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Why aren't we talking about what's happening to Black women?

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Black women are six times more likely to be murdered by intimate partners than white women. Let that sink in.

Dr. Miltonette Craig pulls back the curtain on this hidden crisis in our powerful conversation about intimate partner violence and media representation. As an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University and research coordinator for the Crime Victims Institute, Dr. Craig brings both academic rigor and genuine compassion to this critical discussion.

The statistics are staggering – approximately 43% of Black women report experiencing intimate partner violence compared to 30% of white women. But statistics only tell part of the story. Dr. Craig expertly unpacks the complex sociocultural factors creating this disparity: economic barriers that trap women in abusive relationships, the "loyalty trap" where Black women hesitate to report abuse for fear of contributing to mass incarceration, and deep-seated mistrust of law enforcement that discourages seeking help.

Perhaps most troubling is how media coverage perpetuates these problems. Through her groundbreaking research, Dr. Craig reveals how news stories about Black female victims often lack context, resources, and the critical analysis needed to understand this epidemic. We discuss a particularly disturbing case where two Black women were murdered by their husbands during conjugal visits at the same prison facility within months of each other – yet media coverage remained superficial and disconnected from the larger pattern of violence.

This episode isn't just about identifying problems – Dr. Craig offers concrete solutions for journalists, newsrooms, and media consumers. From including crisis resources in every domestic violence story to diversifying newsroom staff, these actionable steps could literally save lives.

Whether you work in media, advocacy, or simply care about creating a more just society, this conversation will transform how you understand intimate partner violence and the power of representation. Listen now, and join us in demanding better for Black women and all survivors of domestic violence.

Speaker 1:

Earlier this year, we met with presenters at the 2025 Conference on Crimes Against Women in Dallas, texas. In this episode, my guest, dr Miltonette Craig, assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology and the Research Coordinator for the Crime Victims Institute at Sam Houston State University, joins me to discuss the elevated risk of intimate partner violence to Black women. I'm Maria McMullin and this is Genesis, the podcast. Intimate partner violence occurs at alarming rates in the United States. As recently as 2017, it was estimated that three women are murdered every day by intimate partners in the US. When we consider that black women are six times more likely to be murdered by an intimate partner than white women, the scenario becomes staggering. And yet media coverage of the experiences of Black women are less often reported on, not always accurately conveyed and may or may not include the context of the elevated risk posed to Black women by abusive partners. My guest, dr Miltonette Craig, is studying the media depictions of black women's elevated risk of intimate partner violence and joins us to help us understand how media reports on IPV shapes our opinions about both victims and perpetrators and what can be done to improve these aspects of journalism.

Speaker 1:

Miltonette Olivia Craig is an assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology and the research coordinator for the Crimes Victims Institute at Sam Houston State University. Dr Craig completed her JD at Georgia State University College of Law and PhD in criminology and criminal justice at Florida State University. Her research examines intersectionality across socio-legal institutions, such as disparities in traffic stops, use of force and community supervision outcomes. Her work also uses an intersectional lens to examine intimate partner violence and the lived experiences of system-involved individuals. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Victims and Offenders, crime and Delinquency, criminal Justice and Behavior and Policing, an international journal. She has contributed to discussions on system reform and police accountability in the Chicago Tribune, houston Chronicle, texas Standard and Illinois Public Radio. Teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including Fundamentals of Criminal Law, criminal Justice, ethics Seminar in American Courts and Legal Aspects of Criminal Justice. Miltonette, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be with you here at the Conference on Crimes Against Women 2025. It's our 20th anniversary in Dallas, texas. Is this your first time presenting?

Speaker 2:

Yes, this is my first time presenting.

Speaker 1:

It's so exciting. Now you work at Sam Houston State University with a special focus on media depictions of the elevated risk for intimate partner violence. What led you to focus on this particular aspect of the IPV experience?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so in my master's program I read a very fascinating book by Dr Beth Ritchie, who is a sociologist and focuses on women's crimes and issues and victimization, and the book is called Compelled to Crime. I think came out in 96. And she interviews women who are incarcerated to understand the trajectory that led them to being criminal justice system involved and found that all of them had trauma and abuse in their background and so that kind of being compelled to crime, and she created a framework called gender entrapment. Basically, because of subjugation by virtue of gender and class, they were pushed into an environment and situations where the only response that they had in their wheelhouse was something that was, you know, defined as criminal, especially those who were subjected to domestic violence or intimate partner violence.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think what you're referring to in those cases is where a victim of domestic violence injures or fatally injures her domestic partner due to the abuse or as a result of the abuse.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, some of those, yeah, and then is then incarcerated for that, without the court's full understanding of the background of abuse. And we do a little bit and I'm like holding up a little smidge of finger space here a little bit better these days, because that subject has really been brought out into the forefront and we talk about it and educate courts and judges and others about that issue and I think that there's a disproportionate rate of Black women who have that particular experience.

