The Witness Wore Red

Religious cults are hard nuts to crack. Their member are brainwashed, and you won’t have much luck convincing them that their leader is lying. If the kids are born into this cult, then you have double the trouble; not only will it be a task to convince them, but if they decide to leave then it’s even harder than before. They won’t know what to do with all the freedom or how to live on their own. They may end up on the streets. Whether they’re Mormon polygamists, Satmar Hasids, or Scientologists, the outside world can be a strange, forbidding place.

The Witness Wore Red is about leaving a cult. The author has all the trappings of someone born in one; she’s taught not to trust outsiders, taught to accept disgusting things from the leader, and has nowhere to go when she leaves. I think that when people leave a cult (Escape, Stolen Innocence) it’s because they’ve reached a breaking point; in this case the new leader was getting so bizarre that it scared her off. The only question is, when do they reach that breaking point? Rebecca Musser reached hers when she was 27, but her mother stayed. Others left because they were thrown out. Her life pretty lousy to begin with; her mother is the second wife of a wealthy polygamist, but they have to hide in the basement and take his first wife’s abuses. Since their father signed over his house and bank account to the FLDS, they can lose their home at any time. After spending a childhood being abused by her stepmother, they’re “reassigned” to another man, and things are no better.

The Mormon polygamists have been a problem for Utah, and it doesn’t appear that the state is catching on. Never mind that their huge families cost the state millions in public assistance, but the amount of family abuse going on could drain social services. They’ve been throwing boys out of the house for a decade, and these “lost boys” are living on the streets, getting into drugs, stealing to support themselves. I don’t know how many there are now living by themselves, but it must be costing the state a fortune. These boys have nowhere to go, no education, no family, and they may not know how to ask for a job. Some of them are taken out of school at 13 and put to work, but they never see any of the money they make. Whatever state or community these boys go to will end up with the bill.

I’ll give the book credit for its writing, but it does get repetitive at times. Musser’s story ends well by most standards; she and her boyfriend leave the cult, and she has a decent career. It’s difficult for them to adjust, especially when they’re not used to being in a society where men don’t rule the roost. They have to learn to speak differently, dress like the “other” people, etc. Fortunately for her, she has musical talent, so she’s able to join a local band. Her husband seems to have it a bit harder.

Musser’s younger sister Elissa Wall was the subject of an earlier book on this topic. She was forced at 14 to marry an older cousin (he looks like a real asshole in the photos, like the high school football player who bullies everyone) and was the main witness in Warren Jeff’s rape trial. She and her husband left the cult, but the rest of their family is still there. Increasingly, there are Satmar Hasids who leave their sect and choose to live outside, but like Musser and Wall, they have a tough time adjusting to a life where they have to make choices.

Unfortunately, incidents like the New Square arson attack, among others, show the danger that cult members are in when they have a dispute with their clergy. Fortunately, as in the Nechemia Waxman case, there are members who are ready to testify about the wrongs committed by their clergy. Now it remains to be seen how the government deals with it.