It happens every day in Morgan Hill, maybe even more than once:
tempers flare between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend,
and it ends in violence, sometimes with a call to police and a trip
to county jail, other times with the victims suffering in silence,
blaming themselves.
It happens every day in Morgan Hill, maybe even more than once: tempers flare between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, and it ends in violence, sometimes with a call to police and a trip to county jail, other times with the victims suffering in silence, blaming themselves.
Community Solutions would like to make sure that for those who feel helpless already, due to a language barrier, they know that there is help available.
On Tuesday, the non-profit agency will launch Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2003 with a bilingual workshop. The panel will include a survivor of domestic violence, law enforcement representatives and domestic violence advocates.
“We are in no way, shape or form implying this problem is more prevalent in the Hispanic community,” said Perla Flores of Community Solutions. “But when we have talked to the women in our shelter and asked why they have not reported the abuse in the past, they have had similar claims: ‘He said he would have me deported, he told me I would lose my children, I have no papers.’ What we want this population to know is yes, there are services for you, yes they have rights, yes we have capabilities to help you.”
Flores said that English-speaking victims are more aware of what is available to them, and Community Solutions wants to let non-English speakers know how they can get help.
“The location that we’re in, we have an agrarian, immigrant population,” she said. “We want our services to be effective, keeping in tune with the changing needs of the people we are serving.”
Police Lt. Joe Sampson said domestic violence is a common problem.
“Particular to Morgan Hill, it is one of the crimes that we respond to most often,” he said. “It is typical across the state, particularly in areas with a portion of the community that is relatively affluent and another portion that have to have multiple families (in the residence) to meet rent or mortgage. You have people in close proximity, people who may not be networked with the rest of community, there may be cultural differences, they may be struggling to make ends meet.”
Sampson also noted that though the purpose of the press conference is to inform those in the Spanish-speaking population of the services available, domestic violence crosses cultural, economic and language boundaries.
Even gender boundaries. Typically viewed as a woman-as-victim crime, more and more males are reporting themselves as victims, Sampson said.
“Just in the last 10 years, we’ve seen an increase,” he said. “We know it goes both ways. But males are a little more hesitant for several reasons. They may feel embarrassed. It may be a kind of gender complex where they don’t want to get their significant other into trouble.”
Domestic violence as a whole would seem to be on the rise, but Sampson said it could possibly be attributed to an increase in reporting.
“I think people are reporting it more than in the past,” he said. “There’s not as much of a stigma with reporting. In fact, more and more people are starting to realize that we need help in our relationships, things like counseling, to get us through rough spots that, left alone, could grow. People in general are more aware that there are advocates out there, there are counseling groups, there are people who can help when the situation turns bad.”
Details: 779-6212.