Speaker 2:

Is that true? Yes, and another part of it is yes. There is the response in that relationship itself, but also previous histories of abuse teaching you poor coping skills. Sure that violence is the answer, because it was always the answer used against you in your past.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. That's an excellent point. Now let's talk about the rates of intimate partner violence for Black women in the United States. Help us understand the risk levels and incident rates for that population.

Speaker 2:

One of the estimates that I see most often in the research shows that Black women about 43% of them have reported that they've experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and that would be compared to just about 30% to similarly situated white women, and so the Institute for Women's Policy Research published a report called the Status of Black Women in the US. I think it came out in 2017. So they talk about those statistics. There's another one, an empirical study from 2015 by Sabina and Swatt, and they showed that Black women have the highest rate of intimate partner homicide right, the most deadly form of IPV, a rate that was about 2.2, compared to 1.01 for Latinas and 0.83 for white women.

Speaker 1:

So all of that is to say, the risk is higher, the incidence rate is higher and the fatality is higher for black women, and yet the media coverage which is really what we're going to focus on in this conversation the media coverage of these incidents for black women is less than best.

Speaker 1:

It's less than it would be for other populations, more particularly focused on white women who go missing, and that's another topic that has really come to the fore over the past few years, and rightfully so, and the Black and Missing Foundation has been working very hard to make sure that that is part of the conversation and to get more media coverage about these disappearances of Black women and men and children, as well as murders of all people. All people should have, there should be coverage, there should be discussion, there should be investigation work. Now, in September 2022, you authored a publication titled Special Topics Media Depictions of Black Women's Elevated Risk for Intimate Partner Violence, and you wrote about some of the and this is a quote socioeconomic and cultural factors that contribute to the elevated risk. What are those factors?

Speaker 2:

Yes, and one thing before getting to that with the disparities when we think about disparities largely in society and one group is overrepresented, we usually think that it makes sense to target resources towards that group. So it may be that, you know, teens are at a higher risk for X, so let's now pull the resources because that group is more prone to this type of harm. And so that's generally the underlying, I guess, foundation of the research that I do and the work that others do as well. It's about well, if we know that one group is in need of resources because of this, then let's figure out how to address that, and that's why the sociocultural aspect comes in there, so kind of a segue there.

Speaker 2:

So in the report I talk about one of the things having to do with income and impoverishment.

Speaker 2:

So, because of our history in the US with systemic discrimination, it is going to be more likely that those who are members of marginalized groups are going to have less access to financial resources, whether that is from legitimate employment, right being able to get from an abusive relationship, because, right, you need money to be able to now get a divorce, or now provide for your own housing and take care of your children if you are a parent without that other partner, if they were supporting in the first place.

Speaker 2:

And so if the group, so Black women, are going to be less likely to earn a living wage, then they're going to be less likely to earn a living wage than they're going to be less likely to have the resources to exit those relationships. Another one of those socio-cultural phenomena that is specific to Black women have to do with the overall trust in our criminal justice system, and so, because of bias and discrimination, we see that racially and ethically marginalized groups are just not as trusting in the system. Is it going to be one that prosecutes us more often when crime is the same? Why is this group being targeted more often? Is it that we don't have as much trust in law enforcement because of, you know, an unjustified shooting that was never dealt with through?

Speaker 1:

the system itself.

Speaker 2:

And so if you're less trusting of those formal social control mechanisms, then you're going to be less likely to report. Why should I call 911 if they're not going to help in the first place? There's also a few authors have written about this Hillary Potter. Dr Hillary Potter is another researcher who looks at black women's experiences with intimate partner violence.

