Victims or accomplices?

“….We’re just trying to live a peaceful, happy, sweet life. We don’t understand why we can’t do this freely.”
- Brenda, a young mother of 2 from the Yearning for Zion Ranch polygamist sect

Prairie dresses, pioneer hairdos and the most soft spoken monotone voices I’ve heard since the Stepford Wives hit the big screen.

Who are these women from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas? I mean who are they really?

Are they accomplices of the grown men to whom they reportedly gave their young daughters? Or are they victims, also handed over to sect leaders at a tender young age, brainwashed into thinking marriage between a 14 year old girl and a 50 year old man is God’s will?

By now we all know that the state of Texas got a phone call about possible child sexual abuse inside the polygamist sect’s compound. They moved in and took away 416 kids and dozens of the sect’s women who said they wanted to go with the children to help care for them.

Texas authorities learned some disturbing things. A child welfare official revealed there were no birth certificates on file for the kids and many of them said they did not know who their specific mothers were – they identified with all the mothers in the group. Mother Brenda, Mother Paula, Mother Marie and so forth. Authorities concluded that the adults accompanied the kids from the ranch, in part, to make sure they kept the sect’s secrets.

And so the state finally took the courageous step of telling the women to get lost. Any kids over the age of five (think prime witness material) were taken away to be interviewed without the hovering presence of their multiple mothers. According to reports six of these adult females decided to not go back to the YFZ Ranch. Bookmark that fact for a moment.

After children and mothers were split up suddenly this secretive offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was, for the very first time, unlocking the front gate to the compound and inviting in TV cameras and reporters. Smart public relations, I’d say.

Interestingly, we never got a glimpse of the men of the group. The ones for whom the young girls are reportedly offered up. Only the mothers in their cookie cutter Simplicity pattern #1292 dresses faced the media.

Let’s be honest. When we see a mother crying over being separated from a child our hearts go out to them. For those who believe this is an over aggressive move by the state of Texas – let’s consider what happened after these moms got back to home base.

They sobbed, they dabbed their eyes, one hugged a column at the front of a ranch building for comfort as cameras rolled on her sorrowful face. They whimpered that it was unfair to have their children torn away from them. They claimed authorities had lied to them! But the moment a persistent reporter asked if underage girls had been given in marriage to adult men the demeanor changed, the waterworks ceased.

“We’re talking about our children right now…” said one setting her jaw and dodging the 64 thousand dollar question.

Yeah, lady. We are talking about your children too. Initial reports were that 14, 15 and 16 year old girls at the ranch were pregnant! How did that happen? Immaculate Conception? If those reports prove true someone is guilty of statutory rape.

And no separation-of-church-and-state argument can get around the fact that in Texas the law says it’s illegal for anyone under the age of 15 to be married. Period.

When another of the mothers was asked if men at the compound had multiple wives she refused to answer and her expression of sorrow turned to blankness. “That’s sacred to me…..” she said and trailed off.

Well childhood is supposed to be sacred too and a young girl handed over so an older man can try to expand the flock is not only a knuckleheaded notion it is against the law!

These women were supposed to be the caretakers of these children. Where was their common sense when the men built beds on the upper floor of their sanctuary to facilitate these allegedly illicit “marriages”? Did any of the women flashback to the first time they had to traipse up those stairs and give it up for God? Did any of them stop to wonder about the propriety of it all?

One of the glassy eyed mothers asked a reporter if he knew what Zion was. She explained that “Zion is heaven. We’re living in heaven.” I’m not sure the kids would agree. And I’m not sure if these mothers are victims themselves or if they are completely complicit in a criminal enterprise.

But I wonder mostly about that handful of six women who, when given the option of going back to the compound or going to a safe house chose the latter. What gave them the strength to break away from the sect? What will they have to say when this monumental case goes to court? I hope it’s all a mistake and that none of this suspected abuse actually occurred … but I’m not optimistic. I think that gang of six women could hold the key to this case. They could reveal a horrible truth about that compound and what happened there. You can bet the prosecutors are gently zeroing in on those women.

The state of Texas is accusing the sect of sexually or physically abusing their children. They maintain the kids who stay at the YFZ Ranch and reach puberty are in “imminent danger” of being victimized too. Prosecutors plan to ask that all the minors now being held in a communal setting be placed in foster care and ultimately adopted out. A hearing on their fate is set for tomorrow.