"October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the discussion in our communities is to remind us of the reality of that kind of violence. Domestic violence takes place where we live that nest where we should be loved, protected and secure. It happens every day of every month of every year.
I am lucky to have a large family with eight sisters and four brothers. Our brothers always seemed to be there for my relatives when we needed them. Yet there was a day when they weren't around.
One of my relatives was married to a man who was violent. They were living with our family. She was pregnant, and when he returned home, she went out to meet him.
For reasons that I never learned, he started to beat her in the driveway. He knocked her to the ground and then kicked her. He was a brawny man and at least six feet tall.
My mother who was 5' 2" ran out of the house, apron flying and with a big broom in her hand. She began whapping the big guy over the head. (I'm sorry, but when we think about it today, long after our relative has recovered, we laugh at the mental picture of our mother)."
Get the Story:Sobering reminders of the reality of domestic abuse (The Grand Forks Herald 10/13)
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