I reviewed our
clearinghouse outreach
site “The Invisible
Youth” recently and
discovered that
Russell, Founder and
Creator of The
Invisible Youth, in
his infinite wisdom,
has created a place of
help for youths to
find answers. Why?
He was a homeless
youth, abandoned by
his parents, and the
system punished him
for his ‘crime’. He
then became the very
criminal they formed
and deprived him into
being. In the
forty-four years that
he was incarcerated,
he discovered why he
survived the cruel
irony of his
childhood. He survived
to stop homeless
youths from becoming
the ‘feeder’ for the
all too profitable
business of the prison
systems.
*Ninety percent of
those placed in our
Juvenile Justice
Systems come from the
Child Protection
Systems. Ninety
percent of those
juveniles become the
adults who populate
our Criminal Justice
Systems in prisons.
Child Protection
Services and Child
Welfare obviously are
not protecting our
children. And though
they are a large part
of that inefficiency,
so are we as a
community. No matter
what our excuses are,
we take no notice of a
child that is being
abused. We don’t want
to get involved or if
we decide to make that
call, we are not taken
seriously, or worse;
the child is placed
into the system and
there they stay.
They are
institutionalized and
abused by the system.
No love or compassion
are they offered. Nor
do they ask for it.
Instead they learn
that there is no power
in being a child. Some
never make it out of
the hell we put them
through. Some only
make it to the larger,
more overwhelming
criminal element of
prison.
I have to ask myself
and now ask you; how
difficult is it to
take compassion on a
homeless or abused
child and offer them a
meal, a kind word, a
warm and safe place to
sleep? Or offer a
listening ear and an
empathic response to
their cry for help?
How difficult is it to
offer their single
parent a break for the
night or a chance to
rest between work and
raising their family?
How can we turn away
and pretend they just
do not exist?
How can we allow our
neighbors and friends
to starve and go
without heat in the
winter, when we know
they are laid off or
are out of work and
have no resources to
take care of their
family? How can we do
not one damn thing,
when we listen to a
man verbally and
physically abuse his
wife, night after
night, and not offer
her and her children a
safe haven or give her
help when she asks?
How can we look at
ourselves in the
mirror or sleep at
night when we know
that we are abusing
these people, these
children, just as much
as the system and the
abuser, by not taking
any action or speaking
out to stop it from
happening?
What is it going to
take to feel their
pain, to release them
from shame and total
despair before we help
them? What if it were
you and your family?
Don’t tell me it will
never happen to you,
for it can and will.
Open your heart and
feel the beat of their
empty drum. Wake up
and see with your
eyes. Listen to their
spirit as it screams
into the night,
instead of turning
your ears deaf to
their agony. Look into
their soul and offer a
hand up and give help
to those who need us
most. Love them
unconditionally. They
are your brothers,
your sisters, your
siblings, your
children, your
parents. Give them
Hope!
Russell along with the
volunteers at “The
Invisible Youth” are
giving them hope one
child, one youth at a
time. He sees himself
in their eyes and
lives. These invisible
youths can become
whole again and be
adults that have goals
and interests and
dreams. And maybe even
families of their own
that they teach and
raise with
unconditional love.
Sentencing them for
the ‘CRIME’ of being
abused, homeless and
alone is why they
become the very thing
you and I teach them
to be and then judge
them with fear as
something to be
despised in the same
closed hearts that
created them. Put an
end to our contempt
and abuse for our own
creations. Help them
while they still have
a chance.
Rate and Review "The Invisible Youth at WDC" #1274601
