Grambling State University’s Favrot Student Union and Living Learning Communities passed out literature and purple ribbons to raise awareness about domestic abuse.David Ponton, director of FSU, said, “Domestic abuse is one of those things that is overlooked, especially in our community, and it shouldn’t be.”
Ponton said they definitely want to raise awareness about domestic abuse. “It is not right, anytime, anywhere,” he said.
Melanie C. Thomas, an LLC instructor, and Casey Byrd, assistant director of FSU led this effort.
They said that since October is National Domestic Abuse Awareness month, it would be a good idea to raise awareness about domestic abuse.
“During October most people and organizations focus primarily on breast cancer awareness, so we thought it would be a good idea to let them know that it is also National Domestic Abuse Awareness Month,” said Thomas.
“Domestic abuse is a vicious cycle that must be broken. According to statistics given by the Domestic Abuse Resistance Team (DART) every 13 seconds in this country, a woman is battered. Six million women are abused annually, and 3,000 of them die due to their injuries,” she said.
Byrd said that 70 percent of battering men and 38 percent of battered women were reared in violent households.
“Statistics have shown that children who grow up in abusive home are scarred emotionally and often grow up to repeat the violence. Although when people think of abuse they think of only physical abuse, both emotional and verbal abuse can be just as harmful,” she said.
LLC student Tra’Shonda Jenkins, Zabrielle Williams and Jerrica Price helped to pin ribbons on students, faculty and staff and passed out literature.
The LLC is part of GSU’s Housing division, which is directed by Anthony Jackson.
During the spring the FSU and LLC will host another domestic abuse awareness program.