Another Tragedy Strikes our Community
I was horrified when I opened this morning’s newspaper to find another victim of domestic violence murdered. In this case, Bulos “Paul” Zumot was arrested for the murder of Jennifer Schipsi in Palo Alto. When I learned the deceased secured services from our agency, it became even more personal. We at Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence are grieving her loss. From what I can piece together by reading news articles, a few thoughts come to mind.
To refer to the killing as an “act of passion” defies logic. Passion is defined as “warm and excited feeling likely to be fitful or short-lived (the ardor of their honeymoon soon faded)”. Most people would not apply this term to a calculated, pre-meditated act of murder. This was not Romeo and Juliet or a tragic opera. This is a perpetrator who stalked, abused and battered his partner. Decades past, killing your wife “in the heat of passion” could give you a finding of innocent by a jury precisely because we associated the murder with passion. We left that era, thank God. We now know that domestic violence is coercive control exercised by one member to gain power over an intimate partner. It is calculated, well-thought out and purposeful. In my 24 years in this work I have never heard a victim refer to her abuse as filled with passion.
Secondly, I think we must be careful in how we portray the deceased. We don’t know why a reconciliation occurred. However, she is not at fault for trusting a person who professed love. If anything, it is a reminder of the complexity of domestic violence. Our focus must be on the perpetrator. Instead of asking “Why did she go back?” we must ask “Why would someone so severely hurt the person who loves him?”
Please call or blog the Palo Alto Police Department and express your dismay about using the term “passion” when describing domestic violence. The Palo Alto Police Department number is (650) 329-2413. And if you have enough energy, please add a comment about not blaming the victim to the article published in the San Jose Mercury News under the title “Boyfriend arrested in connection with woman’s death in Palo Alto fire,” posted October 20, 2009.
(Image from Austin for Iran via Google Images).
Cross your fingers!!!
I’m so happy that I can report on a positive news item as we open our new web site. Last evening the CA state legislature passed an emergency legislative bill to restore 80% of the lost funding for domestic abuse shelters. As you may recall, the governor vetoed the entire shelter funding program in the last budget session. Since then, six shelters have closed and many more have cut back services.
Here at Next Door, we had scheduled to alter services in January if we could not fill the deficit. If the Governor signs the bill, we will not cut services! We will still need to raise a considerable amount of money to meet our needs but our position will be stronger.
Thank you for all of your help and support. I look forward to hearing from you.
Look What the Governor Has Done This Time
Associated Press / July 23, 2009
In July of this year the governor of CA completely eliminated the state domestic violence funding program. $16.3M statewide to serve battered women and their children was taken away with the stroke of a blue pen. For my agency, Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence (www.nextdoor.org) $200K is lost, money used to fund shelter and hotline advocates/case managers, money to buy food and keep the lights on. I find a twisted irony in that the legislature enacted this funding program into law in 1994 after Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder. Fifteen years later, the governor eliminated this program as at least five women died at the hands of their batterers in Northern CA. Read more
