Statement on Uptick of Intimate Partner Violence

From Elsie Cooke-Holmes
International President, Chair Board of Directors

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated mourns the recent murders of our sisters, Amanda Williams and Robin Simpson. Soror Williams was shot to death in the Warrensville Heights, Ohio, home she shared with her fiancé, who has been charged with her murder. Soror Simpson was allegedly stabbed to death by her husband in front of their eight-year-old daughter in her Houston, Texas, home.

Their murders serve as a somber reminder of the importance of laws that protect women and girls from intimate partner violence. A 2021 World Health Organization study found that one in three women globally have experienced intimate partner physical or sexual violence. It has been estimated that African American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate that is 35 percent higher than that of white females and about 2.5 times the rate of women of other races. African American women also experience higher rates of intimate partner homicide when compared to their white counterparts.

Delta Sigma Theta has long advocated for local, state, federal, and international policies to prevent violence against girls and women and hold perpetrators of intimate partner violence accountable. Deltas successfully advocated for the passage of the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was first signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and has been reauthorized in 2000, 2005, 2013, and 2022. VAWA established the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, stiffened penalties for convicted abusers, offered civil redress for victims whose cases were not prosecuted, and offered federal funding for the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women.

However, much work to address intimate partner violence remains undone. For example, Congress has refused to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, legislation that would tie U.S. foreign assistance to programs that promote women’s economic opportunity, address violence against girls in school, and work to change public attitudes about women’s rights to bodily autonomy.

Delta chapters will continue to advocate for the passage of laws designed to address violence against women and girls. Our chapters will amplify programming designed to expose intimate partner violence as a public health threat. We will also urge elected officials to expand access to programs, safe houses, financial assistance, and mental health services for victims of intimate partner violence.

Our opposition to intimate partner violence is strengthened by the memory of our beloved sisters, Amanda Williams and Robin Simpson, and far too many others who have been casualties of this daunting and deadly scourge.