The Honorable Donna F. Edwards
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October 30, 2013
I thank the gentleman. I know that you join with your colleague, Mr. Poe of Texas, in hosting this hour so that we can have an opportunity to remember why it is that we identify and commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and to make a commitment from this day forward, and from this coming year to the next time we have this observance, to do what we can to end domestic violence. I think, after all, that is the goal.
I can’t remember, Mr. Green, when I first became interested in domestic violence, or even aware of domestic violence, but I look back to the times when I was growing up. I grew up in a military family. We lived in very close quarters. We shared a wall in that military family housing with our neighbor. In our neighbor’s house, there was clearly something going on. My sister and I shared a bedroom, and we could hear what was going on, and it was violent. It was clearly violent.
I don’t know that I understood that at the time, Mr. Speaker, but I have come to understand it as an adult. It frames my commitment, lifelong commitment, to ending domestic violence.
I remember at that time the military police being called. They would come and they would drive the gentleman around the block, and then he would be delivered right back home. Then a few nights later, the exact same thing would happen again.
I remember my sister and I seeing the woman who lived next door, and we were friends with their children, and I remember seeing her. I was always intrigued by her dark glasses and her great makeup and the scarves that she wore around her neck. It wasn’t until later that I understood that she was covering her black eye, she was covering the bruises on her neck, and she was covering the bruises on her face from having been a victim of domestic violence. It was many, many years, in fact, as an adult where I came to really process and understand what was going on.
I think because domestic violence affects so many around the country, and most particularly it affects women, that there is almost a chance that in any given family or at a family reunion or family gathering, if you probe just enough, you will find someone who has experienced domestic violence.
Very sadly, you will also find many young children who have witnessed domestic violence. I think that we have only to look at the children who are growing up in homes where mostly their mothers are being abused, and then we wonder why it is that when we look at the population of young people who are incarcerated, and when you ask them one by one – and I have done this, I have visited incarcerated youth – almost to a one they will tell you that either they have been the victims of violence or they grew up in a violent home.
I think, Mr. Speaker, it must resonate with us that we have to ask ourselves why it is that we continue to have violence, and what it is that we can do to get to the root cause of that violence.
So in addition, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, to identify the fact that we lose about $8 billion a year in productivity that is lost because of domestic violence – lost time off of work, medical expenses, and the rest – we know that it is a social ill that is very pervasive.
We also know that there are other kinds of crimes that are associated with domestic violence –
stalking is one of those, sexual assault within a relationship.
Mr. Speaker, we also are aware that our young women, ages 16 to 24, are more likely than not to experience some form of violence in those relationships.
So earlier this year – and it took us some time to get there, Mr. Speaker – we did finally reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The Violence Against Women Act, which was first authorized in 1994 – I was a part of that, helped to lead that effort on the outside, where our leaders in Congress were leading on the inside, leaders like our now Vice-President Joe Biden, who was in the Senate and who took this bull by the horns and led us to the passage of the first Violence Against Women Act that was signed into law by President Clinton.
It was the first time ever that the Federal Government came forward and said, we have a real commitment to ending domestic violence by providing resources for shelters and services, training law enforcement, making sure that our judges were equipped to handle these cases in court, providing advocacy services for those who are experiencing violence, and going through the system.
Over each successive couple of years, we have reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act. We did that just recently. As I have said, in these tough economic times, it has been very difficult. All of a sudden, domestic violence became partisan and political.
I am glad to say, Mr. Speaker, that we did finally reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act again. We are providing those resources to those who experience violence.
But it should also come as no surprise that as we engage in the fiscal debates that we have here in the Congress, that because of sequester and shutting down the government even, that many of those shelters and services and programs are, in fact, experiencing a really difficult time at the same time that they are experiencing more demand.
I don’t say that, Mr. Speaker, to call out one side or the other, but I am glad we are back at a point where in this Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we take the politics out of domestic violence, and we say to women, whether you are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, or you don’t think about politics at all, that we care about ending domestic violence, we care about the fact, Mr. Speaker, that more women are placed in a much more dangerous circumstance when there is a weapon in the home and that weapon is used to either kill or harm or threaten the lives of those who are in the home. That is something that we can do something about.
Mr. Speaker, let me just say, this last year, we lost a really powerful advocate for those who experience domestic violence. When Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey died earlier this year, we remembered him in a lot of ways as a leader, Mr. Speaker, but on this Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I would like the Nation to remember Senator Lautenberg because he was the one who spearheaded the domestic violence firearm prevention that said that if you are committing domestic violence and you have a domestic violence offense, that you cannot purchase or possess a weapon. The Federal Government and the Congress recognized the importance of removing a weapon from a home where there is domestic violence. Senator Lautenberg was the champion.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to close – I know that we have other speakers – and just say that this Member of Congress, and I know that our colleagues here today, remain committed to ending domestic violence, to making sure that women can achieve their fullest potential by living in a home that is free of violence.
And, in fact, as we look around the world, whether it is in Afghanistan or Iraq or it is in South or Central America or in Africa, in many nations women experience violence in relationships in their homes. But, Mr. Speaker, if we can end that violence in the home, then we would do a lot to make certain that children are growing up healthy and able to have healthy relationships and that women are able to achieve their fullest potential.
So I join you today in calling attention to Domestic Violence Awareness Month and to redoubling our commitment to end domestic violence. I say a special thank you and salute to an organization that I started – now I don’t know – 15 to 20 years ago, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and all of the networks of advocates around the country who are committed to the same things that we are. And if only we can provide the resources that they need to do their work, I am convinced that we can end this scourge.
