I sooooo miss giving out purple ribbons in October. I used to when I was working a regular 9 to 5. I would pin them on my co-workers who didn’t know what purple ribbons were for. Of course when you have celebrities behind other causes it makes them more prominent, but who ever came out and said, I’m the spokesperson for domestic violence because, yes, my husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, beats me, mentally abuses me, sexually abuses me, financially abuses and manipulates me. Nobody, really. Well, Juanita Bynum did. She came out about it a little bit after her then husband Thomas Weeks III stomped her senseless in a parking lot in 2007 and when this was a pop culture website instead of the fashion website it is today, I blogged about it and got over 5,000 hits that morning alone. Mind you, she had the bruises to prove it.

She did the whole talk show circuit thing and I kept writing about it here and it got a lot of national attention, and then it faded away and people stopped talking about it again. It always amazes me that things are always fads with people. They wanted to reconcile, they wanted to divorce and although we were all on the outside looking in, as a psychology major pursuing a degree in relationship and martial counseling I always said they needed The Plural Thing, but others said they didn’t need to be together in the first place. Here is what happened in case you hadn’t heard:

August 23, 2007 – Juanita Bynum a televangelist who has won a national following with sermons about women’s empowerment, was badly bruised in a fight with her estranged husband as they met in an attempt to reconcile, police said.

No charges were filed in connection with the confrontation between Bynum and preacher Thomas  W. Weeks II, founder of Global Destiny churches, police said Thursday.

The fight happened early Wednesday in the parking lot of the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta’s airport, and a hotel bellman pulled Weeks off Bynum, Officer Ronald Campbell said.

“She was bruised up and battered,” Campbell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She had purple bruising around her neck and upper torso.”

People overlook domestic violence awareness month every year and every year I promise not to get disgruntled about it. To me it’s not a contest to support one cause over another, it’s just that domestic violence is the black sheep, the thing people won’t talk about, or refuse to acknowledge or pray will go away if they cook dinner well enough, or vacuum and light fragrant candles and let a cool breeze in right before he comes home from work. I won’t get disgruntled. I’ll simply do a post ever year and get people talking about it in some way like they talk about everything else. I realize that when we don’t talk about things, it happens again and again. Here’s Rihanna below. Even a Pop Star and all of her fame and brand name Balenciaga boots unfortunately doesn’t make her immune. I believe we need to not just teach people the signs, but show them how to get out when they see them.

She loved him, she dealt with it. You don’t have to. You shouldn’t. You’re better than that, no matter what he or she tells you. No matter how sorry he or she is afterwards. The next beating could KILL YOU!

Purple is the color of abuse because it represents the bruises from the beatings and pain of abuse. If I do one thing today via this post I want it to be to make other people aware. If you know someone who is being abused, don’t sit by and do nothing. Tell somebody. If you are being abused, get out. There is help. Don’t worry about where you will live or what you will lose in the process. Let him or her have the house, the car or the family summer home or even the big screen tv even if it’s the only big ticket item you’ve ever bought in your life.

People you would never imagine are silently abused and never tell. Maybe they are housewives whose husbands pay all the bills and never wanted them to work so they could have that kind of control over them. Maybe they’re ill or emotionally in a vulnerable situation, whatever the case you deserve better. Here are some stats of the prevalence of domestic violence in the United States from EndAbuse.org:

ENDABUSE.ORG
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Our website THE PLURALTHING.COM is a ministry that teaches singles and couples how to love better and work through issues. Join, read articles and dialog with others who may be in the same situation as you. You can also log on to the sister site LOVEBETTERCAMP.COM and read our Monday Morning series that also has spiritually uplifting articles that teaches us how to love better as well, not just in romantic relationship but between friends, sisters, brothers, children and more. You can also support our ministry by purchasing one of our Love Better Promise Bracelets, which is also a reminder as you wear it this October to Love Better not just for Domestic Violence Awareness Month but ALL YEAR LONG! CLICK to Get Yours HERE for only $3.95 (includes shipping).

Here is how YOU can help: Leave a comment below. Share the link of this post on your Facebook update throughout the month of October. Follow some new people on Twitter and tweet the link of this post to them throughout the month of October. Email this link to your friends.

Thank you.

P.S. I’d love to discuss this on Twitter. Follow me @MissPrincessDom or @ThePluralThing