The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community discussed their agenda for their spring forum in Houston Hall yesterday afternoon.
Entitled "Black Men and Domestic Violence: What Do We Know, Where Do We Go?," the forum will address issues of domestic violence that contemporary society is facing.
It will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Philadelphia today and tomorrow.
Featuring Third World Press founder Haki R. Madhubuti as the keynote speaker, the forum will provide workshops on the church's role in school and domestic violence and on topics such as substance abuse and the HIV virus.
At yesterday's news conference Institute on Domestic Violence Executive Director Dr. Oliver J. Williams and Academy Award nominated film director for Boyz 'n the Hood John Singleton discussed the problems surrounding violence among the Black Community.
Focus groups conducted by the Institute have revealed that many Blacks view their own community as a place of "hurting" due to increased violence and other problems.
Some of the problems the Institute sees in black communities are males abusing their wives and children, homicide amongst themselves and sexual male violence towards females.
In order to foster healthier attitudes and to transform communities into a place for "healing," Williams says that it is important to talk about things that usually remain unspoken.
It is his hope that the forum will yield discussions on what community is and what access points enable positive reform in the community. After a common understanding of the problem is reached, he hopes that participants and panelists will produce recommendations for change.
One of the reasons Williams said he wanted to speak in Philadelphia is because it has a large black population.
However, he also noted that for a city of its size, Philadelphia offers few resources for domestic violence.
The Institute was formed in 1993 after a group of men decided that the first National Conference on Domestic Violence failed to address the needs of the Black community because of its "one-size-fits-all" perspective.
Singleton says that his movies report on reality instead of what should or shouldn't be written about. He believes that his ability to understand real people and real problems forces his audience to examine their own situation.
For example, black women have told him that after watching his movie Baby Boy, they broke-up with their boyfriends, realizing that their partner was abusive just like the main character in the film.
Using popular culture as an intervention strategy is one method of addressing domestic violence. But what is meant to be an educational tool can also at times hopefully become a model for behavior.
"If you want to learn how to serve a population, you have to know the population... you have to understand the experiences of everyone," Williams said.
