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NARR: High school senior Albery (Al-BEH-ree) Abreu (A-BREH-ou) is a volunteer in the city's new campaign to combat relationship abuse. He said he signed up because he wanted to be different from his father, who emotionally abused his mother.
AX: As a child watching my mother become depressed really took a toll on me. I sometimes feel like when my mother looks at me, she sees my father, even though I decided a long time ago that I do not want to be him and I do not want to treat people that way.
NARR: He is a peer leader with Safe Horizon, an organization that leads violence-prevention programs in New York City schools. The New York City Council has partnered with Safe Horizon to get young people to talk about abuse. Peer leader Abreou says it's a tough job because young men in particular are reluctant to talk about violence in dating.
AX: My male friends are the most difficult to talk to, because in the Bronx, men need to project a masculine image. When I speak about whatever I do to any of my friends I either get made fun of, called a girl or I'm just ignored.
NARR: Brooke McMurray is a board member at Safe Horizon. She says she can relate to the target audience of her group's new campaign because she's been there herself. The man she married when she was in her 20s was well-educated and considered a perfect gentleman. Except… he pushed her down stairs and out windows.
AX: I was slapped and punched and insulted, except the difference was in those days domestic violence didn't even have name.
NARR: Today national crime statistics show that intimate partners commit one third of all female homicides. Domestic violence is so common that it hardly gets reported. The murder of a 22-year old woman by her boyfriend was widely reported this week, but what seemed to draw the media's attention was the high profile venue. The shooting happened next door to CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. Given the frequency of relationship abuse, McMurray considers herself a survivor.
AX: I was lucky, I escaped I survived and I rebuilt my life. (+6 = 52)
NARR: McMurray ended her marriage and went on to become an executive at a Fortune 500 company. McMurray was at City Hall yesterday when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the launch of city-wide posters and high school peer counseling.
AX: One thing we sadly know that the amount of domestic violence that is reported in the City of New York is tragically the tip of the iceberg and that for every person who is able to call and seek help there are countless others who are not able to do that. And one of the reasons they are not always able to do that is that they don't know help is there for them.
NARR: The campaign targets young people in the Bronx like twenty-eight year old truck driver Clarence Gillard (Gill-LAHRD) who has a friend who could use professional help.
AX: The last time I spoke with her she was on her way to the hospital with two black eyes.
NARR: Nearby Bronx high school student Mariely (Mary-Elli) Melo (mellow) says she needs help as well.
AX: He just finds an excuse to beat her about anything. I think she thought that was love, which is sad. Like I think she felt that was love which is sad. You should get help because that is not something you can do on your own.
NARR: For those who haven't gotten the message, the campaign will distribute materials in English, Spanish, Chinese and Haitian Creole in all five city boroughs. The campaign cost New York City taxpayers $400,000 dollars.
Tania Haas, Columbia Radio News.
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