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Kankakee County States Attorney Jim Rowe says when domestic violence happens, people often ask, Why doesnt she just leave?

Its pretty clear why victims dont just leave, said Rowe, a member of the Harbor House board, which provides emergency shelter for domestic violence victims. They are 70 times more likely to be killed within weeks of leaving a domestic violence relationship.

Speaking to the county board this week, Rowe said domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness among women and children.

When your choice is being homeless or to remain in a violent environment, you can imagine that its not as easy of a choice as why doesnt she just leave? he said. When you hear that in the community, respond with the question, Why doesnt the abuser just stop abusing? Run those words by them. Instead of investing their time in questioning victims, they can do a lot to empower survivors in our community by supporting Harbor House.

This is a particularly good message in October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Many of us, including me, have been guilty of asking the wrong question, implicitly blaming the victim. We should blame the perpetrator.

Often when someone is avoiding you, you cannot help but wonder, Was it something I said?

In the case of a reporter, the question becomes, Is it something I wrote?

This week, the city of Kankakee finally released the list of names of people it has blocked from access to its Facebook pages. As it happens, my Facebook account was one of 20 on the banned list for Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrongs official page, which is considered a public record.

I was banned on July 31, 2018, three days after my story on then-Police Chief Price Dumas appeared. It was about documents we obtained showing that Dumas searched the names of two mayoral critics in the state criminal database, which is only supposed to be used for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The chief abruptly resigned three weeks later.

Im guessing my story is what upset Wells-Armstrong. It certainly wasnt because of my interaction with the page. There was none.

Its not unusual for reporters to get the cold shoulder from sources unhappy with news coverage. But we strive to be fair with every source, whether were blocked or not.

For many partisan Democrats and Republicans, it can be difficult to see beyond party labels. They have trouble calling out whats wrong on their side a malady I like to call partisan blindness. This problem has become particularly acute with the Ukraine scandal.

How can anyone deny that Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, is cashing in on the family name? When his father was involved in Ukraine as vice president, Hunter was receiving $50,000 per month serving as a board member for a Ukrainian natural gas company, an industry in which he had no experience. This type of deal might be legal, but its unethical, although it happens far too often in our politics.

On the flip side, it was wrong for President Donald Trump to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son in apparent exchange for nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. Not coincidentally, Biden is the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination and leading Trump in polls. No president should use his official powers to get another country to dig up dirt on a rival.

If something is wrong, it is wrong. It should not matter whether it involves a Democrat or a Republican.

David Giuliani is a reporter for the Daily Journal. His column As It Is expands upon regular news coverage. He can be reached at 815-802-5144 or dgiuliani@daily-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TDJ_dgiuliani.

Read more here:
David Giuliani: The wrong question to ask - Kankakee Daily Journal

This entry was posted on October 12, 2019 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |