TSM24- Ronald Hunter, and child prostitution.

Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Ronald Hunter, on air from May 23rd

Ronald Hunter, author of Angel Finally Found His Wings: A True Story Of Finding Trust, Hope, Faith, And The Power Of Love. After being a part of The Oprah Winfrey Show’s ‘200 Men Who Survived Sexual Abuse’ television episode, Ron was inspired to write this memoir. Twelve long years later, the book has been published. Ron has also been featured in The Guardian and the New York Daily News

“Many people are shocked when I tell them that I’m the youngest of 22 children, but that’s only a small part of my life,” says Ronald Hunter. “Dad died when I was six years old, my mom soon went to a mental institution due to her severe schizophrenia — and I went to an orphanage. After several years, she was released, and I went back to live with her, but she ‘gave’ me to a neighborhood Boy Scout Leader.”

“Tragically, he forced me into the 1970’s child prostitution sex trade in New York City by continuously blackmailing me. If caught, he promised to have my mother sent back to the mental institution. Five long years later, I escaped his control and started my new life.” Ron no longer sees himself as a victim, but as a survivor, and more importantly, as an advocate who helps others.

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Hunter is available to share the following in an interview:

What it was like to be exploited by a trusted community leader, but having to keep silent
How he was forced into teen prostitution, servicing thousands of men for five years
Why he joined a multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and how the 2019 Child Victims Act opened a window for abuse victims to seek justice long after the statute of limitations had closed
How he was married to a woman for a decade even though he knew he was gay
How serving in the US Army as a staff sergeant in Desert Storm may have saved his life
What can be done to help other children avoid falling victim to sex-trafficking and abuse – and how we can “predator-proof” our community youth organizations and schools

Angel Finally Found His Wings is an intimate and candid memoir about a child surviving life on the streets as a prostitute. Twelve-year-old “Angel” shares a room at the YMCA in New York City with thirty-four-year-old Charlie, the pimp who is blackmailing him.

Angel’s mom is battling schizophrenia while Charlie, the neighborhood Boy Scout leader, grooms him and continuously threatens to return his mother to a mental institution if Angel doesn’t comply and turn tricks on 42nd Street.

Taking place between 1972 and 1977 on the crime-infested streets of New York, Angel, whose real name is Ron, maintains his normal-kid status to his family, classmates, and football buddies in Brooklyn, all while surviving life-threatening situations hustling.

Told in the dual consciousness of Ron as both a growing teenage boy and our first-person narrator looking back at his life, Angel Finally Found His Wings is emotionally wrenching and disarmingly direct.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had wings and could fly away from when life experiences are unimaginable,” says Ron’s husband, Scott Hunter. “The wings would carry the trauma, sadness, and shame as we take flight with hopes the wind makes it all go away. Angel continues to fly because he refuses to allow his past to define him. He found happiness, love, trust and peace. He is a survivor whom I admire.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ron Hunter was raised in abject poverty in Brooklyn, with 21 siblings, by a schizophrenic mother in and out of mental institutions, and a dad who died when he was just six years old. A local Boy Scouts leader took an interest in young Ron and then violated the family trust, stealing the innocence of a 12-year-old boy. Ron was then blackmailed by this man and forced into prostitution in Times Square.

Rather than be labeled a victim, Ron asserts that he is a survivor and is now an active advocate to give voice to others. He could have been left on the streets to die or have gone to jail, but he managed to escape the streets and make a new life for himself by going through addiction recovery and then joining the U.S. Army, where he served as a Staff Sergeant during Desert Storm in Iraq. He reveals this story in a moving and inspiring memoir, Angel Finally Found his Wings: A True Story Of Finding Trust, Hope, Faith, And The Power Of Love.

When he and others filed a multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America, he was featured in the New York Daily News and The Guardian.

The son of a Puerto Rican immigrant, Ron is a retired American Airlines flight attendant. He attended Penn State University and served in the U.S. Army, where he was Staff Sergeant during Desert Storm in Iraq. He is a lover of life, a survivor of sexual abuse, and a person of profound faith in the miraculous. Ron resides in Roaring Gap, North Carolina with his husband, Scott, and has a second home in St. Petersburg, Florida.

AMAZON

https://www.angelfinallyfoundhiswings.com

https://www.facebook.com/shunter

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