsibility in Dr. King’s death and may not have done an impartial and thorough investigation of the assassination,” the report stated.

That speculation for many people hasn’t abated over 45 years. Defense attorney and community activist Michael Coard said that many of the same problems that King spoke out against still exist today.

“People say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I say; the more things change the worse they become. What do I mean by that? The racial discrimination, the poverty and crime are still suffered by the Black community at the same rate as we did 45 years ago. Yes, we have Black doctors and lawyers and mayors and a president, but for many Blacks, things haven’t changed too much.”

Coard added that he also wasn’t surprised by the lack of coverage in the national media.

“There’s always coverage concerning his birthday because that represents change. His death shows something much darker, and one of the reasons we don’t talk about it is because our leaders don’t talk about it,” Coard said. “Now I’m not equating Dr. King to Jesus Christ, but his assassination was a crucifixion. More than any other American in our history, King brought people together, people from all ethnicities and social backgrounds. He stopped a racial civil war that was very close to starting.”

Valerie Ward, president of the Willow Grove NAACP, said that even though African Americans have made significant strides in the nation, too many Blacks are still suffering from poor education, poverty and a lack of opportunities, the very things King gave his life for.

“I was disappointed that there wasn’t very much coverage on his assassination. But if we, I mean Blacks, if we don’t talk about it, no one else will,” Ward said. “In some ways we are much better off, there are opportunities we can take advantage of now that weren’t open to us in 1968. But there is still a lot of quiet racism and we have to be ever cognizant of it. We also have to do all we can to make our youth aware of what Dr. King stood for; we remember it on his birthday and in February during Black History Month. But Dr. King was killed for what he stood for and we can’t and shouldn’t ever forget it.”

“I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”

Those were the last public words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. He was assassinated 45 years ago on April 4, 1968 and his murder was one of the defining moments in American history and yet, one that seems to have been forgotten or ignored by many African Americans in 2013.

As of Tribune press time there were no statements issued from the White House. Only a handful of national events commemorated the assassination. A notable event in Memphis, Tenn. was spearheaded by the sanitation workers whose strike brought King to Memphis.

“I have to say that I’m not really surprised that there hasn’t been a lot of media coverage regarding Dr. King’s assassination. When you talk about a man who was inspired to help all of humanity you also have to talk about policies and the institutional racism,” said Chad Lassiter, president of Black Men at Penn. “When you bring up the murder of Dr. King you have to highlight things that don’t make America feel good about itself. You also have to ask yourself what role the government played in his assassination. The FBI tried to vilify and discredit him through its COINTELPRO operations.”

Officially, King was shot and killed by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, one day after his last speech. The motive behind the killing was Ray’s well-known racism, but there has always been speculation alleging that the United States government, fearing an uprising of angry Blacks, was involved.

On Nov. 1, 1975, William C. Sullivan, the former assistant director of the Domestic Intelligence Division of the FBI, testified before a Senate committee on intelligence activities that from 1963 up to his assassination, King was a “target of an intensive campaign by the FBI to neutralize him as an effective civil rights leader.” According to a report released under the Freedom of Information Act, Sullivan said that the war against King was no-holds-barred.

“As a consequence, there was a regeneration of the widespread speculation on the possibility that the Bureau may have had some responsibility in Dr. King’s death and may not have done an impartial and thorough investigation of the assassination,” the report stated.

That speculation for many people hasn’t abated over 45 years. Defense attorney and community activist Michael Coard said that many of the same problems that King spoke out against still exist today.

“People say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I say; the more things change the worse they become. What do I mean by that? The racial discrimination, the poverty and crime are still suffered by the Black community at the same rate as we did 45 years ago. Yes, we have Black doctors and lawyers and mayors and a president, but for many Blacks, things haven’t changed too much.”

Coard added that he also wasn’t surprised by the lack of coverage in the national media.

“There’s always coverage concerning his birthday because that represents change. His death shows something much darker, and one of the reasons we don’t talk about it is because our leaders don’t talk about it,” Coard said. “Now I’m not equating Dr. King to Jesus Christ, but his assassination was a crucifixion. More than any other American in our history, King brought people together, people from all ethnicities and social backgrounds. He stopped a racial civil war that was very close to starting.”

Valerie Ward, president of the Willow Grove NAACP, said that even though African Americans have made significant strides in the nation, too many Blacks are still suffering from poor education, poverty and a lack of opportunities, the very things King gave his life for.

“I was disappointed that there wasn’t very much coverage on his assassination. But if we, I mean Blacks, if we don’t talk about it, no one else will,” Ward said. “In some ways we are much better off, there are opportunities we can take advantage of now that weren’t open to us in 1968. But there is still a lot of quiet racism and we have to be ever cognizant of it. We also have to do all we can to make our youth aware of what Dr. King stood for; we remember it on his birthday and in February during Black History Month. But Dr. King was killed for what he stood for and we can’t and shouldn’t ever forget it.”