Many social issues are easily swept under the rug, but for the sorority, Zeta Phi Zeta, child abuse isn’t one of them.
The sorority held an informational event outside of Charlie’s Place Feb. 17 about their new initiative on creating child abuse awareness around campus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines child abuse and maltreatment as, “Any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.”
Any account of child abuse is investigated by a state’s Child Protective Services (CPS), and according to the CDC, in 2007, “U.S. state and local child protective services investigated 3.2 million reports of children being abused or neglected.”
Zeta Phi Zeta president, and English creative writing major, Jazmine Williams, explained that what drew her into the issue was when she saw the recent blockbuster hit, “Precious.”
“The idea really sparked when I saw the movie, ‘Precious.’ [The movie] was about a child who was being abused by her mother and father and it kind of sparked my interest after that,” said Williams. “I wanted to do something more that would be an awareness to the campus.”
Not only did the movie affect Williams’ decision to proceed with this project, but her future career did, as well. “I’m actually going to grad school for social work so this is a really big issue for me,” said Williams.
Williams explained that, although Zeta Phi Zeta’s main philanthropy project is lupus awareness, the sorority tries to, “do something both for the fall semester and the spring semester,” and child abuse awareness fit into this semester since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“In April, we will be putting up facts [around campus], and [right now] we will be passing out blue ribbons, which represents the color of abused children so that [students] could be more aware and more involved,” said Williams.
Williams explained that they are supporting the Chicago chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, and
although other future plans and events are still in the works, a possible seminar on child abuse awareness is something that the sorority is considering.
If there’s one thing Williams wanted college students to realize about child abuse, it’s that it doesn’t just affect one age group specifically. “It isn’t just children [that are abused], it could be
pre-teens and up, and there are some college students who are [facing] abuse, so it doesn’t just end with children,” said Williams.
In fact, according to the CDC in 2007, 1,760 deaths occurred from children 0 to 17 years-old due to abuse and neglect.
Williams not only saw the prevalence to the social issue, but explained that her sorority sisters did as well.
“They thought it would be a good idea because of all the things that are happening, especially […] with the black community in Chicago,” said Williams. “Some people think that people who are abused as children go off and look for other [forms of] families, and therefore they join gangs and such.”
In fact, findings by the CDC report that, “some children had higher rates of victimization,” with African-American children being the highest, accounting for 16.7 out of 1,000 children being victimized and abused.
And in terms of the deaths resulting from child abuse, 26 percent of the 1,760 deaths in 2007 were of African-American children.
“That could be one of the reasons why people look out to other families or join gangs, and that would be one of the reasons why they aren’t looking towards their [own] families, because there’s something going on, whether it be emotional or physical, at home,” said Williams.
All in all, Williams explained that she hopes this project will leave the Lewis community more aware on the issue of child abuse.
“This is something that is prevalent, but people don’t really talk about this often, so I think that this would be kind of like a jump start to [cause awareness],” said Williams.
To learn more about child abuse awareness, visit preventchildabuse.org.
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