Day 20 – 40 Days of Rain on DBR Black Men: Murdering Black Women for Shits and Giggles

 

Today Montrell Cooper (no relation), turned himself in to St. Louis police; he was sought as “a person of interest” in the death of his fiance, Michelle Rowling, found in a pool of blood on November 30th.  She bled out and died at the hospital, because help didn’t arrive in time.  Another one of the DBR black men we discuss, Montrell Cooper had a history of violent assaults on Michelle, including previously stabbing her in the neck and beating her… all because she tried to leave him. Montrell Cooper was released from jail on November 25th. That same day Michelle posted the following resigned message on her Facebook wall:

 

 

This case is one of the most recent, but hardly unfamiliar.  Case after case of black women being murdered at the hands of estranged husbands and boyfriends shows up on my Facebook feed, and with each one a little piece of my heart hardens.  Here are just a few recent cases:

• October 31 – 35 year old Merceda Young killed by boyfriend Alex Jeffrey
• September 1 – 22 year old Josie Jiminez killed by boyfriend Ricardo Jiminez
• November 1  – 36 year old Tierria Sims killed by boyfriend Xavier Becton
• August 28 – 20 year old Katherine German killed by boyfriend Dionis Espinal
• October 3 – 22 year old Briana Anderson, in her 3rd trimester of pregnancy, killed by boyfriend Jamar Silas
• November 3 – 47 year old Linda Brown killed by boyfriend Terry Braddy

Then, I came across this article and thought it should be shared.

Black Women Murdered by Men Three Times Rate of White Females
by Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington Correspondent

Statistics from the,“When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide Data” report. (Courtesy Photo/Facebook)

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Black women are murdered by men, often their present or past husbands or lovers, at a rate that is nearly three times the murder rate of White women killed by men, according to a report by the Violence Policy Center.

The report titled, “When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide Data,” found that, “black females were murdered by males at a rate of 2.61 per 100,000, compared to a rate of 0.99 per 100,000 for white females.”

In a statement accompanying the study, Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury, said: “The sad reality is that women are nearly always murdered by someone they know.”

That sad reality is even more evident for Black women.

VPC reported that 94 percent of Black females murdered by men knew their killers. The average age of Black female homicide victims was 34 years old. More than half of the Black women murdered were killed by gunfire, and 52 percent died at the hands of their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends. More than 90 percent died during the course of an argument.

When the murder weapons were identified, 51 percent of Black females were shot and killed with guns, 82 percent of them handguns. Not surprisingly, 93 percent of the homicides were intra-racial.

“Nine women each week are shot to death by their husband or intimate partner,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

“That’s nearly 500 domestic gun violence deaths each year – more than twice the number of servicewomen killed in military conflicts since the Korean War.”

The vast majority of all homicides involve people who know each other.

Some experts believe that the faith of Black women may contribute to their choice to stay in an abusive relationship when they should go.

According to a 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation study, 74 percent of Black women said that “living a religious life” was very important, the highest rate among all sub groups. Only 57 percent of White women said that “living a religious life” was very important to them.

In an interview with Dallas Morning News Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, said that faith can be just one of the factors that contribute to domestic violence.

Jakes noted that reports domestic violence increased during the Great Recession. Blacks, particularly, Black men continue to suffer through recession-level unemployment rates that are often double the rates of their White counterparts.

“Anger and rage are building up in the hearts of men who feel helpless and hopeless,” said Jakes. “And more and more, men have rage that is suppressed. We have got to find a better way to handle our frustrations.”

In order, South Carolina, Alaska, Oklahoma, Delaware, Arizona, Tennessee, Idaho, West Virginia, Louisiana and New Mexico have the highest rates of all women killed by men in single victim/single offender cases.

Rand said that new policies are needed from local communities to the federal government to protect women from harm.

In March, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act that women’s rights advocates hope will curb domestic murder rates. They are also urging lawmakers to step up enforcement of background checks to keep guns out of the hands of people with domestic violence arrests on their records.

“The picture that emerges from ‘When Men Murder Women’ is that women face the greatest threat from someone they know, most often a spouse or intimate acquaintance, who is armed with a gun,” the report stated. “For women in America, guns are not used to save lives, but to take them.”

Why do black men feel it is okay to kill a woman because they feel rejected, are angry, depressed, feel hopeless, etc.? What is the motivating factor behind such a mentality towards the very women they claim to love? Why is the black community filled with so many immature men incapable of handling their feelings in some sort of sane manner?

That is a discussion for black men to have amongst themselves — women cannot fix this for them. Their issues are exacerbated by the black male’s need to dominate women.  Religion definitely comes into play here, as black men have been told repeatedly that they have the God given right to maintain superior positions to and control of women. Therefore, when a woman challenges that belief system, these guys feel it is an affront to their very manhood and “the way things are supposed to be.”

Black children are also sexually victimized at three times that of children of other races. Every single woman I’ve ever talked to has at least one story to tell of a black man in her family or a trusted family friend trying some sexual shit with her or actually raping/molesting her. Many black women have had more than one such experience.

Black men in large numbers are not protectors at all, but the ones we need protecting from. Even something as simple as a teen girl walking down the street being accosted by older men and called vile names or touched is psychologically damaging to females. I sometimes wonder if black men give a shit about black women and girls at all. Are the majority of black males DBR black men? Sometimes I wonder about that, too.

In sum, these issues mean that interacting with black men is a risky and dangerous proposition for black females. It is highly likely that such interaction will lead to death, a violent physical assault, a violent sexual assault and sometimes all three.

 

Tags: black men, dating black men, DBR black men, men murdering ex-girlfriends, violence against women, why men kill women, women killed by boyfriends

Category: Society and Culture