“Some of us went to the district attorney shortly after graduating high school. It was already too late according to the law. There’s an expiration date on accountability but no expiration date on trauma.” – Lanier Isom, Birmingham journalist, author and child sex abuse survivor.

It’s time to pass the Alabama Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act.

An Alabama lawmaker has filled a bill with bipartisan support that would extend the time that victims of child sex abuse can bring civil suits.

From the Alabama Reflector story: The bill, SB 127, sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, would extend the statute of limitations from six years to 36 years after the victim has turned 19. The bill would make that retroactive.

Related: Guest opinion: It’s time to pass the Alabama Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act – al.com

Related: Alabama bill would extend statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases to 36 years – al.com

Related: Decades later, three men say they were abused by music teacher at Randolph School – al.com

Under the legislation, sexual abuse victims would be able to file lawsuits up until the age of 55. Under current law, civil actions must be filed before a victim turns 25.

Child USA reported in 2020 that the average age when victims of child sex abuse come forward is 52.

As this Alabama legislative session draws to a close, the window for passage of this bill is narrow. The Alabama Survivors of Child Sex Abuse urges passage of the bill in a post on their Facebook page:

“If your state senator is on the Judiciary Committee, please reach out to them to ask for their support for SB127: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/committees-senate….

“Nothing has been scheduled yet, and we need your help to contact the committee chair, Senator Will Barfoot – [email protected], (334) 261-0895 – to urge that he get the bill scheduled for a committee hearing.

“A quick email message or call would greatly help. Thank you for standing with Alabama Survivors.”

In her AL.com guest opinion column in support of SB 127, Birmingham journalist, author and sex abuse survivor Lanier Isom writes:

You were our coaches, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, preachers, future politicians. You were neighbors, family friends, family members, always charming and trusted with our care. You took us on detours after practice on the way home, you snuck us into empty classrooms, equipment rooms, and offices on school campus. You found ways into our tents on camp outs and our bedrooms and basements at home. You cruised the malls where we spent hours shopping at The Limited and hanging out at the food court. You groomed us. You targeted us. You sexually assaulted us.

You were the exception to the many fine adults among us, but you sentenced us to a lifetime of damage.

Our parents were hard working, divorced, single, widowed, distracted. Some were alcoholic or workaholics. Others sick or dying of cancer.

We were good students and bad students. Star athletes and musicians. Geeks and outcasts. Awkward and immature. Confused and scared and captivated, we were vulnerable and unsupervised. We thought we could handle our secret and hide our shame. Some of us spoke up at the time. Some of us have only spoken up recently. Some of us never have and never will. We have all suffered in silence. We have all blamed ourselves.

Some of us went to the district attorney shortly after graduating high school. It was already too late according to the law. There’s an expiration date on accountability but no expiration date on trauma. We have searched a lifetime for justice, a lifetime trying to understand what happened and why.

We have become overfunctioning adults and nonfunctioning adults or somewhere in between. We are always haunted by what happened to us as children and minors by those we trusted. Some of us could afford mental health help. Others committed suicide. We have struggled with jobs, intimacy, nightmares, and anxiety. We are hypervigilant with our children.

Read all of the Isom’s column here.

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JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix.

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