Shredding evidence of abuse | Morning Newsletter
And helping girls half a world away.
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The Morning Newsletter
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More showers and thunderstorms are likely starting Sunday afternoon, with a high near 84 and a low around 70. The Philadelphia region is under a flash flood watch from noon to midnight, after another day of storms that led to flooding in parts of the city and neighboring counties.
A former Jehovah’s Witness is suing the organization in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court for accountability over abuse she endured as a teen. Today’s lead story uncovers details of the lawsuit that show leaders worked to hide records about it and other instances of abuse.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Sarah Brooks was 15 when two fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses — adults she thought she could trust — started sexually assaulting her.
The abuse would last for more than a year before Brooks broke down and did what children are taught to do if someone harms them: she told her parents.
They alerted Witness elders, but were warned that if Brooks contacted police, she would bring “reproach” on Jehovah’s name, according to a lawsuit filed in June against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. Other elders who investigated her claims wrote in a public notice that Brooks had been “reproved,” meaning she’d done something wrong and repented.
Despite being shunned by family members and friends, Brooks moved forward with reporting her abuse to authorities. That triggered an emergency meeting of elders in 2013, when they learned that the York County District Attorney’s Office would seek records about Brooks’ abuse in their investigation.
“We bought a shredder,” one York elder told others, according to the lawsuit, “and headquarters has told us to shred.”
Under more scrutiny: Since 2019, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General’s Office has probed the organization’s handling of abuse cases. On Friday, the office charged five Witnesses with assault. Nine other members were arrested in the spring and fall.
A spokesperson for the Witnesses did not directly address the allegations in Brooks’ lawsuit, but wrote in a statement that the organization is sickened by news about abuse.
Continue reading on the culture and rules of the organization, some of which have helped protect predators, and the Witnesses’ response.
What you should know today
As of 10 p.m. Saturday, the power was still out for about 5,000 utility customers in the Wildwoods. At that time, the company said power would be fully restored by 11:59 p.m. The outages were caused by a fire that broke out at an electric substation on Friday, the cause of which remains an investigation.
The victims of the mass shooting in Kingsessing died going about their daily life: walking to get food, checking on a friend, responding to neighbors in need. In the aftermath, relatives shared the details and moments that made their loved ones so special, and why they will never be forgotten.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson said she was “appalled” by what she described as “derogatory” and “asinine” comments by a Camden County commissioner who disparaged Philadelphians following a Fourth of July shooting.
A vehicle fatally struck a 14-year-old boy Thursday night in Bensalem. Police are asking for help locating the driver who left the scene.
Peter Nero, the revered pianist, longtime player-conductor of the Philly Pops, and jazz maestro, died on Thursday. He was 89.
🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to our education reporter Melanie Burney.
Every Thursday night, English teacher Seth Holm logs on to his computer to help Afghan girls half a world away with their English language skills.
The girls, scattered around the Middle East and beyond, are eager to hone their English. For those still living in Afghanistan, where the Taliban forbids girls to attend school past sixth grade, it is a major risk — but one they are willing to take. They believe that learning English is their only chance to possibly leave one day and seek a better life.
“I didn’t expect that the bravest people I would meet in my life would be teenage girls,” said Holm, a world languages teacher at the Hun School of Princeton. “These girls are some of the best people I have ever met.”
After the Taliban implemented the rules that banned most older girls from getting an education, many were desperately seeking an opportunity to continue their studies. An Afghan student attending the Hun School of Princeton heeded the call and started the online class in 2022. — Melanie Burney
Keep reading about the class-turned-humanitarian mission, and see some of the stories written by Holm’s students.
❓Pop quiz❓
In this week’s Outdoorsy newsletter, I highlighted the work of Anwar Abdul-Qawi, the animal programs manager at Drexler University’s Academy of Natural Sciences with a special eye for photographing Philadelphia wildlife. What creature did he capture in the featured “perfect shot”?
A) pigeon
B) squirrel
C) duck
D) goose
Did you get it right? Check your answer here.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: North Philly
CALVIN FLIERS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Afrah Howlader who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Evil Genius.
Photo of the day
🎶 For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to: “That July ninth, the beat of your heart / It jumps through your shirt.” 🎶 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) dropping on my birthday was pretty cool timing.
👋🏽 Stay dry, take care and thanks for starting your morning with The Inquirer.