New York’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers covers our event

Yournabe.com, part of New York’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers, covered our community forum to end domestic violence, where we introduced Project Speak Out.  



Asian-American panel views domestic violence
By Connor Adams Sheets
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 1:54 PM EDT


The seemingly intractable scourge of domestic violence among Asian Americans was front and center at a panel discussion last week in Flushing.

The April 14 conference, called “Out of the Darkness: Confronting Domestic Violence in Our Community,” brought together representatives of academia, community organizing groups, the corporate world and law enforcement in an engaging conversation about ending abuse in the Asian-American Diaspora.

As panelist Jerin Arifa, the manager of the New York Asian Women's Center's Project Speak Out program who is also active in the National Organization for Women, said, Asian communities are sometime especially vulnerable to the ravages of domestic violence and the silence that all too often accompanies it.

Whether they avoid confrontation as a result of fatalism, immigration concerns, the belief in karma or other cultural issues, many Asian domestic violence victims never leave their abusers or seek help, Arifa said.

And with that reluctance comes a toll. Last year the NYPD took 247,000 calls about domestic violence incidents, and 75 people — 24 of them children — were killed as a result of domestic violence, according to NYPD Sgt. Stephen Kurz.

“The pan-Asian community must get out the message that violence will not be tolerated against our mothers, our sisters and our daughters,” Arifa said, echoing the statements of other panelists.

The panel members and attendees are working hard at their varied organizations to bring domestic violence out of the shadows, get the word out about ways to get help and educate the Asian population about its dangers.

“One way that all of us can get involved, can get engaged, is by educating ourselves and knowing what resources are available in the community for domestic violence victims and survivors,” said CUNY School of Law Professor Donna Lee, the discussion’s moderator.

Larry Lee, executive director of the New York Asian Women’s Center, which hosted the event at the YWCA, at 42-07 Parsons Blvd., put it simply. He said there are a couple of things he wishes everyone knew about domestic violence to begin the process of stopping it from continuing in the future.

“There’s domestic violence in the Asian-American community. The victim is not to be blamed. And there are places where you can get help,” he said.

Four separate Chinese Newspapers spotlight our work

Four separate Chinese Newspapers: Ming Pao Daily NY, Sinovision, Singtao Daily East USA and World Journal, covered our community forum to end domestic violence, where we introduced Project Speak Out.  Please find below the titles translated.

Ming Pao Daily NY:

Agency held a community forum to discuss Asian domestic violence issue. Traditional attitude would reinforce violence; women should be bold to seek help.
Friday, 15 April 2011

Sinovision:

http://174.120.145.163:82/gate/big5/epaper.sinovision.net/?pid=14643
http://gate.sinovision.net:82/gate/big5/video.sinovision.net/?id=1798

Community forum to understand Domestic Violence in Asian American community. City Councilman Peter Koo encouraged victims to have courage to stand out and fight for their right.
Friday, 15 April 2011

Singtao Daily East USA:

“New York Asian Women Center Forum” to talk about Domestic Violence in Asian Community
Friday, 15 April 2011

World Journal:

“New York Asian Women Center Forum”. Facing a domestic violence situation, stand out and speak out!
Friday, 15 April 2011

Two separate Korean Newspapers spotlight our work

Two separate Korean Newspapers, The Korea Times and The Korea Daily, covered our community forum to end domestic violence, where we introduced Project Speak Out.

For those of you who do not understand Korean, here is a short summary of the articles below.

The Korea Daily
http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=1181637 

 "Please ask for help, regardless of immigration status" NYAWC 'domestic violence' Forum
April 14, 2011
 

The Korea Times
http://ny.koreatimes.com/article/655910

“Don’t Ignore the Harm of Domestic Violence.”
Friday, 4/15/11, edition on the home page!
 
