A Blind Eye is No Excuse

On Thursday, I opened up the Sac Bee to read an article that just made me shudder. The article was about UC Davis’s sexual assault statistics. As a father of two young girls, I am all too aware of the frighteningly scary headlines that bombard us on an almost daily basis reporting violent crimes against women and children.

The article was the continuation of a story about discrepancies in the number of reported sexual assaults within the campus from 2005 – 2007. According to the story, a UC Davis employee over-stated the number of forcible sexual offenses that occurred on campus by a factor of two. This caused “confusion”, inconsistencies and, of course, an inquiry by the Department of Justice.

As this month comes to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on October as awareness month to end the domestic violence cycle.

I recently wrote about this very topic on my personal blog. Domestic violence and violence in general seems to be on the rise. All of this is happening as the country grapples with inner city crime, an untenable war and an increasingly disgruntled and apathetic country.

I’m fortunate enough to be working with the outstanding 2008 Grammy winner Patti Austin. Through her leadership with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence she launched the Blue Movement in support of those suffering from the domestic violence epidemic, both men and women. Overwhelmingly, though, the statistics point out that one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. And, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner every year. These numbers don’t even include those crimes that go un-reported.

Assault against women and children, regardless of domestic circumstances or otherwise, is a crime that we all need to stand up against. The recent beating of the 15 year old Richmond girl, coupled with the appalling apathy of the bystanders, makes me wonder how much lower we as a society can go before reverting back to Cro-Magnon days?

We’re all fortunate to live in a city which, relatively speaking, has a “manageable” crime rate, compared to much larger or less “affluent” cities. However, some of the recent headlines point to situations that we need to stay vigilant against, including rising gang presence and more brazen home robberies.

The UC Davis story is just another reminder that we cannot turn a blind eye toward violence against women and children. No matter how you look at the numbers one assault is one too many.