Photographs of Kids are Powerful

By Patrick Noaker

While preparing the paperwork for the sixth lawsuit against Bro. Raimond Rose and his employers in Fargo, North Dakota, I took the time to review the Shanley High School yearbook for 1978. It was a powerful reminder that we are dealing with kids who were manipulated and sexually abused by very dangerous men. Sometimes the fact that we are dealing with kids gets lost when cases are brought on behalf of adult men and women for abuse that occurred when they were children. Photographs have an unusual way of reminding us just how young, naïve and vulnerable we really were when we were kids. Whether it is the 1970’s hair style (I had an afro) or the wide-collared shirts, there is no question that we were once young. In contrast, we don’t ever seem to view ourselves as naïve or vulnerable, even when we were kids. The boy in the case that we will file on Tuesday, in Fargo was 14 years old when Bro. Rose sexually assaulted him. He has spent a lot of time in silence, secrecy and shame blaming himself for “allowing” the sexual abuse to happen or for not stopping it. My reminders that he was “ just a kid” and “ could not have possibly stood up to these adult authorities and their corrupt system,” seemed to ring hollow until we looked through his yearbook.

He was just a kid.