Speaker 2:

And one of those that she mentions, and others do as well, is called the loyalty trap. So it's kind of like, well, if it's us against the world and I report that you are harming me, then am I not loyal to my people harming me, then am I not loyal to my people, and so do I need to now put another black man in the system if there's already so many of them there, so, as you're hiding your own scars because you feel indebted to not air dirty laundry, and so that's going to keep you in a relationship that's abusive longer than someone who doesn't feel those same right, that's not subject to the same loyalty trap, so things like that. And then the other idea or other phenomenon is perfect victimhood, and who gets to be assigned that role, and so if you are stereotyped as being aggressive, then well, you must have been the person who provoked the violence. So we're not going to give you the benefit of what comes with being assigned the ideal victim.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that is a lot to unpack. That could be our whole episode right there we could just pick one of those factors and dive into it, and I don't mean to, you know, cast the broad brush over all of them, but I've heard many of them before in different conversations and in different work that I've read. How do we overcome some of these things?

Speaker 2:

That's a good question, heavy too. I think having uncomfortable conversations, like you know, atmospheres like this is very important because the awareness is the biggest thing. So we might hear it in passing, but unless we hear it on a larger platform and have people speak about it, then it always feels taboo. Another part of it is that we are coming into a socio-political context nationwide that people are afraid to talk about race, ethnicity and diversity, and so a lot of times people feel like their jobs are at stake, and many times it is when we see different laws that get passed and different decisions, and so if there's that chilling effect, then we'll never have the conversation that we need to get through.

Speaker 2:

And so, beyond that, if we pull out one of those factors that talks about, like mistrust and not wanting to report, then how do we go into communities and make them feel that law enforcement can be on their side when they are in need?

Speaker 2:

So some Black communities will report that not only do they get over-policed in terms of things, like you know stop and frisk but they're also under police when it comes to reporting crime and not receiving anyone coming to the scene. And so if you are seeing things on both sides that well, if I call, they don't come, but they're here to not do things that are really beneficial for our community. How do we convince local law enforcement there that tactics need to change right? Because when we see that policing is successful, it's when there is community buy-in. So if the community doesn't feel safe around you, then it's going to be harder for you to do your job as law enforcement as well. So it has to be some kind of engagement and that's meaningful and genuine, that makes the community feel like oh okay, I understand, you're here to protect us and not just arrest us.

Speaker 1:

That's a quite a big goal to take on for any city in any environment, and we were making some headway, I think, on those issues a few years back, and now we're, to your point, kind of in a space where we're not sure what we're doing right now.

Speaker 1:

Now, let's then talk about another type of conversation, which would be that in the media, which is how we kind of started off this episode, because you conducted a research study that looks specifically at the media coverage as well as the framing devices used by media when communicating stories related to intimate partner violence and Black women. So, to begin with, help us understand framing devices, how they are used and if they are helpful when reporting on domestic violence.

Speaker 2:

When we think about media, I think a good aspect to focus on is coverage versus framing. So media coverage in general is just you're getting, you know, an objective type of description of a news event, whereas framing is when they're going to be different language or devices that are trying to kind of move the needle on public opinion a little bit. So that could be well. Let's add statistics as a framing device to add legitimacy to this story.

Speaker 2:

Now, whether the statistics are from a good source is another issue right, but that kind of gives the guys that you, as the reporter, did some digging to kind of give legitimacy to this story. Or are we now going to contact experts, you know other researchers or practitioners that are well respected in the field? That is also something that is going to give some validity to this stuff and frame it in a certain way. And then, what kind of lens is it using? Is it just a single person, like if it's IPV related? Is it single victim centered? And then we now make the story broader. Is that the frame that we're going to use or is there an underlying tone that's going on? So those are some of the devices that we'll see in media reports that we may not be conscious of them as we absorb them. So, is the reporter trying to define the problem, are they trying to diagnose the problem? Are they trying to give a moral judgment about the problem? And then what are they including in the article to meet that goal that they have?

Speaker 1:

Do you think that people, generally speaking, are considering what they hear in the media on that deep of a level to pick up on those types of things?

Speaker 2:

Not always, and I would encourage everyone to try to be as savvy of a media consumer as they can be. Who wrote it and why do you think they wrote it? And if you have that kind of the precursor before you dive in, it will help you kind of raise your own antenna to say does this sound right? And I think fact checking needs to be something that happens frequently. If it's a news source that you trust, why is it that you trust them? And then the reasons why you trust them does that continue every time you read that source? Because maybe newspaper A 10 years ago when you started reading it did feel legitimate because of the things that you appreciated in their writing. But has that changed over time? How has it? And is something different about the tone or the things included in the articles as you read them?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think it's more than just finding an author or a journalist who you align with Right. It has to be honest, it has to be unbiased, preferably. There are a lot of factors. Now I've been out of school for a very long time I'm going to be really honest here so I had to look up the term framing devices.

