Shadow Land

It’s gotta be said—the combination of being a blogger and cruising the Internet for stories is a perfect recipe for a mouthwatering dish of paranoia.

The question of the day, therefore, is whether Dr. Thomas L. Philpott, of the University of Texas at Austin, really killed himself.

Well, the university is on record; here’s what they say:

Thomas Lee Philpott–associate professor of history, fiery Catholic moralist and polemical leftist, and charismatic and much-honored teacher–ended his life on October 9, 1991, in Austin, Texas, after a yearlong illness. He was 49.

OK—so why think that Philpott was murdered? Well, justly-named Paranoia Magazine has this to say about Philpott, who took part in a 1981 documentary called Boys for Sale. Here’s an excerpt from the magazine:

Boys for Sale depicts the pervasive practice of sex with boys in Houston, Texas—yet another dark tale of government and local authorities failing to live up to their electorates’ expectation that they will protect our most vulnerable citizens. Frank Morrow hosts a show in which Dr. Tom Philpott, history professor at the University of Texas, details the issues concerning the prostitution of boys and the power structure behind it that helps to promote and profit from the business.

Boys for Sale is mirrored in the later documentary The Conspiracy of Silence (1995), which concentrates on Omaha in the same years. Sadly, on October 9, 1991—soon after his interview was aired—49-year-old Dr. Philpott was “suicided” and investigations into what was happening in Houston came to a halt—much like what happened to “Baer boys” just before the Franklin Credit Union investigations began, though I don’t think that Dr. Philpott decided to wrap plastic around his face like the boys around here had done to them. 

Well, I had watched The Conspiracy of Silence, and the tale it told was not hard to swallow but hard to gulp. In essence, it alleges that rich and powerful people in Omaha, Nebraska, sexually abused boys from the legendary Boys Town (located nearby) and that the investigation had been covered up. Oh, and that the trail went all the way up to the White House. (At the time, George H. W. Bush was in office, if I recall correctly.)

In both Boys for Sale and The Conspiracy of Silence, similar charges are made. The perpetrators are powerful, straight men who form alliances to trade boys, and to crush anyone rash enough to investigate and ask questions. Philpott claims that he got a shotgun blasted though his car windshield, as well as through the living room window. The professor also claims, at one point, that Robin Lloyd, another person who had stuck his nose into a place where it wasn’t much wanted, suffered a highly suspicious accident.

OK—so is any of this true?

According to one study—no. Here are the findings from a 2008 study on prostitution of minors in New York City issued by the Department of Justice:

• Nearly half the kids—about 45 percent—were boys.
• Only 10 percent were involved with a "market facilitator" (e.g., a pimp).
• About 45 percent got into the "business" through friends.
• More than 90 percent were U.S.-born (56 percent were New York City natives).
• On average, they started hooking at age 15.
• Most serviced men—preferably white and wealthy.
• Most deals were struck on the street.
• Almost 70 percent of the kids said they'd sought assistance at a youth-service agency at least once.
• Nearly all the youths—95 percent—said they exchanged sex for money because it was the surest way to support themselves.

OK—if all of that is true, then we may have to rethink the notion of human trafficking that most of us have in our minds: a runaway girl falls into the hands of a pimp, who beats her and abuses her and forces her to bring home her “quota.”

Now then—how many kids are out there? Well, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there were about 800,000 kids reported missing in 1999. As well, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) noted a 1,000% increase in complaints of child sex trafficking from 2004 to 2008.

I don’t know about you, but something about all these numbers is seriously screwy. 800,000 reports of missing kids? That’s an enormous amount of kids. And a 1,000% increase in child sex trafficking in just four years?

We got a problem, guys. And it seems clear—however “sexy” the image of a teenage girl being lured and controlled by her pimp could be to any of you, the reality is most likely different. Oh, and as for a vast hidden network of pedophiles? Nah—don’t think so.

But we have a large number of kids on the street—kids that nobody will or even can hire. And they’re all hungry, they all need shelter. We’ve gotta find a way to get help to these kids. And then, maybe it’s time to rethink the idea of arresting johns and putting their names…

…on the front page of the local newspaper!