DETAILS: ‘Be A Man’ shirts are on sale now through Monday, Nov. 20, and will be delivered Monday, Nov. 27. The Family Peace Project is asking men to wear their shirts Tuesday, Nov. 28, in solidarity with victims of domestic violence. Short sleeve shirts are $10 and long sleeve are $20, with larger sizes $2 extra. You can order your shirts online at http://www.familypeaceproject.org/be-a-man-campaign or at the Family Peace Project in Athens at 720 East Corsicana. Contact Louisa Garrett at [email protected] for more information.
By Michael V. Hannigan/HCNow
It’s time for men to stand up and say enough is enough when it comes to domestic violence — and the Family Peace Project has a way to start.
The FPP recently rolled out new “Be A Man” t-shirts and the organization is asking the men of Henderson and Kaufman counties to take a stand against domestic violence by purchasing one. The aim is to go after people who are guilty of having committed this heinous act but not to get people who have been falsely accused caught up in the campaign. This article shows how people in this position can get legal help and defense in court – a conviction can damage a reputation overnight which is not something an innocent person deserves.
“The goal is to create a social change,” Louisa Garrett of the Family Peace Project told me this afternoon.
Louisa — better known as Lou — pointed out that it wasn’t that long ago, just a few decades in fact, that people believed it was OK for a husband to hit his wife.
“It’s just now where people are saying, ‘wait a minute, that’s not good,'” she said.
The statistics show that Henderson County isn’t far removed from that time. According to a report by an arm of the Texas Department of State Health Services, the county is near the top of its 23-county region in some disturbing categories.
For instance, Henderson County is 5th highest in the region for family violence arrest rate and 2nd highest in confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect.
Even more dismaying, “(t)he rates of child abuse and neglect and family violence average higher” in our region than the rest of the state, so Henderson County is one of the worst of the worst in Texas, according to the report.
The Family Peace Project, which is just one organization in the battle against domestic violence, has been very busy this year. Their shelter is full and they’ve served about 350 mostly women and children already in 2017.
Which is why good men need to stand up in our county.
“My goal is to get the fire departments, the police departments, churches, and public figures to all take a stand and say, ‘No, we all need to be a man,'” said Lou.
The Family Peace Project can’t do it alone, and neither can the Help Center, The Farm, the East Texas Crisis Center or any of the other organizations helping victims of domestic violence.
Someone has to stand up and say enough is enough; that it is not OK to assault those who can’t protect themselves.
You can help … you just have to ‘Be A Man.’
This is infuriating. Don’t think for one second that the courts there care about getting the children out of the abuse, because they don’t. I have police recordings and documents to prove they simply do not listen. The article says that Henderson County is “the worst of the worst” when it comes to child abuse and neglect, not to mention it has one of the highest percentage of domestic violence. This is where my daughter was murdered last year. Not one person would listen to me when I warned the court that the woman who had my grand children was a drug addict (yes the court let them keep my daughters’ children), then on May 25, 2017, She picked my grand children up in the afternoon, got on the highway and passed out behind the wheel, ran off of the road and hit a tree at a high rate of speed. My youngest was thrown from the truck and sustained several serious injuries, had to have surgery had brain bleeds and a concussion. My middle had broken bones in her neck, brain bleeds and a concussion. My oldest sustained a concussion. She was found to have illegal levels of 3, YES 3 different drugs in her system. Now, please tell me why I should have any faith at all in Henderson county’s judicial system. We had our home inspected by CPS and their words were, our home would be a perfect environment for my daughters’ children. We live in one of the best school districts in Texas and there is NO history of child abuse or neglect in our family’s history. My husband is a teacher and trainer, I have substitute taught and have extensive experience with raising children. We were told we were too “sophisticated” for our grand children. Please correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn’t the courts be thinking about the best interest of the children instead of fighting over such nonsense? Thank you Henderson County for nearly getting my grand children killed and ruining the chance of them having a new chance at a better life than their mom had.