Domestic Violence and Higher Education

Monica Butler Johnson

I am always perusing Facebook, especially on the weekend. On my timeline, my friend shared a picture of Monica Butler Johnson, a  beautiful lady with her friend holding up paintings.  The caption read please pray for my friend on the right she was killed by her husband this weekend. He beat her to death with a baseball bat. This hurt me to my heart because looking at the picture no one would expect to read she was beaten to death.  I began to ask myself the questions.  How many of friends knew the hell she was living in? Did they know and recognize the signs? I asked myself the same questions. Would I know if one of my friends were being abused?

Domestic Violence on College Campuses

This particular post sparked my interest because she was a member of a sorority.  She was Alpha Kappa Alpha.  I am also a member of the sorority Zeta Phi Beta.  These organization for women teach women about the importance of community, scholarship and sisterhood. I wanted to highlight this because many young women are heading to college for the first time. For some ladies, they will experience their first real love.  Love can be a beautiful thing when handled correctly. Love can be disastrous and ruin lives if mishandled.  I wonder have we equipped our daughters enough to handle the realities of love?  

When we send our girls to college, we are sending them to more than just sit in a classroom to get an education.  They are also getting an education on life.  Recently my cousin sent her eldest daughter to Tuskegee University. We had a going away party for her.  We were asked to give her words of wisdom.  I gave her a list of practical tips about college, but the one thing I forgot was how to recognize Domestic Violence situations.  

Females ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 generally experienced the highest rates of intimate partner violence.[viii]   

As the stats shows us college age women are among the highest rates of intimate partner violence.  Domestic violence knows no color, race or economic status.  When I was in college, I heard rumors about girls being abused. I even had a friend who was living with an abusive boyfriend. I had no clue on how to help. I didn’t know how to report it.  I felt helpless.  I did the only thing I knew how to do and that was pray.  I am all for prayer, but now I know my friend needed my help and action as well as my prayers.  We must educate and expose them to the real truth about campus life.  This means we must open up our closets and let those skeletons come out.  We also need to learn the signs  and hear the silent cries of our friends. We need to talk about Domestic Violence in our women’s group at church and in our sorority meetings.  I say we because as I am writing this I realize I need to do more.  The picture of that young woman could have easily been one of my friends.  

Let's not let Monica Butler Johnson and the many other women deaths be in vain. Let's get active and involved in our community. Let's educate ourselves on Domestic Violence.

Ways to Help…

• Every community has a Battered Women’s Shelter.  Call the shelter and find our ways to help
• Invite a Domestic Violence Speaker to your next women’s group meeting
• Host an event just for college-age women
• Educate Men and young boys on the importance of chivalry and how to treat women with respect.
• Talk about this at Church!!! The church is still vital to our communities.  The Church needs to be on the forefront of educating people about Domestic Violence.  

References
http://www.thehotline.org/resources/statistics/