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Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2019
By Melissa Martin, PhD
In 2019, Ebony Clare was shot and killed in South Carolina. Her husband, Romaine Clare was arrested. www.abcnews4.com.
Brandon Clark, 21, allegedly killed 17-year-old Bianca Devins, then
posted photos of her body on the gaming site Discord, according to a
2019 article in USA Today.
A man who had a history of domestic violence with his live-in
girlfriend allegedly killed her and her three young children, including
an infant, at a Georgia apartment complex where they lived, according
to a 2019 article at www.apnews.com.
The above alleged murders happened in 2019 in the USA—not a Third World
country. So here we are again. Year after year after year, women are
being killed by intimate partners.
What about the children? Another 2019 article in USA Today pointed out,
“New research is giving scientists more insight into the far-reaching
and long-lasting harms of domestic violence to the children who grow up
around it – including a startling finding: Witnessing abuse carries the
same risk of harm to children's mental health and learning as being
abused directly.”
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which first
began in 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence as a
Day of Unity to connect battered women’s advocates across the country.
Since the Violence Against Women Act passed in 1994, the U.S. has come
a long way. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is a non-profit
organization established in 1996 as a component of the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA). Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
“The term “domestic violence” includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of
violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of
the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common,
by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim
as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a
spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the
jurisdiction receiving grant monies, or by any other person against an
adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under
the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction,” as defined
by the United States Department of Justice. Visit www.justice.gov. The
Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) provides federal leadership.
For more than 20 years, the National Resource Center on Domestic
Violence (NRCDV) has been a comprehensive source of information for
those wanting to educate themselves and help others on the many issues
related to domestic violence. www.nrcdv.org.
Presidential Proclamation on National Domestic Violence Awareness
Month, 2019: NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by
the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim
October 2019 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I call upon
all Americans to stand firm in condemning domestic violence and
supporting survivors of these crimes in finding the safety and recovery
they need. I also call upon all Americans to support, recognize, and
trust in the efforts of law enforcement and public health and social
services providers to hold offenders accountable, protect victims of
crime and their communities, and prevent future violence.
www.whitehouse.gov.
“The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.”— Ghanaian proverb.
I have a dream that someday husbands and wives, intimate partners, and
families will live under the same roof in peace. And that men will hold
other men accountable when they abuse females. And that children will
no longer have to witness fathers and stepfathers beat up mothers and
stepmothers. I dream of harmony in our homes.
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is an author, columnist, educator, and therapist. She lives in Ohio.
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