Steven Kurz, a Sargeant in the Office of the Chief of Dept. for Domestic Violence, is quoted as saying, there are 270,000 DV reports in New York every year, and 677 calls a day. The numbers coming from the Asian community are very low.  However, he is aware that undocumented Asians fear that their status would be revealed, preventing them from calling NYPD.  He confirmed that the NYPD does NOT care about someone’s immigration status, and police officers are not allowed to inquire about someone’s status.  The article mentions project partners NYAWC and KAFSC, and describes Project Speak Out as a campaign to bring about more Domestic Violence awareness. KAFSC’s Executive Director Grace Yoon is quoted.

$200,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch Project Speak Out

The following is an excerpt from the latest New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC) newsletter, describing the grants that make Project Speak Out possible.

NYAWC Receives $200,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
 
NYAWC recently received a $200,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch Project Speak Out, a grassroots initiative to address domestic violence in New York City’s Asian-American community. Local funding partners including the Asian American Federation, The Grace and Mercy Foundation, Korean American Community Foundation, Ong Family Foundation and Tiger Baron Foundation have contributed matching grants totaling $150,000 so far. Distributed over two years, the grants will enable NYAWC and its project partners—Garden of Hope, Korean American Family Service Center and Sakhi for South Asian Women—to recruit volunteers from the community to foster attitudinal change about domestic violence and engage in a community-wide movement to stop abusive behavior. Project Speak Out will also help survivors become informed of their rights and available assistance and encourage them to seek help.
 
“We’re not just raising awareness; we are creating momentum for long-term community change,” says Alyssa Elser, Director of Shelters and Operations. “We will work with everyone—women, youth, elders, religious leaders, shopkeepers, students, housewives and men—to embrace traditional ideas about non-violence and harmonious homes that should make DV unacceptable. Our volunteers will craft and execute a plan of action that encourages people not just to be aware, but to take small but significant steps to send a clear message that violence against their mothers, sisters and daughters will not be tolerated.”
 
NYAWC thanks the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and our local funding partners for their support of Project Speak Out.
 
To volunteer for Project Speak Out, please contact NYAWC’s Project Speak Out Manager, Ms. Jerin Arifa, at jarifa@nyawc.org or 212-732-0054 ext. 163.

Men Speak Out Against Sexist Coverage of Rape: A Call to Action

Project partner Ted Kang and I just completed a thoughtful training against Domestic Violence at CONNECT.  They continue their good work with the call to action below.  As part of Project Speak Out, all four project partners will engage men to end violence against men, and Ted will focus on an action group of men.

Sincerely,
N. Jerin Arifa
Project Speak Out Team
New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC)

Over 40 activists, professors, authors, artists, therapists, advocates, providers and other leaders from the nation's anti-violence movement have signed this call to action. Please download post and distribute widely! For more information and feedback please contact Quentin Walcott qwalcott@connectnyc.org

Men Speak Out About Sexist Coverage of Rape: A Call to Action
April 2011

In the struggle to stop rape and all forms of men's violence against women, it is time for men to leave the sidelines and get in the game. One important step we can take is to raise our voices and insist that the spotlight in media coverage of rape turns away from a fixation on victims and their behavior and instead focuses on abusive men and boys - and the culture that produces and makes excuses for them. We make this demand not only as concerned citizens and responsible members of our communities - but as men from virtually every cultural/racial/ethnic/religious background.

There is some progress to report, albeit progress in response to yet another depressing reminder of how far we still have to come. Consider this: reaction to the victim-blaming in a recent New York Times story about a brutal gang rape in East Texas has been fast and furious. Over the past several weeks, columnists, bloggers, victim advocates and anti-rape activists - women and men - have criticized the March 8 Times story for the way its use of selective quotes suggested that an 11-year-old girl in effect contributed to the assault against her by "wearing make-up and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her twenties;" In addition, critics have responded to the perception conveyed in the article that among the residents of Cleveland, Texas there is greater concern for the nineteen men and boys facing allegations of rape than for the young girl.

