“what is it about the walls” a report of african american women’s experiences of domestic...
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“What Is It About The Walls” A Report of African American Women’s Experiences
of Domestic Violence in the Lincoln, Nebraska Area
Project Coordinator of Grant StudyVenita Kelley, PhD
Additional AuthorsMyesha Albert, M. A.S. Lateefah Coleman
Debbie Gaspard, M.B.A.Cindy Grandberry
Tekla Ali Johnson, ABDWendy Smooth, PhDRenitaTyrance, M.Ed.Franchell Watson, B.A.
The Family Violence Council/Lincoln Medical Education Foundation
African American Women and Domestic Violence Services Steering Committee Friendship Home
Rape Spouse Abuse Crisis Center
Report Commissioned By:
Woods Charitable Fund
Community Health Endowment
Friends of the Lincoln Lancaster Women’s Commission
The Lozier Foundation
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
Report Funded By:
“Called Matriarch, Emasculator and hot Momma. Sometimes Sister, Pretty Baby, Auntie, Mammy and Girl. Called Unwed Mother, Welfare Recipient and Inner City Consumer. The Black AmericanWoman has had to admit that while nobody knew the trouble she saw, everybody, his brother and his dog, felt qualified to explain her, even to herself.”
--Trudier Harris, 1982
Why This Study:
Recruitment of Facilitators 8 facilitators Facilitators received RSACC training and focus group/personal interview training
Recruitment of Participants 20 targeted with 46 participants Age range from 12 to 64 years of age 26 women from NCCW and LCC
Methods
Focus Groups and Interviews 90 minute target focus groups. Group sizes from 3-7
The facilitators accommodated personal interviews as well.
Methods
Correctional Facilities
Faith Based Organizations
City and Gov’t Agencies
Domestic Violence Service Providers
What Is It About The Walls: Key Findings
Media
Outreach Not targeted to African American women.
Information about shelters is difficult to access
Thirty days is not enough time to get re- established
Key Findings: Domestic ViolenceService Providers
In Shelter Treatment
Providers needed to be sensitive to cultural nuances
Overt censure and suspicion was felt. There were some positive interactions with service providers.
Domestic Service Providers-cont’d
State Policy and Laws
Medical
Legal System
Educational Facilities
Law Enforcement
Social Services
Key Findings: City and Gov’t Agencies
High level of distrust related to social and human services workers
Fear of losing their children
“Once your children are gone into that system, it’s like hell to get them back. They look at you at you as the unstable one, even though you were not the Perpetrator.”—Focus Group Participant
Key Findings: Social Services
Participants referenced a Nebraska law (LB184) that places children who have witnessed domestic violence in foster care
These laws were a major hindrance to reporting domestic violence in the African American community, and may serve to further empower abusers
Key Findings: State Policy and Laws
Not giving warnings to girls
School officials insensitive to children’s feelings
Shame and humiliation a part of lives
Key Findings: Educational Facilities
African American women are more likely to have to rely on local police in a domestic violence crisis
Most participants who had experienced domestic violence found officers to be of little help
A few women reported officers had been helpful:
“He was my rock!”—Focus Group Participant
Key Findings: Law Enforcement
Imprisonment is part of the domestic violence cycle
Programs for support had not been in place for at least two years at NCCW and do not exist at LCC
No African American counseling (or staff) personnel or other women of color in place in the correctional facilities
Power and control dynamics were evident
Key Findings: Correctional Facilities
Ambivalence and outright discouragement about the Black Church and Muslim Mosque response to their situations of domestic violence
Yet, participants did find aid in the faith community *******
Participants discovered an incomplete application of the scriptures
Key Findings: Faith Based Organizations
Women stated that O.J. Simpson opened the world to the problem
African American women are strong, unfeminine, ugly, not worthy of respect, loud, masculine, as domestics, and literal and emotional servants “Black women’s assertiveness and their use of every expression of racismto launch multiple assaults against the entire fabric of inequality have been a consistent, multifaceted threat to the status quo. As punishment,Black women have been assaulted with a variety of negative images.”
