The Great D&D-Satan scare of the 80s

BBC article - D&D turns 40 this year and a reminder how it was for some of us growing up in the 80s.
BBC article The Great 1980s Dungeons and Dragons Panic

I was caught up in some of this growing up. Got assaulted 2 different times for being a D&D player. I got bullied anyways because I was a fat nerd and not white. Many thought I was Hispanic (I'm half Thai) but that don't matter. I'm also not Christian, my household being predominately Buddhist. So, growing up in a white town was occasionally rough on a not white, buck-toothed, not Christian, Dungeons and Dragons playing fat kid.

** I got into Tae Kwon Do and then school football and wrestling. I got my issues worked out, the above being more a statement of events as opposed to some inner expose of some kind. I could bench more than some of the kids who beat me up by the time I was a senior in high school. Some of the guys that beat me up are dead now via drug overdoses and stupid drunk accidents. I'm doing all right.**

Not naming names -
There was this one kid, I was 13 or so at the time, that was in our D&D group for about a year. He molested some girl much younger than him. We, obviously, were freaked out by that when we found out about it. Some one in his camp (his Mom... him?) Pulled the D&D is Satan card in his investigation so we got picked to be questioned. The police and feds found nothing at our table after some interviews. All was good there. I was never even actually interviewed personally.

Investigators finding ZERO connection amounts to nothing in the eyes of circa 80s Van-Tucky Washington though. For about 6 months I was branded. I took my licks and came up swinging and did well. To this day I play Pathfinder. I enjoy the activity with good friends. Some of my best friends (who I SHOULD NAME as they are great people) have come to me via gaming. I game with my wife and hope to begin gaming with my 12 year old step daughter this summer.

Happy 40th Birthday Dungeons and Dragons and happy 35 year anniversary to me for keeping up with something I have been doing consistently and has brought me joy for that long (taking breaks for serving in the Navy and 2008-2010).