Speaker 1:

And I found kind of a variety of different things that it could be, and it reminds me of some of the things that my high school teenagers at home complain about when they go to English class. But one of the instances that I read on framing devices is the story within the story. So, as it relates to intimate partner violence here we can talk about, a black woman was raped at this block of this address and subsequently murdered by who just happened to be her intimate partner. But then the bigger issue that the story can be framed with is the disproportionate amount of domestic violence or intimate partner violence that is experienced by Black women, which is what we started out talking about in this conversation.

Speaker 1:

How is that?

Speaker 2:

helpful, I think, when, especially for something that is so frequent domestic violence in general, I think anytime there's a report on a serious incident or a related homicide, not framing it within the larger epidemic or even pandemic may be even irresponsible when it comes to journalism. And so when you don't take the opportunity to, when things are posed as episodic, that's when oh well, it's just another death, it's unfortunate, but it happens all the time. It shouldn't be happening all the time. And I think that when you have a platform like media that you know there's thousands, if not millions, of clicks every day and you don't do that, I think that's a disservice to the readership or the viewership of your publication or your source.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I haven't heard it quite like that before, but I agree with you that it could be irresponsible journalism doing it that way. Now the study that you conducted and completed. I'd like to talk about the findings of that. Can you offer some examples of where media coverage was successful and also not helpful? Yes, Okay.

Speaker 2:

So when I did the search for articles, I said, okay, let me see how many that can come up in this database search that have the terms intimate partner violence or domestic violence, and either black women or African-American women. That was my search term, and so I looked at articles from about 2014 to 2022 is when this report came out and there weren't a lot that had those search terms. I think it was about 13 or 14 total lot that had those search terms. I think it was about 13 or 14 total. And so of the ones that specifically addressed it, they were either just making the reader aware that there's this elevated risk for Black women. So I call that the first theme risk awareness. So they're just generally saying Black women are more likely to be exposed to this kind of harm. Some went a step further and I call it risk explanation. So they not only tried to make the reader aware of this elevated risk, but then they tried to explain it a little bit more. Why is it that that's the case? And then those that went the deepest or the most in-depth when discussing the issue, I call it risk criticism. So they not only are making you aware of the elevated risk, they're explaining the elevated risk, and then they're saying that there's a historical, systemic underlying discrimination that is the cause of why the risk is elevated. So it's doing more, and so those were the ones that I would say are most successful in communicating why this is a problem.

Speaker 2:

So there was an article that talked about the batterer perspective as well. So why is it that Black men may engage more often in battering? And so one of the sociocultural explanations that they discuss was, especially when we are in a society that's very hyper focused on masculinity that involves, you know, being a provider and you can't make enough money because you're not getting employment those emotions are pent up because, right, another part of toxic masculinity is the expectation that you can never express sadness, right. And so if the channel for expressing sadness and frustration ends up being violent and you come home with that, you're going to take it out on those in the household, and so that's not even just sociocultural, that comes with even some kinds of professions.

Speaker 2:

There is research that shows that, for instance, those in law enforcement, because of what they see and absorb in the job, that they take it out their frustrations at home. And so if that's the environment that you're kind of living in, then that can try to explain why this risk is elevated for this subpopulation. And so, unless we get the things that we read and the things that we watch to kind of dig a little deeper, then we might know okay, surface level the risk is higher. But and what? Where's the remedy? If we've diagnosed the problem, then what we have to figure out, how to treat it and do so effectively storytelling and really giving the bigger picture of, let's say, the person who was the victim of this crime.

Speaker 1:

You can hear this kind of peripherally or superficially when they say, oh, she was a mother and she's described as the most giving and forgiving person that we've ever known, and you started hearing these nice flowery details. But there's a bigger story about every single person who becomes a victim of a crime like this. Let's talk about an example. You shared this story with me. It was about two women who were murdered by their husbands on separate occasions and both during conjugal visits at the same prison facility, and this was within months of each other.

Speaker 1:

Tell us about those situations and also about the media depictions of each story, and so that was really shocking.

Speaker 2:

So I didn't hear about it until the second death, and so I believe it's a California prison and not many still even allow overnight conjugal visits, and so after the first death you would think that they would change policy at the prison to make sure that doesn't happen again, right. And so the fact that it happened again, even the family of the second victim, is just like she should still be here.

