Good Journalism Saves Lives
When I was a kid Kenneth Edmonds (aka "Babyface") was occasionally played at my home. This was the era of tuner, CDs, and "albums", sometimes "singles". No Internet in homes yet.
In 1996, together with Stevie Wonder (who played across the road from us last week; I wanted to go watch that with my sister), he released "How Come, How Long". It was about domestic violence. It spoke of a woman who was killed by her husband - a death that could be prevented had more people cared and did something.
The song was inspired by the Nicole Brown Simpson murder.
Here are the lyrics of the song:
There was a girl I used to know She was oh so beautiful But she's not here anymore She had a college degree Smart as anyone could be Had so much to live for But she fell in love With the wrong kinda man He abused her love and treated her so bad There was not enough education in her world That could save the life of this little girl How come, how long It's not right, it's so wrong Do we let it just go on Turn our backs and carry on Wake up, for it's too late Right now, we can't wait She won't have a second try Open up your hearts As well as your eyes She tried to give a cry for help She even blamed things on herself But no one came to her aid Nothing was wrong as far as we could tell That's what we'd like to tell ourselves But no, it wasn't that way So she fell in love With the wrong kinda man And she paid with her life For loving that man So we cannot ignore We must look for the signs And maybe next time We might save somebody's life How come, how long It's not right, it's so wrong Do we let it just go on Turn our backs and carry on Wake up, for it's too late Right now, we can't wait She won't have a second try Open up your hearts As well as your eyes I on occasion met that guy It's been a feeling deep inside Something about him wasn't right The way he proves himself a man By beatin' his woman with his hands Oh I wish she'd seen the light (Hey) How can someone like that Call himself a man (He's not a man) Coz In reality he's far more less than that And we cannot ignore Whenever we see the signs 'cause any kinda of abuse God knows it's a crime How come (how come...), how long (how long...) It's not right (it's not right...), it's so wrong (so wrong...) Do we let it just go on (just go...) Turn our backs and carry on Wake up (wake up...), for it's too late (too late...) Right now (now...), we can't wait (we can't wait...) She won't have a second try Open up your hearts As well as your eyes...
In the United States alone, a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner (1,300 deaths and 2 million injuries per year). "Less than 40% of women actively seek help in domestic violence situations," say statistics. Fear contributes to this. What sometimes happens is, once they make a complaint they get killed, because of the complaint.
This is where journalism can help. █