Okay, so y'all remember this post: No Tolerance for Sensei Scumbag
To recap: Sensei Scumbag was given high rank in what seems to be one of those fun belt-mill rank groups (ugh, why are there so many of these?), put in a position of authority no less, and Sensei Scumbag committed sexual assault against someone under the age of 12. The group leadership claims they didn't know, although Sensei Scumbag did the act and the time for his crime while a member of the group and at that rank.
Then, when they say they found out, they claim they kicked Sensei Scumbag out (which they didn't, the internet forgets nothing, y'all), then they spun out justification after justification to defend what they did, versus owning dropping the ball and apologizing to the people they put at risk by allowing this guy to hang around at a 7th Dan and leadership position.
Yes, that happened. It's still happening.
There's been ongoing drama over this case, and honestly, I haven't been super-engaged in it because I'm busy with my own stuff.
Then this comment was brought to my attention:
I know a lot of people agree with this sentiment, so I want to take this on.
I kind of agree that certain kinds of criminal behavior do not automatically make someone unworthy of teaching the martial arts.
Bank robbery. Assault. Embezzlement of funds. Drug convictions. Stuff like that. Especially if the person owns up to what they did, honestly, and have made amends and own what they did. That I can respect and support.
This Sensei Scumbag - and Scumbag you are, Patrick Justice - deliberately engaged in a sexual act against a child 12 years old or younger.
That's a disqualifying circumstance, if you ask me.
Martial arts training requires a certain level of trust that cannot be violated. NOT ONCE. If a person has a history - a criminal history no less - of doing exactly that, that person should not be put in a position where he might "make a mistake".
IF we accept that they didn't know he'd done it and why he disappeared for several years - one I don't buy, but let's play along - a person who honestly wanted to reform would have been open and honest with the leadership in that organization that it'd happened, with those he trains with that it happened, and that he wants to make amends.
THAT DID NOT HAPPEN by their own account (although I bet they're going to change their story yet again to claim it did). He kept is quiet, and they kept it quiet, apparently, because they wanted to protect the reputation of Sensei Scumbag.
Yes, protect the reputation of the guy who committed sexual assault with a child 12 years old or younger.
Look, I do believe that people can and do reform from criminal behavior. But they do that by being 100% transparent and honest about it, owning up to their responsibility, and not hiding it, especially from people who are supposedly in their circle of trust.
That's not the case here, kids.
This situation proves not only can you NOT trust this particular Sensei Scumbag, Patrick Justice, you can't trust Bret Gordon and Steven W. Hatfield, who helped Justice hide what he did and continued to allow him to be a high rank in a position of power even though he HID HIS CONVICTION.
Martial arts training simply isn't that important in the scheme of things to risk people getting victimized in order to help a criminal who is NOT owning up to his behavior attempt to "reform".
I am getting sick of writing about Sensei Scumbags. I have a feeling I'm going to have to keep doing it, though.
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