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The epidemic of children being exposed to violence in communities across the nation will have to become more of a public discussion before the cycle can end, members of a national task force assembled by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
The National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence held its second public meeting in Albuquerque to gather testimony from victims and experts on violence in rural and Native-American communities – two areas often plagued by higher incidents of poverty and child abuse but with fewer options for help.
Robert Listenbee Jr., co-chairman of the 13-member task force, ticked off a list of statistics that painted a grim picture of the challenges facing those communities.
Native Americans and Alaska Natives have the highest poverty rate of any racial group in the nation, he said. They also have a higher rate of gang involvement than Latinos and African-American youth, and suicide ranks among the leading causes of death for young Native boys.
“These facts are staggering,” Listenbee told the crowd. “But perhaps even more alarming is the difficulty many children and families face in getting help.”
The isolation of tribal and rural communities complicates matters. Victims of domestic violence and clergy sex abuse testified about having nowhere to turn for help and the difficulties of finding help outside their communities.
Another challenge is the private nature of domestic violence. Experts and task force members said it’s a difficult conversation to have when victims – and even community leaders – are not willing to talk about the problem.
“We address drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, all of these things, but we never look at the impacts on our children,” said Gil Vigil, a former governor of Tesuque Pueblo who testified Thursday. “We address symptoms but never the whole problem. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”
The task force will be hosting additional hearings in Miami and Detroit later this year. In December, it plans to issue a final report to Holder that will include policy recommendations and a national blueprint for preventing and reducing the negative effects of children being exposed to violence.
— This article appeared on page C01 of the Albuquerque Journal
