Season 2 Episode 13: Reparations and the Unique Experience of Black Domestic Violence Survivors: An Interview with Courageous Fire
About This Episode
Crafting a domestic violence–informed response to the unique experience of Black domestic violence survivors in the United States requires listening to the voices and lived experience of those survivors. Like other marginalized survivors in systems impacted by racism and colonization across the globe, Black women have to navigate systems that often have penalized and punished them instead of being a support. Distrust of formal systems, based on historic racism, can make it harder for Black survivors to reach out for the help they need. When survivors do not feel like their experience will be seen and understood, they will not avail themselves of those interventions. Harms become compounded, including the unnecessary removal of children by children protection, when Black survivors are penalized for not using those formal systems.
In this episode of Partnered with a Survivor, Ruth and David interview Courageous Fire, the founder and CEO of Courageous Fire, LLC and a domestic violence survivor and leader in the movement to create culturally specific responses to domestic violence in the Black community. Courageous Fire works exclusively with Black victims and survivors of domestic violence in Iowa, and her model of community assistance is self-sustaining and community-driven. She takes cues from the grassroots experiences of Black survivors within her community to bring holistic assistance that isn’t “cookie cutter” but that deeply meets those survivors on multiple levels.
In an innovative adaptation of the concept of reparations, Courageous Fire believes that domestic violence survivors deserve to be compensated for their pain and suffering. She wants the abuse (not just the abusers) to “pay survivors back” in practical and financial terms.
Additional themes in this episode include:
Why the Black community has typically resisted contact and reliance on formal services as a way to protect themselves and children
Why calling the police is not safe for Black women
How systems that are supposed to keep us safe have harmed Black women with impunity because of their bias, judgments, and assumptions about victim behaviors through a culturally ignorant/arrogant lens
How Courageous Fire, LLC helps to bring bring holistic healing and a pathway to financial independence for Black survivors of domestic abuse
How to recognize and see the dynamic resistance of Black survivors as a strength, not a deficit
Additional Resources
Courageous Fire’s book Empowerment Through the Arts: Ignite Your Power
Podcast: Season 1 Episode 22: When Culture, Religion & Domestic Violence Meet
Safe & Together Institute’s domestic abuse–informed trainings
Safe & Together Institute’s upcoming events
David Mandel’s book Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to Transform the Way We Keep Children Safe from Domestic Violence