The Times Public Editor !rthur Brisbane agreed with much of the criticism of the piece: "My assessment," he wrote just a few days later, "is that the outrage is understandable; The story dealt with a hideous crime but addressed concerns about the ruined lives of the perpetrators without acknowledging the obvious: concern for the victim;" (The Times front page follow-up story on March 28 did a lot better, offering an extended portrait of the girl, whom they described as having been "an honor roll student, brimming with enthusiasm;")

This tragic case will provide lessons for future news writing classes and journalistic ethics seminars. Clearly, news operations need guidance about how to cover sex crimes without perpetuating misogynous cultural attitudes.

But for those of us who work to end men's violence against women, this incident is less about the specific details of one horrific act of rape in a distressed community in Texas, and more about the broader themes of power, privilege, misogyny, class and race that the act itself-and the coverage it generated - so poignantly exemplify.

We have to ask some difficult questions: why would a group of men and boys sexually violate a vulnerable 11-year-old girl? What does this say not only about them or the small community where they live, but about the society - our society - that raised them? "What are we teaching men and boys about their attitudes and behavior towards girls?" and even further..."What are we teaching men and boys about themselves?"

Because of the class, ethnicity, and race of those involved, some people will predictably attribute this atrocity to the effects of poverty and fatherlessness, which is a coded reference to family dysfunction in communities of color. But gang rapes and the attitudes behind them are perpetrated by wealthy and middle-class white men and boys, too, including boys from "intact" families with present fathers. Just last October at Yale University, DKE pledges marched on Old Campus--home to the majority of Yale's first-year female students--chanting "No means yes" along with graphic sexual slurs that both demeaned women and glorified sexual violence. White men with privilege routinely perpetrate unspeakable sexual crimes against women in their own families, as well as other women and girls; What's the explanation for their sexist violence?

It seems to us that while questions of class and race are germane in this and many other cases, they are far less relevant than questions of gender. In particular, unless we believe that males across the board are born genetically deficient, we need to ask some fundamental questions, i.e.: How do we socialize our boys? How do we assign certain attitudes and behaviors as "normal?" And, ultimately: What does it mean to be a man in 21st century America?

For too many young men, communal rituals of sexism perpetuate negative notions of manhood. Most of us are rightly horrified when we read about gang rape. But group sexual assault is best understood as being at the extreme end of a continuum of behaviors that normalize men's sexist treatment of women. What about college guys hiring strippers for private parties and openly calling those women "bitches and hoes"? !nd let's not forget - an entire genre in pornography is devoted to simulated scenes of gang rape which in many quarters is considered socially acceptable entertainment for men, who sometimes watch it in groups.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this gang rape (as in others) is how often the alleged perpetrators videotape the event. In the Cleveland, Texas assault, the police investigation was prompted, according to the Times, when an elementary school student alerted a teacher to a cell phone video that included one of her classmates. Why would men videotape an incident that literally documents their commission of a first-degree felony unless they thought 1) there was absolutely no chance of them being caught or 2) they weren't doing anything wrong?

It is this last possibility that is most disturbing, because it implicates not just the men and boys who have been charged with the crime, but all of us. What role does each of us play in defining and perpetuating social norms? Moreover, what is the responsibility of adult men not only to girls, but to boys? What is the responsibility that each of us has to teach, mentor and model for younger men and boys non-sexist attitudes and behaviors toward women?

It is important to emphasize that we can primarily be concerned about the actual victim in this case and be empathetic with the boys and young men who are charged with this awful crime. How many of them were coerced to participate by older adolescents and young adults? How many of the younger boys acquiesced because they wanted to fit in and be respected as "one of the guys?"

Like other gang rapes, the East Texas case furnishes a powerful metaphor about silence and complicity, because gang rapes can often be prevented if just one guy takes a stand. Can it really be true that there wasn't one guy - or more --in the group who knew this was terribly wrong? If so, then what were the internal dynamics of the group that prevented anyone from interrupting or stopping the process? Are men (and boys) so scared of each other that no one will speak out for fear that other men will think less of them, or worse, turn the violence on them?

