Do Something

I enjoy reading the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC's newspaper). I read for pleasure and scan for articles about domestic violence that invariably are in the paper on a weekly basis.

I recently read an article about Dorothy Cloud. She was one of four African American students to integrate the Charlotte, NC public school system in 1957. The accompanying photo showed her walking towards the school and she was surrounded by about 100 white students. Most of the white students were smiling. Ms. Cloud looked dignified as she stood tall and walked towards the school.

The Charlotte Observer interviewed several of the people who were in the photograph. Some shared feelings of shame for their behavior half a century ago. Some told of adults yelling at them to spit on the young woman trying to go to school. The photo is a moment stopped in time. It’s a moment in American history, and specifically southern history, that most of us are not proud of.

When I give presentations about domestic violence I usually tell audiences that I have great hopes for seeing domestic violence end. I have great hope because of stories like the one about Dorothy Cloud. America still struggles with racism, but we certainly are not where we were 50 years ago. If we have progressed from a country that allowed separate schools based solely on the color of skin to one whose supreme court ruled that separate is not equal; then we can become a country where domestic violence is not acceptable.

The Charlotte Observer interviewed one of the boys in the photo and he said that he did nothing and through his doing nothing, he was condoning the whole crowd’s behavior. That’s what we have to learn about domestic violence. Doing nothing is our agreement that violence in the home is acceptable. It’s time to do something.