Community

“A Safe Place” and Domestic Violence Month

Published

6 years ago

October 24, 2017

By Carolyn Russell

Three three things I talk about when I speak about Domestic Violence Month and why we acknowledge it on a national level:

It gives us an opportunity to create awareness and raise the consciousness about the issue of domestic violence and intimate partner abuse.
To mourn those who have lost their lives due to domestic violence and to acknowledge secondary victims.
To provide support and encouragement for those who continue to do the work.

The biggest challenges for domestic violence in 2017 are federal policies in terms of how they impact marginal communities and there are two issues that really concern me:

Undocumented victims of Intimate Partner Abuse: Right now, we are dealing with significant problems around undocumented workers. There is such a high level of fear in the domestic violence community over victims who are being deported, who are afraid to file any police reports, afraid to call the police, so we’re talking about new policies that are going to negatively impact the work we have already done.

In 2017, we should not have a concern around victims of domestic violence being arrested and deported because they report incidents of domestic abuse. For example, the activities of I.C.E. is a big issue in the DV community right now.

According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, “In the first six months of 2017, reports of domestic violence have declined among Latino residents in some of California’s largest cities, a retreat that crisis professionals say is driven by a fear that interacting with police or entering a courthouse could make immigrants easy targets for deportation.”

We are designing legal clinics to support women (and men), sanctuaries for victims who are terrified to call the police.

VAWA Under Threat: We are very concerned that the Department of Justice plans to gut the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), in particular, the federal grants that fund domestic violence programs that offer crisis care, support and preventive education in the community.

The Department of Justice has adopted a blueprint report from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, that describes the VAWA grants as “a misuse of federal resources and a distraction from concerns that are truly the province of the federal government.”

This is despite its own Bureau of Justice statistics report showing that the overall rate of intimate partner violence in the United States declined by 64 percent in the ten years plus after the legislation was signed. No policy statements have been issued yet but we feel at risk and the fact the Vladimir Putin, so admired by the White House, signed a bill on February 7 rolling domestic violence protection for women seems particularly ominous.

This is what the VAWA grant means to A Safe Place. 60% of our annual budget of $900k comes from VAWA. We serve a very diverse community, many of them traumatized children who we provide with mental health care. If we lose the VAWA grant, it would send us back to a crisis line, being able to do little more than tell domestic violence victims to escape the home and find ‘a safe place.’

We cannot lose sight of the effect this is already having on victims. They are reading and hearing about an administration with a lack of support for victims of domestic violence and their children. Worse, it sends a clear message to perpetrators. It empowers them. Describing the funding for domestic violence as “misuse” and a “distraction”, defunding the organizations (like A Safe Place) that protect against and prevent domestic violence, legitimizes domestic violence (including sexual assault) against women.

To celebrate Domestic Violence Awareness month this year, our 39^th Anniversary, we’re having a Faith Based Day. As an agency, we want to create awareness of Domestic Violence through education, public service announcements, using this as an opportunity to engage with the community.

For more information, go to http://www.asafeplacedvs.org/.

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Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

18 mins ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

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Bay Area

Vivian Coit, 98

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

Published

27 mins ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Vivian Coit

Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Sept. 15, 1925 ~ March 30, 2024

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

In her 98 years, she had various jobs – San Francisco Naval Shipyard, elevator operator, housekeeping, a salesclerk, and supervisor for the United States Postal Service. After 27 years of service with the United States Postal Service, she retired with numerous commendations. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. and a devoted member of the Washington/Lincoln Alumni Association of Dallas, Texas.

On April 20 at 10:00 a.m., a life well-lived will be celebrated at Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA under the leadership of Rev. Antoine Shyne.

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

38 mins ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!