African American Women and Domestic Abuse

African American Women and Domestic Abuse Jeri Sloan Jeri Sloan was born and raised in San Angelo, where she attended Lake View High School, Angelo State University and Western Governor's University.

Jeri has worked in Social Services since the age of 18 years old. She began working with the intellectually disabled in Jr. High school by volunteering with church groups. As time went on, Jeri developed a passion for helping others, and has remained in this field for many years.

Jeri worked at the Family Shelter from 1986-2002 and returned in 2015 as the Executive Director where she currently serves. Since 2015, Jeri has re-established the shelter as a safe haven for women and children, and worked to restore the confidence of the community. During this process, the shelter has once again become the primary point for battered women to serve and refer them to necessary services in the area. Jeri helped to expand the service to outlying counties, providing much needed services to victims of abuse.

The Board of Directors of The Family Shelter was re-organized thanks to Jeri’s leadership and connection with the business community and committed volunteers.

All service numbers have seen substantial increase at the shelter, and the expansion of service with professional staff has elevated The Women’s Shelter to the primary referral for victims of abuse throughout the serving area.

Jeri received the Annual Spirit of Giving award from United Way in 2017 for her dedication and professionalism to the victims and her commitment to service.

Did

Do you know?

ď ˝ Domestic

violence, the physical abuse or

emotional intimidation of one’s intimate partner to exert power and control, occurs in all racial and socioeconomic groups. It crosses gender lines as well, but by far the majority of domestic-violence cases involve abusive men.

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In our communities, the problem is particularly severe, but the silence around domestic violence is deep. And yet such abuse is the leading cause of injury among Black women ages 15 to 44, and Black women from all socioeconomic backgrounds experience this abuse.

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More than four in ten Black women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.

Black women also experience significantly higher rates of psychological abuse-including humiliation, insults, namecalling, and coercive control-than do women overall.

Sexual violence affects Black women at high rates. More than 20 percent of Black women are raped during their lifetimes—a higher share than among women overall.

Women of all races and ethnicities who have endured domestic violence have to make the choice at some point to stay or leave their abusers. For Black women, the first response is often to not report, not tell anyone. We want to protect our men. It’s not easy to turn them over to the police, the courts and other institutions that have been historically racist and brutal to them,� says ZoÍ Flowers, an advocate who has spent 17 years in the field of domestic violence

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We are the highest population of Christianity. We feel a sense of security in God and believe that God will take care of us and change our abuser. Therefore, we don’t get a divorce or leave the relationship; we simply pray.

We are ashamed for anyone in our church family to know about the abuse because we would be looked down upon.

“Unfortunately, due to hundreds of years of oppression, racism, being over looked, forgotten, and ignored we tend to have less access to financial resources. There are no inheritances, windfalls, emergency funds, or even parents financially capable of helping many of us escape, relocate, or give us time to raise on our feet once again.”

“The odds are against us. We are black and female, so when we get our “knight in shining armor” we endure what is necessary (the abuse) to portray the illusion to the world that we have arrived and that we are good enough.

“When we do speak out or seek help, we too often experience backlash from members of our communities who believe we are airing out dirty laundry and making ourselves look bad in front of White people.”

As black woman, we don’t believe that we are being abused. We don’t want to be a victim so we tell ourselves that we “fight” our spouse/significant other, although we never win.

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The church has a tremendous role to play in ending the silence around domestic violence and breaking through the mythology that allows too many of us to ignore the fact a woman is being beaten.

By working through church and community groups to identify the warning signs for domestic violence, we may be able to help prevent it.

In cases where violence already exists, our churches must become sanctuaries, providing shelter, counseling and referrals. We must also reach out to abusers and their children, teaching them more peaceful ways to resolve conflict.

Victim Advocacy Centers must educate themselves and align their programs to be culturally sensitive to the needs of all victims.

Culturally specific Outreach Programs need to be developed and implemented in our community to reach all victims of domestic violence.