—Cheryl Gilkes, 1982
Key Findings: Media
Service Providers
Correctional Facilities
Colleagues
CommunityEnvironments
Faith Based Organizations
Media
Gov’t Agencies
Participant Recommendations
Eliminate stereotypical images
Teach our daughters
Include African American women in the mainstream social images of domestic violence work
Participant’s Recommendations: Media
Use sermons to address domestic violence
Make churches and mosques safe places for women
Engage leaders in training and education related to domestic violence
Participant’s Recommendations: Faith Based Organizations
Law enforcementOffer monetary rewards for information on abusers
Officers must be aware of statistics associated withAfrican American women exiting abusive relationships
EducationMust respect the children’s right to privacy
Establish a domestic violence curriculum
Participant’s Recommendations: City and Governmental Agencies
MedicalWomen suggest both medication and counseling“…come to think of it, I DID begin abusing prescription Medicine first…(they gave me) what I describe as ‘theBlack people’s domestic violence counseling.”
--Focus Group ParticipantLegal SystemWomen suggested the establishment of a defense lawRefine dual arrest lawsRepeal law that puts children witnessing DV in foster care
Participant’s Recommendations: City and Governmental Agencies--continued
As Colleagues
Facilitate professional networking
Train and educate providers about female relationship dynamics
Incorporate suggestions and practices that differ from existing shelter structures
Participant's Recommendations: Colleagues
Post business sized cards at the grocery store
Post information in hair salons
Involve religious communities
Recruit ministers
Participant's Recommendations: Community Environments
A shelter run by Women of Color would enhance the services
Essence and Jet Magazines
Implement a “Detox” Program
Establish culturally specific support groups
Conduct a media program
Participant’s Recommendations: Service Providers
Establish and maintain grief, family, and domestic violence support groups
Establish a half-way house staffed by Women of Color to assist transition back into public society
Include former correctional residents on a advisory board
Participant's Recommendations: Correctional Facilities
Remove the “ For White Women Only” stigma
Reach out to significant institutions in the Black community
Build relationships with African American Organizations
Seek the help of the Black Church/religious institutions to combat domestic violence
Implement holistic programs
Research Team's Objectives and Recommendations
An examination of cultural and societal maintenance assumptions will reveal that African American women’s (and all women’s) roles and lives are defined within a context of self-sacrifice and altruism for others’ sake
Research Team's Objectives and Recommendations
DV services in Lincoln, NE were viewed as for "white women" only
Multi-angle/level phenomena
Religious institutions erroneously communicated that violence is sanctioned by the Bible and Koran Community involvement is imperative
Conclusions
“Strong Black Woman” stereotype Commitment to the family
“Human ties can be freeing and empowering, as is the case with Black women’s heterosexual love relationships or in the power of motherhood in African-American families and communities. Human ties can also be confining and oppressive. Situations of domestic violence and abuse or cases in which controlling images foster Black women’s internalized oppression represent domination on the personal level. The same situation can look quite different depending onthe consciousness one brings to interpret it.”
--Patricia Hills Collins, 1990
Abandon “one size fits all” approach Holistic approach imperative
Conclusions cont.
Name of the Report
The Author’s Perspectives
Transitory Nature of Committee
Name of the Committee
Cultural Nuances
Challenges in the Process:
Program Coordinator Position (FVC)
Good Neighbor Award
Advocate Positions at RSACC and Friendship Home
Creation of the Nebraska African American Domestic Violence Advisory Committee(NAADVAC)
Community Forum-Malone Community Center
Additional Grant Funds
African American Women and Domestic Violence Conference
Outcomes from Report:
Special Session: Nebraska Violence Symposium
Collaborations:- UNL-VAWOC- Lincoln Area NAACP - Safe Quarters- National Counsel of Negro Women
Local and National exposure-CALCASA Presentation-Lincoln Juneteenth Celebration
Outcomes from Report-cont’d:
Walls?
“Domination operates by seducing, pressuring, or forcing
African-American women and members of subordinated groups to replace individual and cultural
ways of knowing with the dominant group’s specialized thought.”
–Patricia Hill Collins, 1990