Violence is not cool

I recently got some great information from Raphael House of Portland about the Rihanna Drama-"When pop singer Chris Brown assaulted his girlfriend Rihanna, also an award winning recording artist, there was an immediate outcry of support for Rihanna.
Within a few short days that support waivered and people in the community started blaming Rihanna for the violence that was perpetrated against her, many saying that she did something to provoke such a horrific attack. There are even those who did not explicitly blame her, but still implied that there was something she did wrong or could have done to prevent it and have refused to hold Chris Brown responsible and accountable for this attack. "
What can you do? Know the Facts. Myths about domestic violence are rampant in our society. From believing that domestic violence only happens to poor people to blaming the victim for staying in an abusive relationship, perpetuating false information about domestic violence is detrimental to survivors and the agencies working to help them. Familiarize yourself with the facts here: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet(National).pdf EndAbuse.Org http://endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/DomesticViolence.pdf APA http://www.healthyminds.org/multimedia/domesticviolence.pdf Why Doesn't She Leave http://www.ncadv.org/files/Why%20Doesnt%20She%20Leave.doc
Raphael House of Portland is a multi-faceted domestic violence agency dedicated to fighting the causes and effects of intimate partner violence in a variety of ways. We offer emergency shelter in a confidential location, safety planning and advocacy on a 24-hour in-house crisis line, non-residential advocacy in cooperation with the Portland Police Bureau, and transitional housing and advocacy through our Transitional Housing Program. More than 100 families are served in the emergency shelter each year, and over 5,000 callers are offered safety planning and advocacy on our crisis line. An additional 400 survivors receive non-residential advocacy services each year.

The mission of Raphael House is to provide a foundation of hope for a life free from family violence, and we have been working in this community—offering domestic violence survivors the tools they need to build violence-free lives—for more than 30 years. Raphael House serves a diverse community of families escaping domestic violence, and also works to eliminate the causes of intimate partner violence through educational outreach in the community.