Domestic Violence is a Community Issue

It’s been a heart-wrenching week of headlines.

Dr. Cerina Fairfax was murdered by her husband in her home - where her children were. She was trying to finalize her divorce from her killer.

Shaneiqua Pugh and another unnamed woman are in critical care after being shot by their soon to be ex-husband and suspected ex-partner, respectively. 8 children were slaughtered: Braylon Snow, age 5, Jayla Elkins, age 3, Layla Pugh, age 7, Kayla Pugh, age 6, Khedarrion Snow, age 6, Markaydon Pugh, age 10, Sariahh Snow, age 11, and Shayla Elkins, age 5.

An online academy aimed at teaching men how to drug and rape women reported 62 million hits.

These are not isolated incidents.

We cannot talk about domestic violence as a personal issue - it is a ravage on our communities. A silent, and oftentimes dismissed, reality for millions of people every year, the majority of which are women.

We are allowing power and control to be the norm, watching our institutions and leaders use venomous and dangerous language to describe anyone outside of the mainstream, continuing to uplift dangerous men to positions of power, and turning away when something happens to our friends, neighbors, coworkers and families makes us uncomfortable.

We need to talk about domestic violence and the scourge on our communities. We need to own up to the realities of where silence and inaction have led us. We need to open up conversations, name the realities of power, control, coerciveness and violence and how frequently they show up. 

Survivors have been sharing their stories, eviscerating their sense of safety to just get someone, anyone to believe them. DVSA organizations have been working to end violence in our communities for decades.

These are not one-off horrors, they are the reality for our neighbors and our loved ones.

We need to educate ourselves. We need to support one another. We need to learn how to intervene and speak up. We need to stop whispering about domestic violence as if it's something that can be ignored or tip toed around. 

We owe it to those 8 children. We owe it to Cerina. We owe it to Shaneiqua. We owe it to the people in our communities struggling to survive every day.

If you need support, we’re here for you. Always.