Sexual predators should not be protected

THE complacency and silence of our people are currently our greatest weaknesses. This has never been truer than in recent days. Several days ago, allegations of sexual grooming, harassment and predatory behaviour were made against a teacher at the Bishops’ High School, Coen Jackson. With a career spanning over two decades and several schools, the list of victims and attempted victims that would have made themselves known but privately and publicly is overwhelming.

Here’s the thing about predation, it is always planned and understood. Perpetrators are aware of where their boundaries are and proceed to manipulate those boundaries. What matters is that a predator used his power and trust as a teacher to groom students approaching the age of consent. He would form bonds and earn their trust in order to engage in sexual activity with them. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2010, Section 18, it states that the abuse of trust in relation to a child under the age of 18 is a crime that carries a life sentence. The harsh penalties for predatory behaviour should give an idea of how serious of an issue this is.

Predation is planned. To add some context, what Jackson is alleged to have done was often used his position as a teacher to gain access to student information. Let’s not forget the amount of information school files have on them. With those, predators in the teaching system it would be able to pick out presumably vulnerable girls who might come from broken homes or poor socio-economic backgrounds. The predator would use the information learnt to go after his students, often copying their phone numbers and proceeding to call, text and introduce sexual conversations with them. Many students would continuously shirk the predator’s advances and still be pursued.

The thing is, it seemed to be widely known of Jackson’s alleged activities. Students and parents of students who allegedly had been victims or attempted victims of Jackson would have sought out justice from the system but would receive none. Those in the Bishops’ High School and other schools he would have worked, who knew of his alleged behaviour but left it unchecked are culpable.

The Bishops’ School board especially has been accused of covering up complaints brought against Jackson on the basis that he was a good teacher. Good teachers do not prey on their students. That should not be something that is hard to understand. That should not be something that is debatable. We cannot keep allowing predatory men to thrive without being held accountable.

One of the first responses we would have gotten from the school came in the form of the Headmistress of the school,—Winifred Ellis who used the school assembly to shame, victim blame and condemn students for not going to the defense of Jackson. Her address to the assembly would be recorded by a student and shared. In the recording, Ms. Ellis could be heard as saying things such as: “Y’all saw it on FB right? Y’all know what I talking about right. Can you corroborate that story?”

“I didn’t see any of you going and defend him on this story. Not one.”
“You are very slack. Very loose with youself.”
“I remember once I am coming down the corridor and I had to step back and ask a child to close her legs. A male teacher is teaching.”
There were those who were quick to come to the defense of Ellis, stating that she was a good person and as such could not have known.

If any student can tell you who the predator was at Bishops’ and they could be warned to stay away, then there is no way any one can tell me with a straight face that no teacher knew or the administrators of the board did not know or hear rumours. People like Ms. Ellis have no place in the school institution and neither do predators. We should keep in mind though that Jackson is just the tip of a very large pedophilic and predatory iceberg of teachers that are being protected in our school system. If you think for a minute, I think each and every one of us knows of at least one teacher who “likes young girls.” Sometimes, we know more than one. Sometimes, we are protecting the predators we know and sometimes, we ourselves are the predators.

Yesterday we carried out our first protest action in front of the Bishops’ High School. Today we will continue our protest action from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. One thing that struck me at the protest yesterday was how many of the students seemed to think what was happening was a joke. It struck me too that students showed placards of their own, saying things such as “Think of our future” and “Our HM didn’t fail us.”

We are thinking of your future. That was why we were there. We want to ensure you are safe from predatory behaviour and sexual grooming in your learning spaces. We want to make sure that you know we are standing with you. Your HM failed you but I don’t blame you for coming to her defense. We have bred a culture in which we are taught to normalise such behaviour. So, I don’t blame you for not seeing the enormity of the crimes that were meted out against you. The system has been broken for so long that we have no faith in it or we are loyal parties to it. Those cannot be the only the options.

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