OntheWilderSide

While the major media focuses largely on the specifics and drama of the Cleveland kidnapping, community activists and alternative media seek answers to how it could have been stopped, and how to decrease violence against women overall.

Democracy Now! [DN!] did an excellent program about the larger situation, and about the culture of violence against women. DN! noted that the Cleveland Police Department was already being investigated by the federal government.

Link to Democracy Now! story: Behind the Cleveland Kidnappings, A Culture of “Toxic Masculinity” & Gender-Based Violence

On DN! author Jaclyn Friedman said:

We need to create police or other justice structures that communities trust, right? So, just saying more policing, better policing, absolutely, but you also have to think about: What about an undocumented immigrant who has been raped? What about communities and individuals, for great reasons, who don’t trust the police? We need much better justice structures. We need to take this as a priority as a culture. If we prioritized women’s safety as a culture, if we prioritized ending sexual violence, we would be pouring massive resources into this…

Friedman’s comments were reminiscent of a proposal I had published previously onthewilderside. What would happen if there were no police? What kind of organization would be created to help victims of domestic violence?

The link to my full story is here.

Below is the pull quote on a proposed domestic violence prevention structure:

Domestic Abuse Society. This could be an organization run by a nonprofit or set up by a local government. It would probably need a system to contact the regular police if weapons or death threats were involved. The staff of this organization would be trained in: patterns of domestic abuse; the psychology of domestic abuse; conflict resolution; practical matters about nurturing, speaking with, educating, and physically separating people involved in a domestic situation. The staff would have important knowledge about conveying people to hospitals or domestic abuse shelters if needed. The staff would be trained in knowing when it was important to move from privacy to reporting.

Filed under: News, progressive politics, US Politics Tagged: | Cleveland Division of Police, Cleveland kidnapping, Cleveland Police Department, domestic violence, feminist perspectives on Cleveland kidnapping, Jaclyn Friedman, Violence against women