It can be the difference between life and death.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which means there’s no better time than now to take notice of the epidemic plaguing our community, state, country and world.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the U.S.
“During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men,” the coalition states.
Further, NCADV reports one in three women and one in four men in the U.S. have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.
The coalition defines domestic violence as willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault and/or other abusive behavior that’s part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.
And as much as we’d like to say Habersham County is free from the problem’s grasp – it’s not.
The state of Georgia ranks ninth in the nation for the rate at which women are killed by men, the NCADV states.
The worst part? Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence. There is no “typical victim.”
Victims of domestic violence come from all walks of life, varying age groups, all backgrounds, all communities, all education levels, all economic levels, all cultures, all ethnicities, all religions, all abilities and all lifestyles.
Unfortunately, Habersham County sees its fair share of these situations. On a daily basis, sometimes several times a day, local law enforcement officials are dispatched to calls of domestic disputes between friends, couples and family members. Involved in many of these unfortunate situations are children.
In our Arrest Report, which we run twice weekly on Page 6A, you’ll notice many charges faced by defendants are related to some kind of assault, battery or cruelty to children under the Family Violence Act. The problem is real, and it’s happening right here, right now.
In an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence and the role it plays in our community, we’ve invited guest columnists to address the epidemic by sharing their own stories and what you can do to help – a conversation beginning next Friday.
Though the dialogue will continue weekly through the end of October, we hope these columns will keep the discussion moving forward that will ultimately make a difference, whether it’s for one family or many. And after the conversation’s started, we encourage you, our readers, to thoughtfully engage in the form of a Letter to the Editor.
In Georgia alone, in 2013, nearly 30,000 victims were served by Georgia domestic violence services, which we’re lucky enough to have here at home in Habersham County. Through this discussion, we hope you’ll also consider them and their needs, whether it be donations or volunteers.
Domestic violence is a real problem impacting real people – the same people you call friends and loved ones, peers and co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances. If you have trouble putting the statistics and immediacy into perspective, imagine one of them needing help and what you would do to answer the call. Lives depend on us taking action – not tomorrow or next week, but today and every day.