Pandemic uncovers need for more services for immigrant victims of domestic violence
When Tina Rodríguez was a child, she had the courage to call 911 and ask for help for her mother who was experiencing domestic violence. Years later when he spoke and reconciled with his father through a restorative justice process, he began to heal.
“I had the opportunity to ask the questions he needed to ask and learn, but also to question him about whether he ever thought about the pain he caused us, ”said Rodríguez, who is now president of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault by participating in the videoconference“ Combatiendo el Increase in Domestic Violence. Can Families Heal? ” offered by Ethnic Media Services.
The New England Journal of Medicine reveals that one in four women and one in ten men face abuse from their partner or spouse . But also anecdotal reports point to a dramatic increase in domestic violence since the beginning of the COVID pandemic – 19.
In the case of immigrants, according to experts, the pandemic revealed that It is necessary to give them more access to interpreters because they are not fluent in English and that is a barrier to reporting abuse, but it is also necessary to provide them with social services that go beyond calling the police.
Experts on domestic violence speak out during the pandemic. (Courtesy Ethnic Media Services)
Currently , Rodríguez uses her experience of childhood domestic violence to connect with survivors, the community and legislators and bring change to low-income communities.
“There is not enough time to say how talking about this topic helped us my mother and me. It made me want to teach a class in prisons and help survivors of sexual assault, ”said Rodríguez.
Rodríguez said that the prevention of Domestic violence cannot exist if the issue of the inability to control anger is not addressed.
“We must be responsible for educating our young people, daughters and sons about violence because we are the only people who know about our experiences and what it takes to survive ”.
But he also pointed out that they should give services to those people who have anger impulses and commit abuse. “We as organizations need mentors too to help those people calm down and find ways to respond.”
In her case, she said that her father has volunteered to help her non-profit organization and they work with people who are on the way to ending up in prison.
Domestic violence increased during the Covid pandemic – 19. (shutterstock)
Domestic violence and trauma
Jerry Tello, founder of the National Compadres Network , a nonprofit that works with youth to break the intergenerational chain of domestic violence, said that to survive in Compton, the neighborhood where he grew up, he couldn’t feel.
“ My dad died and I didn’t cry. I was left with that pain inside. COVID reminds me of that, because we don’t hug with our relatives and we don’t connect ”.
In his community, he commented that he saw many Latino and African-American people end up in prison or that they were shot and could not cry. “What do you do with that feeling?” He asks.
Tello says that he moved from Compton and became a professional psychologist, But every time Latinos and blacks are thrown to the ground and criminalized, he thinks that programs should be sought that address these widespread traumas based on generational and white supremacy.
That’s how it does 32 years, he became one of the founders of the Los Compadres program with healing circles for those who have their father in prison, were killed or are deported. “We have to make people who are hurt come together to talk. In more than 80% of the situations domestic violence, the woman does not want the man to end up in jail. ”
Domestic violence is a problem that affects the entire society. (file)
Violence and society
Reverend Aleese Moore-Orbih, Director of the organization California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, said many say, why worry about domestic violence when it does not happen in my family.
” Domestic violence speaks to the health of society in general. The trauma one experiences has a lifelong impact and is passed from one generation to the next. We have generations with unresolved trauma in their lives; and as a consequence, they do not develop their full capacity as human beings. ”
He pointed out that society in general has to recognize that it is not about the family on the corner but of the nation and the rights and protections of society.
“Recently my younger brother told me that when he went out to dinner with his friends, they talked about drug use in our communities, but the domestic violence was not part of the conversation. ”
Moore-Orbih said Latinos and African Americans are considered the bad guys at domestic violence. “That is why we must be part of the change and seek supports for healing.”
Violence can be physical, psychological, verbal, sexual, emotional, economic and work-related. (Shutterstock)
Without asking for help
Monica Khant, director of the Asian Pacific Institute Gender-based Violence, said many victims have not been able to call for ask for help during the pandemic.
“ Many immigrants have increased their dependence on the partner who earns the money, which means that the survivors cannot leave the home where they suffer domestic violence ”.
And it is even more difficult for immigrant communities that do not speak English very well and have more challenges to call the police for help.
“When they manage to call, the police talk to the couple who are fluent in English, which is a problem. Language access and relying on translation and interpretation services to get to a hospital has been very difficult. ”
Therefore, he stated that the pandemic has led organizations advocating for survivors of domestic violence to discover that more language and social services are needed that go beyond the traditional court systems that already exist such as calling the police and reporting.
“When one does not have an immigration status, that cannot be done.”
