Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2300

Tonight's special guest is Dr. Darrell E. Allen from Everett, Washington, a survivor of child abuse and trauma. He experienced two great tragedies: his mother's suicide—which he personally witnessed—when he was five, and his father's subsequent decision to remarry ten months later to a woman he says, "can at best be described as unstable." His stepmother was fond of physical attacks and of shaming the kids, as Darrell relates, “The suicide would shadow my life for decades to come. The remarriage meant that I would grow up in a home where I faced canes, frying pans, chisels, cream bottles, and other various weapons of assault too numerous to mention. Even more pernicious [was] her habit of lining up both my sister and I after doing something that displeased her, and making us repeat after her that we were indeed, ‘nothing'.” School was Darrell's escape from the battleground that was home. In school, he could excel, as he explains: “In a quest to pursue a career predicated upon understanding the various strands of East Asian history and culture, I would earn a B.A. in Political Science at Colorado State University, and both an M.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures, and a Ph.D. in East Asian History at the University of Kansas, [which] reinforced my recognition that the best usage of my acquisition would be to inspire others to reach beyond cultural awareness and commit to a corresponding level of immersion that enables their study of the history and culture of a different people without antagonism, apology, or deprecation.” Darrell adds, “I do wish, in some small way, to make a difference in the lives of those with whom I have come in contact through my own experiences.”