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This commentary originally aired on WAMU, American University Radio in Washington, D.C.
By Beza Mesfin
I remember the last time it happened. My friends called me outside, and when I got there, I saw them in the car… fighting.
He had her by the hair and was punching her over and over. “Stop him!” said my friends who had gathered outside. “She needs your help!”
He and I are close – we grew up together, and his girlfriend has become a good friend. But even so, for a few seconds, I just stood there and watched. I knew even if I stopped this fight I probably couldn’t stop the fighting. It’s been happening several times a week for over a year now.
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The following was originally published on Minnesota Public Radio.
By Valencia McMurray, Minnesota Public Radio.
More than a quarter of American children experience parents physically fighting each other at some time in their lives. Early researchers into family violence often considered children to be "invisible victims", but that view is changing.
MPR reporter Valencia McMurray revisits an incident that happened in her family when she was six and has kept a hold on her family 14 years later.
St. Paul, Minn. -- My story begins Sept. 30, 1997, at 652 Bush in St. Paul. I remember being inside this house. I remember my father standing right here on this porch, almost exactly where I'm standing, banging on the door. He just wanted to talk. She didn't want to listen to him but I feel like she also didn't listen to us. Because we told her, "Don't go outside mom. Please don't go outside, mom."
"I should have listened," said my mom. "But I figured, it's going to be all right. The neighbors are all outside, and I just thought we were going to be safe. But we wasn't."
I remember his eyes were red. He was not himself. He was someone else. There was no love in that man.
"We sat out there and we talked and I told him that we couldn't get back together and I think that's what made him mad," said my mom. "Because when I got up and turned my back to come in the house, that's when he stabbed me and y'all was screaming and hollering."
I remember standing beside my sister inside. The youngest of my brothers was a few feet ahead of me and then the second oldest of my siblings, Jermaine who was 15, was trying to get through the screen door.
"It just looked like he was hitting her and then I saw the streetlights glisten off the blade," said Jermaine. He had to make a split-second decision. "I'm standing in the doorway and I was going to run through the back door and come around front, but I didn't want to do that and then miss something and it'll be the last time I see my mom alive."
Chris Brown's first interview since he beat up Rihanna, will air this Wednesday night on Larry King Live. America is eager to hear from the R&B stars mouth exactly three things: "W! T! F!" Judging from a preview of the interview with the 20-year old Brown sandwiched between his mother Joyce Hawkins and lawyer Mark Geragos, it looks like he's not going to offer up any real explanation. We will get to hear exactly what type of emotional trauma from his childhood (which his mother should expound upon) led up to what his loved ones call "strange behavior".
But, honestly, who cares about that? The real question at hand is: can he come back from this devastating blow to his "good boy" image and maintain a career as an entertainer? Pop culture history gives us some examples to look at here.
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According to the San Francisco chronicle, on the evening of July 19th, Eustacio Torres was shot by his ex-girlfriend at a converted garage that Torres was renovating. Torres and his girlfriend, Bernadette Agustin, met about five years ago when Torres was renovating her house. They became partners in that business for a few years. The market started to tumble downhill, and their buildings went into foreclosure causing them to lose money. This caused tension between the couple. After some time, their relationship started to become difficult for both of them. Torres realized that Agustin was dangerous; however he never got a restraining order against her. On the evening on July 19th Agustin went to meet Torres at the garage. Prior to this incident she bought a pistol. She brought shot him with it.
About a year ago Eustacio Torres’ sister, Catalina Torres, a volunteer for a battered women’s group, was shot and killed inside of her Martinez apartment while trying to protect one of her customers in a beauty salon. Read more...
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(download mp3)On Tuesday a transit worker and toll collector were shot and killed at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Arrested earlier today was 46 year-old Nathan Burris. Burris was the boyfriend of 51 year-old Debbie Ross—the toll collector killed—also killed was 58 year old Ersie Everett. Burris was arrested in the Sierra Mountains after a statewide bulletin for his capture was issued.
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
What's the story?
Chandra Touch approaches a topic that is not often discussed around a dinner table much less in a classroom. In this month’s News Break, she delves into a situation of domestic violence that her family experienced while she was a child. She exhibits much courage in sharing this story, as she recounts how she and her mother dealt with the violent tendencies of her mom’s ex-boyfriend.
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