Speaker 2:

And so at this point the coverage has only been surface level. So it's left to the reader to make presumptions about whether these things are connected. And maybe they are unconnected in terms of those incarcerated men, maybe weren't even in the same unit, maybe those women never knew each other, never saw each other when they were checking in for the visits. Right, but there has to be, according to me, because I guess I've watched too many true crime shows but it feels like there's more to the story.

Speaker 2:

Like you said, both of the women it seems like were Black, and so you know why is that? It could just be, you know, solely coincidental, but it could also be that this actual prison has an over-representation of Black incarcerated people, and so then that means there's going to be more Black women visitors that are coming. If those same sociocultural dynamics are still present which they are in society, then what are the interactions during the conjugal visit that's happening? I believe they're supposed to be monitored, like throughout the visit, but clearly someone wasn't doing the monitoring like they were supposed to. So was it corrections officer, negligence, or was there some kind of agreement that, well, turn the camera off, because I can offer you this and then I can do what I want without you looking? And so it's going to take some more digging to understand the circumstances that led to it even happening. Right, where was the protection for the visitor?

Speaker 2:

Because in general, when you do non-overnight, visits there are corrections officers in the big room you can't hug for longer than three seconds right to avoid like passing contraband or anything like that. And yes, if it's supposed to be a conjugal visit, then there should be some level of privacy, because the point is to try to reestablish or maintain the intimate relationship, because it's that if someone who's incarcerated can still feel connected to the outside, they're more likely to behave, because you don't want to lose that privilege and the connection tries to stay in place so that when you get out you still have a bond and you still have people looking out for you that can help you while you're trying to like reenter and reintegrate. So that is why visitation exists at all, but you have to make sure it's safe for everyone, everyone. That story is just wildly disturbing on so many levels and I look forward to hearing more about it. But I just wonder, since I haven't seen more coverage, if it's just going to be like, oh, this is bad, and then we never hear about it again.

Speaker 1:

I have so many questions about this story and I hope we can say that or just make the distinction here that these were women who were spouses or partners of perpetrators, who were imprisoned for crimes that were not intimate partner violence. Is that correct?

Speaker 2:

That we don't know. It doesn't seem like they were incarcerated for intimate partner violence. I know at least one of them in the news reports was there on a homicide case. I don't know if it was a former partner that was the victim. And we don't know if these women were married to the men before they were incarcerated or while, because it could happen in both ways. We don't know if they met pre-imprisonment or while they were in prison, because there are people who meet and marry while they're in custody.

Speaker 1:

For sure, and because we were talking so narrowly about injury partner violence I thought well, maybe people think that that's the crime.

Speaker 2:

Could be. So I think it would be up to a reader that is particularly invested, that tries to find the name of the men, to see what they were charged with, to see what the crime was.

Speaker 2:

But, at this point we don't. So it would be great for an investigative journalist to dig a little deeper, like why were they there? When did they meet? What was it about? Because what if the women were new partners to these men and didn't have full information about their backgrounds? If they met as pen pals and they said well, I'm here and I'm actually innocent and I've submitted my case to the Innocence Project and they're looking into it for me, then you think that this is a safe person to be with, right? So we just don't know and it's just scary not to have information. But at the same time I'm just like are we entitled to information? That's not our business, but I kind of feel like it is our business.

Speaker 1:

I don't know. I think when you have two murders that occur during a conjugal visit within the same prison system, within months of each other, yeah, that does become something that the public needs to know more about, and I would hope that this particular story is being deeply investigated, as you suggested. What guidelines do you recommend to media and others when reporting on intimate partner violence and Black women, and what would you like to see improved, eliminated or changed?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great, great question. One of the things that I noticed, or that I was looking for in my report when I reviewed the news article, is did they mention resources? Because it's possible that a reader is also a victim or is very close to someone who they know is being victimized. So I would want all of these articles to mention a resource at the end. Mention a resource at the end, like if you see an article that has to do with someone taking their own life nine times out of 10, you're going to see the hotline for suicide prevention right.

Speaker 2:

I even saw like a story about Wynonna and Ashley Judd talking about. It's been three years since their mom, naomi, took her life and at the end of that article it had the suicide prevention hotline and so anything concerning serious harm. Where are the resources listed at the end? Or can you contact someone from one of these advocacy organizations and that's the person you're talking to?

Speaker 2:

So, I would like to see in those reports that we always have resources linked to. Where is the number that a victim could potentially call? If this is something that the reporter believes is largely a local issue, when is the number that a victim could potentially call? If this is something that the reporter believes is largely a local issue, what is the information for the local shelter? If there's a Dallas domestic violence story, Genesis should be listed at the end of that article.

