NFL meeting with black women’s groups on domestic violence a ‘productive’ beginning

Representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable said a meeting with NFL executives on Wednesday was productive, and just the start of a conversation. The roundtable had requested a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the league announced a domestic violence advisory panel that included no women of color.

“We agreed to have a meeting with commissioner Goodell in the next 30 to 45 days,” Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and  convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, told She the People.

Black women’s groups to meet with NFL on lack of diversity in domestic violence panel

A meeting has been scheduled Wednesday between the National Football League and representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable, which had questioned the lack of diversity on a domestic violence advisory panel.  Members of the group are scheduled to meet with NFL executives Anna Isaacson and Troy Vincent at the league’s headquarters in New York City, according to Edrea Davis, communications director for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the Black Women’s Roundtable. However, the group still wants a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“The women will urge the NFL to add black women experts in domestic violence and sexual assault to the NFL’s recently established domestic violence advisory board,” Davis told She the People. “They will also discuss other issues related to diversity and cultural sensitivity, eradicating the culture of violence within the league, and the date of the meeting they requested with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.”

Fans and domestic violence survivors find common ground on an NFL weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Though Carolina Panthers fans can’t be happy with the Sunday night thrashing their team took in a nationally televised game against Pittsburgh, they didn’t mind thinking about football – just football. But even as Steelers and Panthers fans exchanged some pre-game trash talk while enjoying a meal in the Carolina sunshine, they had some things to say about the issue of domestic violence, one that has enmeshed NFL leadership and the team that plays in Charlotte.

In some ways, their sentiments were not that different from members of a panel of survivors of domestic violence the day before – both groups were critical of the NFL’s reaction to the Ray Rice episode but grateful that the issue is in the open. On Saturday, at a meeting of the Charlotte Area Association of Black Journalists, three women added dimension to the image of victim. And fans and survivors found common ground.

Violence – and nonchalance – in shocking Ray Rice video

Ray Rice looks so casual. After he hits Janay Palmer, his then-fiancée, now wife, the Baltimore Ravens running back stands over her, and when the elevator door in the Atlantic City casino opens, he drags her limp body halfway out, walks back and forth, then stands around, even chatting with people who come along. He doesn’t seem shocked. He doesn’t check to see how she is. It takes a passer-by to comfort the still-groggy, disheveled Palmer.

TMZ on Monday released more of the video that the public only saw a fraction of in February. It graphically shows the argument, the punch, the fall and the scene outside the elevator – nonchalance from Rice that is almost as sickening as the violence. Now anyone can view the beginning, the middle and what the NFL hoped would be the end of a controversy that is only heating up.

HUD settles case alleging housing discrimination against domestic violence victim

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plans to announce Wednesday that it has reached agreements with the owners and managers of two Berlin, N.H., properties, to settle allegations that they engaged in housing discrimination for refusing to rent to a woman who was a victim of domestic violence.

Although most know that the Fair Housing Act from 1968, and the amendments and executive orders that followed, protect against discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability, it may come as a surprise that victims of domestic violence are covered as well. It is a violation of the act to treat victims of domestic violence differently than victims of any other crime.

“These individuals are being victimized twice,” Gustavo Velasquez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity told She the People — first by the aggressor and then by a landlord who is refusing to renew a lease or threatening to evict. He called the situation both “immoral and illegal,” and said that “HUD remains committed to ensuring and promoting fair housing opportunities for women and men alike.”

The end of domestic violence awareness month, but not the problem

CHARLOTTE – The confident, composed and extremely successful businesswoman sitting beside me at the “Women Helping Women” lunch was also the face and voice in the video, the one talking about how to move on and grow stronger after experiencing domestic violence at the hands of a partner who professes love.

The event called attention to activities planned for October, domestic violence awareness month. While the month may be drawing to an end, the problem is far from solved. Earlier this year, when President Obama signed an updated version of the Violence Against Women Act, which backs local and state efforts, he acknowledged that the rate of sexual assaults has dropped and progress has been made. But he said there is still work to do.