Former Ridenhour Prize Recipient, Dr. Scott Allen, Shares His Origin Story of Resilience
This month we will be hosting the 20th Annual Ridenhour Prizes, a gala event devoted to honoring the most prominent and active whistleblowers and truthtellers in our nation and around the world. As an organization dedicated to defending whistleblowers and ensuring their disclosures protect the public interest, several of our whistleblower clients have been honored as recipients of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling.
One of these clients, Dr. Scott Allen, was honored along with our client Dr. Pamela McPherson with this prize in 2019 for blowing the whistle on the imminent risk of harm to migrant children in detention settings. Drs. Allen and McPherson serve as the medical and mental health subject matter experts for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. In the wake of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that first separated children from their parents at the border and then transitioned to detaining families together, they chose to warn DHS, Congress, and the press about the dangers of detention to children that were exacerbated by systemic failures to protect the health and safety of migrant children in custody at immigration detention facilities.
This was not Dr. Allen’s first experience with warning about the human consequences of certain government policies and practices. He has also spoken out against the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or rather, its systematic and unethical use of torture to extract information from detainees. He also raised his voice again at the beginning of the covid pandemic, again with our support, warning along with his colleague Dr. Josiah “Jody” Rich about the need to depopulate ICE detention facilities that, as congregate settings with constant entrance and exit of workers and detainees, amounted to a “tinder box” of contagion endangering immigrants, workers, and the public.
Dr. Allen’s commitment to using his talents and voice to alleviate suffering started from an early age—a fascinating story he details in his new memoir released this month, Across A Bridge of Fire: An American Teen’s Odyssey from the Burn Ward to the Edge of the Cambodian Killing Fields.
In Dr. Allen’s book, he details not only his work at the age of 17 to join relief efforts in support of Cambodian refugees in Thailand escaping Pol Pot’s genocide, but also why he felt compelled to leave suburban New England. Dr. Allen painfully recounts his experience surviving a horrific accident as a child that left him in the burn ward for months. Rather than moving on and trying to forget about his experience, Dr. Allen utilized his deep moral fiber and grit to become a humanitarian worker at the Thailand-Cambodia border at the time of the Khmer Rouge after leaving high school in the 1980’s. He recounts both the survival stories of the refugees and the deep relationships he formed with the residents of the camps and his fellow relief workers, as well as his work directly aiding, with the support of his parents, several refugees’ entrance and legal emigration into the United States during a time when Asian Americans and refugees at large—like now—were fighting to survive while facing an unwelcoming environment.
His innate sense of empathy led him to dwell with others in their pain, rather than distance himself when it would be easy to succumb to compassion fatigue. These experiences clearly shaped and cemented Dr. Allen’s future life as a medical professional dedicated to serving some of the most vulnerable among us—immigrant and detained populations, as well as adults with developmental disabilities. They also clearly shaped his moral compass and his moral courage, having chosen to take action at great personal risk in order prevent harm and alleviate suffering, as his whistleblowing continued to do for others.
Dr. Allen’s account in his memoir reminds us that all whistleblowers who inspire us—including those honored at the Ridenhour Prizes—have an origin story that, while perhaps not forged by fire and international refugee work as a teenager like Dr. Allen’s, preceded their often life-altering choices to use their voices for good. We are excited that Dr. Allen will be joining us to celebrate this year’s Ridenhour Prizes honorees to present the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, and urge anyone in need of inspiration and hope, particularly in these troubled times, to both join us at this year’s 20th anniversary gala and to read Dr. Allen’s compelling memoir. The Ridenhour Prizes will demonstrate how true integrity and consideration for others can catalyze promise and change in difficult times. We hope to see you there.