Safer on the Streets than at Home

Recently, a popular local newspaper columnist was noting the “rules” of living in our community. The tone of the column was humor, and among his bullet points of the “rules” for living here was this:

“If you study the crime rates, you realize walking the streets at night in Bloomington-Normal  is actually safer than staying home. Domestic issues at home far outnumber street crime here.” (You can read the full piece here.)

While the writer was trying to point out that the streets of the community are safe…I saw something different. I saw this:

“Domestic issues at home far outnumber street crime here.”

This means that domestic violence is the crime our community should be discussing…should be talking about…should be concerned about, doesn’t it?

I’m not sure we should be saying “whew – aren’t we lucky we are safer on our streets than we are at home.”

I know that is not what the writer intended…but that is what I think many people don’t consider…we need to talk about, think about, and address domestic violence as a safety and community issue if we want our community to be safe.

After all, everyone has the right to be safe and secure at home with the people who say they love them.

Just as much as they have the right to be safe walking the streets.

To find out more about saying NO MORE, visit www.caepv.org and www.nomore.org.

———————————————————————————————
This post originally appeared on the Domestic Violence and the Workplace blog and was written by NO MORE Steering Committee Member, and Executive Director of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, Kim Wells.