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. But while awareness about sexual assault is a crucial first step, it is not enough. For men in particular, we need more of a willingness to act - both locally and globally. When men speak out about rape and other forms of violence against women, we make it clear to other men that we do not tolerate or condone the mistreatment of women. We also send the message that men who mistreat women will face seriously negative social consequences for doing so - not just legal consequences. Join us and the women who have been doing this work for years. Stand up and speak out for an end to sexual violence!

In Peace and Gender Justice,
Bernardo Villafane, New Start Services
Byron Hurt
Charles Knight, Other & Beyond Real Men
Craig Norberg-Bohm, Jane Doe Inc.
Dasan Harrington
David S. Lee, PreventConnect / California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
David J. Pate, Jr. PhD., Center on Family Policy and Practice/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Dick Bathrick, Bathrick Consulting
Don McPherson
Ed Gondolf, Ph.D.
Emiliano Diaz de Leon, Texas Association Against Sexual Assault
Etiony Aldarondo, Ph.D
Gary Barker, PhD, Promundo and MenEngage Alliance
Greg Jacob, Service Women's Action Network
Horace Campbell
Ivan Juzang, Mee Productions
Jackson Katz, Ph.D.
Jeff O'Brien & Daryl Fort, Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)
Jeffrey L. Edleson, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Joe Ehrmann, Coach for America
Joseph Maldonado, CONNECT Men's Roundtable
Joshua Bee Alafia, Filmmaker
Juan Carlos Arean & Feroz Moideen, Family Violence Prevention Fund
Juan Ramos, North Brooklyn Coalition Against Family Violence
Kevin Powell
Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele
Michael Kimmel, Ph.D.
Michael A. Messner, University of Southern California
Michael Shaw, Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services, Waypoint
Neil Irvin & Pat McGann, Ph.D., Men Can Stop Rape
Paul Kivel
Quentin Walcott & Marlon Walker, CONNECT NYC
Rob Okun, VOICE MALE Magazine
Rus Funk, MensWork
Dr. Stephen Jefferson, UMass, Amherst
Steven Botkin, Ed.D., Men's Resources International
Sut Jhally, Media Education Foundation
Ted Bunch & Tony Porter, A CALL TO MEN
Ulester Douglas & Sulaiman Nuriddin, Men Stopping Violence 
Victor Rivas Rivers, Actor, Author, Spokesperson/National Network to End Domestic Violence & Verizon Community Champion

Linguistic Isolation in the Asian-American Community

A new report from the advocacy group, Asian Americans for Equality, has found that 60 percent of Asian Americans living in the 20 New York City neighborhoods with the highest Asian American populations speak English with limited proficiency.

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and the lack of access to language resources is one of the biggest barriers in the lives of victims of domestic and intimate partner violence face.

A large number of the women Project Speak Out's partner agencies serve are unable to navigate the legal and welfare systems because of the lack of language specific resources in city and federal agencies, impeding their ability to live violence free lives!

ARTICLE LINK- http://www.wfuv.org/news/news-politics/110406/chinese-americans-most-linguistically-isolated-all-asian-americans-nyc

ARTICLE TEXT- 
By Kate McGee
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - 5:39pm

The report also found that 42.5% of Asian Americans reside in linguistically isolated households, or homes where no one over five years old speaks English with proficiency.

Neighborhoods with the highest rates of linguistically isolated homes are Chinatown, Flushing and Jackson Heights in Queens, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

Doug Le with Asian Americans for Equality said that within these neighborhoods it is very easy to live without speaking English.

“You can honestly live your daily life speaking your native tongue,” Le said. “You can get help at the subway station buy food, you can go to church, often times you can go to get social services or primary care.”

But Le said many immigrants face problems when they seek services beyond these neighborhoods, specifically those looking for classes to learn English.

“When they arrive [in New York], there are limited opportunities to learn English. Many social services agencies do provide ESL to individuals, but there’s never nearly enough slots in these classes for individuals who want to learn English,” Le said.

JB is a Chinese immigrant who moved to America eight years ago, when he was 18. He and his two sisters learned English, but his parents still only speak Cantonese. He said while his mother has taken advantage of some English classes at their local library in Bay Ridge, but his father is unable to attend, due to his job as a construction worker.

