African American women are a group particularly affected by this history of violence. Black women have been sexually assaulted and mutilated by men in this country since the time of slavery. The worst part is that the evidence of this rape and abuse is marked every day by the more than 20 different pigments possessed by the African people that walk this land. We can not turn back the hands of time and erase all of this injustice and I am not suggesting that we should try. However, I am suggesting that America acts like none of this ever went on.
History books fail to mention it.
Lawmakers and government officials fail to seriously acknowledge it. President Clinton formally apologized for slavery, but has yet to attempt to apologize to the women of all races for the hateful crimes committed against them. I believe that domestic violence is such an enormous problem today because it has never been dealt with as a historical issue. It has been swept under the rug. And as the saying goes, those who do not acknowledge their history are doomed to repeat it.