Dominican: Domestic Abuse

DASH Raises Awareness for Abuse Victims
By Angela Romano
romaange@dom.edu
Features Editor

December 2, 2009

With recent domestic violence cases in the media, Dominican’s DASH, Domestic Abuse Stops Here, is taking preventative measures to ensure the safety of Dominican students and surrounding community members.

In a recent 20/20 interview, Rihanna opened up about the violent assault that happened last February between her and then boyfriend, Chris Brown. “He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank. He was clearly blacked-out. There was no person when I looked at him,” Rihanna said.

Behind closed doors of homes all across the country, people are being beaten and killed. It is happening in cities, small towns and in rural areas. It is crossing all social classes, genders, racial lines and age groups. It is the legacy passed on from one generation to another.

According to mental health journals, physical violence is estimated to occur in 4 to 6 million intimate relationships each year in the U.S., nearly one in every three adult women experiences at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood and approximately four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during a 12-month period.

Domestic violence hits home for Dominican student *Laura Anderson; domestic abuse is something she has dealt with in the past. Anderson had been in a violent relationship for six months when she was a freshman in college. Anderson said: “It was horrible. I used to blame my self, but I know it wasn’t my fault at all. He is an evil person and I’m glad I’m now in a healthy relationship where violence isn’t the answer when we have a problem.”

Through DASH, Dominican is able to have healthy resources for abuse victims or people simple wanting to know more information. DASH’s mission is to raise awareness about domestic abuse to the DU community as well as fundraise for agencies that work with victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

DASH President Marisol Davila and the rest of DASH have held several events to raise awareness of this growing problem and continue to plan for future events.

DASH and the Criminology Department have also brought in speakers to talk about domestic abuse and they were a success. Davila said: “In the month of October we had Heather Irmie speak about organizing against violence on campus. We also had Prem Pawha speak on violence in same-sex relationships. We recently had a fundraiser in October in which we sold purple bracelets, candy, chocolate and chips.”

Davila said, “The upcoming events are not only informational, they are also fun and everyone is welcome to come.” DASH had a basic fighting skills and self-defense class Nov. 23. Colleen Sweeney, former president of DASH and current mixed martial arts instructor taught the class to anyone who was interested.

Junior Jinny Fester, who attended the self-defense class, said, “I think it’s a great idea. I want to learn how to present myself in a violent situation. Hopefully it will help me feel more confident about defending myself.”

DASH also had Sabrina Hampton come to Dominican on Nov. 30 . Hampton spoke on emotional and verbal abuse in domestic violence situations.

Davila stresses that the events “cover important issues about domestic violence. Domestic violence is often viewed as being a women’s issue, but in reality it is a problem that many people face no matter what their race gender, age, sexual orientation, or religion is.”