“My father doesn’t have time and it’s an issue,” JB said. “He said if he was younger and had the time to take classes and study like me, he would go.”

JB said he has to translate for his parents during doctors appointments, as well as make sense of tax forms and business letters.

New York City councilmember Margaret Chin used to teach English to Chinese immigrants before joining the city council. She said there needs to be more classes available.

“We need to fight for more ESL classes. There are people on the waiting list, and there’s not enough classes available at time where people are available to attend. They work during the day,” Chin said.

Chin said many times residents in her district, which includes Chinatown, will come in looking for translation help. “They get documents in the mail, parents getting letters from school,” she said.

Chin also said a large number of residents are people who were arrested, but couldn’t defend themselves because they couldn’t speak the language fluently.

“There needs to be more education to let people know they have a right to a translator,” Chin asserted.

Le, with AAFE, says not only are many immigrants unable to speak English, but they are also illiterate in their native language, which creates additional problems.

“It’s partially because of age, partially because of immigration history,” he said.  “Many seniors grew up in rural areas that didn’t have access to formal education or because of the war (WWII), they were in and out of school. The reality is the immigrants who come to New York are the highest and lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder. Many are uneducated.”

As part of executive order 120, New York City agencies are required to provide language access in the top five languages, but Le said there are many dialects that fall through the cracks, forcing people to bring their children along as well. He said that puts children in a precarious situation, especially if they have to translate a domestic violence issue or a cancer diagnosis.

“These are situations children aren’t ready to face,” Le said.

Thu, 4/14: Out of the Darkness: Confronting Domestic Violence in Our Community

All four project partners look forward to seeing you on April 14^th at our 2011 event, “Out of the Darkness: Confronting Domestic Violence in Our Community”. 

 “[W]e renew our commitment to assisting those who have been victimized by crime and supporting those who help survivors rebuild their lives.” - Barack Obama, Presidential Proclamation – National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 8, 2011

We are gathering to unite as advocates, service providers, civic and business leaders, law enforcement, survivors, and community members to send a strong message that domestic violence is being taken seriously.

1)       We understand the effects it has on the individual and community’s long-term health and safety. Domestic violence also has deadly consequences.

2)       We want to ensure victims from all communities of color are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

3)       We can all take action to support and protect victims, and to prevent the cycle of domestic violence happening in our families and neighborhoods.

New York Asian Women's Center presents

during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

Out of the Darkness:

Confronting Domestic Violence

in Our Community 

Domestic violence goes beyond interpersonal violence and

affects the entire community from children to the workplace. 

Watch a film clip of Telling Amy’s Story, a true story.

Join the discussion on appropriate action and response.

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

2:30-5pm

YWCA

42-07 Parsons Boulevard

Queens, NY 11355

Please RSVP ASAP at

http://2011communityeventdvnyc.eventbrite.com/

Light Refreshments.  Networking opportunities.

  Guest Panelists:

Moderator: CUNY School of Law

Former NYAWC Board Chair, Professor Donna Lee

CONNECT

Kala Ganesh, Executive Director

New York City Family Justice Center, Queens

 Susan Jacob, Director of Programs and Training

New York Asian Women’s Center

Jerin Arifa, Project Speak Out Manager

NYPD, Chief of Department, DV Unit

Sergeant Kurz

Verizon

Binta Vann-Joseph, Director, External Communications

For more information, contact: 1-888-888-7702

A Special Thank You to Our Cosponsor the YWCA

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The New York Asian Women’s Center helps women and their children overcome domestic violence and other forms of abuse by empowering them to govern their own lives.  The Center provides a safe haven through multi-lingual support programs and shelter services.  In addition, the Center works to raise public awareness about violence against women, advocates for the rights of survivors, and acts as an agent of social change. 

New York Asian Women's Center, 39 Bowery, PMB 375, New York, NY 10002

Admin: 212-732-0054,  Toll-Free Hotline: 1-888-888-7702, Website: www.nyawc.org

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