High-profile attacks reflect why Black community faces more domestic violence

Article Title

Survivors of Domestic Violence in the Black Community Face Unique Challenges

Kelly Mays was in an abusive relationship in 2010 when an assault happened. Her then 13-year-old daughter inspired her to leave and seek help to make it happen.

The now 48-year-old Westland resident said that controlling behavior in the relationship intensified and became physically abusive. On her youngest daughter’s first birthday, she was assaulted and hospitalized.

When Mays went home from the hospital, she decided to leave the relationship, but it was initially psychologically difficult. “In my head, as a Black woman, I have to make it work. I have to make things work with my Black man,” she said.

But her oldest child, Celeste, told her mother that she wanted to go live with her father and not watch her experience more pain.

“‘Mom, I can’t, I can’t do this,” Mays remembers Celeste saying. “I can’t be in this space with you watching you struggle and suffering. … Or, you can just call it quits.”

“I chose my baby,” said Mays, who is now a mental health counselor and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, “and I ended it, and I left.”

Assistance from First Step

First Step, a Wayne County nonprofit focused on assisting survivors of domestic violence, helped Mays file a personal protection order and provided support when, according to court records, her abuser pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 26 weeks in a domestic violence program and 18 months of probation. The abuser isn’t being named by The Detroit News at the request of Mays.

“That’s what Black women need,” Mays said. “We need that opportunity to normalize conversation, to feel pain, to feel heard, and not to feel embarrassed about reaching out for services.”

The Impact on the Black Community

Experts agreed that domestic violence disproportionately affects the Black community. Nearly half — or 45% — of Black women and 40% of Black men have experienced intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes, compared with 25% of women and 11% of men across all races, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

There are a variety of reasons the Black community deals with more domestic violence than others, including poverty, a lack of access to help, cultural factors and a mistrust of police that discourages the reporting of violence that allows the situation to fester, experts said.

While intimate partner violence can affect anybody, access to resources is not equal, especially for the African American community, said Christine Kinal, president and CEO of Pontiac-based HAVEN, a center for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Marginalized populations that experience higher levels of stress, unemployment and poverty encounter more barriers to getting help, she said.

“All those things keep you away from resources and having an ability to get away from your abuser,” Kinal said.

Prioritizing the Safety of Children

A recent spate of high-profile killings in Metro Detroit reflects how domestic violence tears at the Black community.

In mid-May, Detroit Medical Center nurse Patrice Wilson was found dead inside a car in Novi on Mother’s Day, and ex-boyfriend Jamere Miller was accused of abducting and killing her in an incident that Detroit police said involved domestic violence. During the same month, Oakland County public health officer Calandra Green was found dead in her Pontiac home along with her husband, Charles Quincy Green, whom Oakland County Sheriff’s investigators believe killed Green before he took his own life.

Earlier this month, Rashad Trice, 26, was accused of sexually and physically assaulting Wynter Cole Smith’s mother in a Lansing apartment before kidnapping her 2-year-old daughter, who was later found dead in a Detroit alley. Trice, who is charged in federal court with kidnapping resulting in death, was previously convicted of domestic violence charges involving the mother over a year ago, court records show.

Black women in the United States were killed in homicides related to intimate partner violence at a rate of 1.5 per 100,000 in 2020, nearly three times the rate of 0.56 for White women, according to the federal The issues highlighted in the article are connected to SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, and SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Based on the article’s content, the specific targets that can be identified are:

• Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres
• Target 10.2: Empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status
• Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, there are indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Indicator 5.2.1: Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months
• Indicator 10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, by age, sex, and persons with disabilities
• Indicator 16.1.3: Proportion of population subjected to physical, psychological, or sexual violence in the previous 12 months

4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: detroitnews.com

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