I’ve had three conversations in the past week with three different Kansans, all about the same question.
How, they wondered, can we keep the flickering flame of hope alive in a state that seems determined to extinguish it?
Each one of us has to answer that question separately. But I have found that hope recently in the efforts of a group of child sex abuse survivors. They have persisted against outright opposition, a pandemic and institutional indifference. On Thursday, they saw a compromise bill extending criminal and civil statutes of limitations cleared the Senate. The legislation, now known as Senate Substitute for House Bill 2127, passed on a unanimous vote. It now heads to the House.
These survivors overcame not because they wielded enormous power at the Statehouse, or because they hired expensive lobbyists. They succeeded because they believed, acted and persisted. Simply feeling hope wasn’t enough for them: They actually turned up and did the work.
Even the most despairing among us ought to take note.
Survivor Lesa Patterson-Kinsey has shared her personal experiences over and over again. She said that watching the Senate discuss the bill was far more emotional than she expected.
“As tears ran down my face as I sat in the Senate gallery, I felt the weight of all our work for the last four years at that moment,” she said. “I’m so proud and honored to take part in this first step in protecting children from sexual predators.”
Some of the survivors who told their stories were, in fact, lawmakers themselves.