Speaker 1:

I completely agree with that. There's no reason it shouldn't be right.

Speaker 2:

And I think not doing that, you're missing an opportunity to reach people who may need it, especially when we see crime stories in safer sites. Right, so a victim may not want to go to the domestic violence website because their search history is being monitored, but if you go to People magazine and there's an article about a domestic violence case and those same resources are listed at the end, then they never have to be clicking on something they're not quote unquote allowed to be looking at.

Speaker 1:

That's a great point.

Speaker 2:

And so resources I think should be in all of those media articles, those media articles.

Speaker 2:

I think also that the newsrooms, or the board of directors, needs to not be afraid of inclusivity when it comes to what stories to cover and promote.

Speaker 2:

So, even when we think about Marketing 101 and you want Gen Z to be your new set of buyers, you're going to have a Gen Z-er on your marketing team because you want to know the language that is going to speak to that population. And so if you don't have inclusivity when it comes to your newsroom, then there are blind spots that you're never going to realize are there, whether that is cultural, whether that is gender specific, whether that is age related, all of those things. And so they need to not be afraid of having a diverse team, especially when diversity means so many things and I hate that the word has been villainized at this point but it means a lot and it benefits a lot, and I think we are better consumers when we know more about more groups, because then for me I think when you know more, it's easier for you to spot BS and sure yeah, so you're just like can't read this site anymore because they're not putting in the work to create something that is trustworthy and legitimate.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we live in some interesting times right now. This is a very interesting and timely topic as well, especially because of recent developments with let's just use the example of 60 Minutes.

Speaker 2:

Oh right.

Speaker 1:

And I was reading about another one this morning, I believe I read a headline that said the president of CBS said that she would resign. And so there's something happening with media now and outside influences trying to shape it to certain ends and, to your point, vilifying certain terms and types of stories, which free speech is still an amendment. The last time that I checked, yeah, it is.

Speaker 2:

It's interesting to see how it's interpreted and I think one of the I guess, the scariest things about our current time is that, I think in the back of everyone's mind, when you're just like, oh well, that's unconstitutional, the courts will handle it. And what makes courts work, at least in our country, is that when they issue an order, the people subject to the order follow it. But if they don't follow it and the order has no teeth, then what?

Speaker 1:

I am following what you're saying.

Speaker 2:

Okay and so yeah, people are just like no, the Supreme Court will strike that down. Let's say they do. And then what if no one listens? And so that is the scary part, because I think for the most part we've historically given deference to the powers that be, but when it comes to someone that doesn't see deference, then what do we do?

Speaker 1:

That's a question that will have to be to be continued for this conversation. Where can people learn more about these types of topics?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I just learned about this documentary yesterday evening in our speaker reception.

Speaker 2:

It's called Subjects of Desire, and another presenter and scholar whose work that I really like and cite frequently, dr Carolyn West.

Speaker 2:

She is one of the scholars in it, and so it talks about media depictions of Black women, and if the depictions reinforce stereotypes, then that is absorbed and creates higher risk. I also love the fact now that I am working with our Crime Victims Institute at Sam Houston State University, so I would encourage people to visit our website and our publication section. We have research reports dating back since the institution was created in the mid-90s talking about different types of victimization, whether that's from cybercrime to youth to gender-based sexual minorities all those types of different topics and we have a very portative advisory board that also encourages us to focus on certain topics based on their expertise and practice as well, as we have great different researchers and practitioners who write for us. So I definitely encourage people to visit our site and then support and encourage and visit the sites of violence prevention agencies. So everyone should celebrate organizations like Genesis, like Ujima that focuses on African-American women and domestic violence, and other sources and organizations whose goal it is to end domestic violence.

Speaker 1:

Great advice and great resources, dr.

Speaker 1:

Miltonette Craig thank you for being on the show. Thank you so much for having me. This has been great. Genesis Women's Shelter and Support exists to give women in abusive situations a way out. We are committed to our mission of providing safety, shelter and support for women and children who have experienced domestic violence, and to raise awareness regarding its cause, prevalence and impact. Join us in creating a societal shift on how people think about domestic violence. You can learn more at GenesisShelterorg and when you follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram at Genesis Women's Shelter, and on X at Genesis Shelter, and Instagram at Genesis Women's Shelter, and on X at Genesis Shelter. The Genesis Helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by call or text at 214-946-HELP 214-946-4357.