[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6192-S6193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE POWER OF RELEVANT EDUCATION

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, yesterday, I was privileged to see and 
hear a dramatic presentation by four high school sophomores from my 
home State of Washington. They performed a short dramatic work, with 
choral music, in my office for me and my staff. They had no fancy stage 
lights or microphones or curtains. They had simple costumes, and no 
stage make-up. Yet, they created true magic. It was emotional, 
powerful, and indicative of what young people can do if given half a 
chance.
  These four young women, Dallas Milholland, Cynthia Ward, Kristin 
Allen-Zito, and Malissa Kobbevik, came to Washington, DC, from their 
home 3,000 miles away in Bellingham, WA, to compete in the National 
History Day Finals. The presentation they created was entitled ``Focus 
of Concern: Breaking the Silence Surrounding Battered Women.''
  They researched the plight of battered women throughout history. They 
examined the accounts of women's ill-treatment, and the silence, 
ignorance, and approval of such treatment. They also looked at the rise 
of concern about domestic violence and passage and enforcement of laws 
to protect women against it.
  These four young women wrote the script, adapted the accompanying 
music for beautiful three-part harmony, chose the subdued black 
costumes, and did the understated blocking and choreography. They 
performed before national judges, and other students from around the 
country.
  This morning, they called and told me that they have been chosen as 
the National Champions of the National History Day Competition. I know 
the Presiding Officer is as proud of these four young women from 
Washington State as I am.
  The teachers and students of Bellingham High School, and those on 
Vashon Island, in Port Angeles, and Richland, who also brought their 
terrific History Day projects to the competition, should all be proud. 
The people of Bellingham, of Washington State, and all Americans should 
be very proud of these four young women from Bellingham, and all those 
who made their great victory possible.
  What their performance teaches every person who sees it is that 
domestic violence is an overpowering presence in the lives of too many 
women and children, almost as hard to outlive as his to live through. 
As these young women point out in their presentation, ``During the 10 
minutes of (our) presentation, 66 women have been beaten. Sometime 
during the next 3 hours, one of these women will die.''
  To quote further: ``During the 13 years of the Vietnam war, 58,000 
American service personnel died on the battlefield. During the same 
time period, 54,000 American women were killed by their domestic 
partners.''
  Their performance teaches that with brutality against women, as with 
all brutality in the human experience, there are times of concern, when 
actions happen, and there are times of silence, or worse, times when 
brutality is condoned. Each of us needs to be responsible to call 911 
when we hear the sounds of domestic violence in our neighborhoods. Each 
of us needs to be responsible to value women and their young children. 
Each of us needs to tell young girls that they deserve and should 
expect better.
  We must become aware that every day women are beaten, pushed, and 
threatened by those they love: and they are too afraid to admit 
``someone I love is hurting me.''
  This performance also teaches something about the power of a relevant 
education. Young people learn best when they see relevance to their own 
lives outside the classroom, relevance to their current interests, and 
relevance to their future careers.
  These young women are talented, interested, and powerful. They are 
not, however, alone, and they are not unique. Behind these four young 
women are four families, and at least one great teacher who gave them a 
chance. A chance to do something adults these days don't seem to expect 
from American students--strive for excellence.
  Every student can benefit from seeing this performance. Every student 
can also benefit from being given a chance to work hard for something 
that they truly care about. Whether it's a book, a social cause, a 
business idea, a sport or hobby--we must encourage young people to see 
the connections.
  These young people from my State are incredible. They can help us 
solve the problems facing this country, so can all the other children 
in this country today.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the text of the script from 
the students at Bellingham High School be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       ``Battered Women''--Script

       4 girls standing in darkness with backs to audience.
       C/D/K: Open with song: ``Can You Hear the Prayer of the 
     Women.''
       [single spotlight on.]
       M: My heart is in anguish within me. The terrors of death 
     have fallen on me. Fear and trembling come upon me and horror 
     overwhelms me. It is not enemies who taunt me. I could bear 
     that: It is not adversaries who deal insolently with me. I 
     could hide from them, but it is you, my equal. My companion, 
     my familiar friend with whom I kept pleasant company--Psalm 
     55.
       [spot off.]
       C/D/K: Song: ``Crying Jesus Help me to see the morning 
     light of one more day. But if I should die before I wake, I 
     pray my soul to take.''
       M: I was charged with first degree murder. I have 15 to 
     life: I killed my husband.
       K: I was charged with murder in the first. I have life 
     without: I killed my husband.
       D: I was charged with second degree murder. I'm serving 15 
     to life: I killed my husband.
       C: I was charged with first degree murder. I'm doing life 
     without. I killed my husband.
       [4 spots on.]
       All: I killed my abuser.
       C: During the 13 years of the Vietnam war 58,000 American 
     service personnel died on the battlefield.
       D: During the same time period 54,000 American women were 
     killed by their domestic partners.
       All: Beaten to death.
       K: Stomped.
       C: Kicked.
       M: Choked.
       D: Their head bashed repeatedly against solid stationary 
     objects.
       All: Battered.
       C: Every fourth woman who enters a hospital is there 
     because of injuries sustained during an attack by her 
     domestic partner.
       D: Every 9 seconds in America a woman is beaten by her 
     husband: The flash of the red light is indicative of this 
     time of violence.
       M: Seven women die each day as a result of these beatings.
       K: For 1,000's of years society has not only allowed, but 
     has tacitly encouraged the battering of women.
       D: The Old Testament.
       C: ``The Levite picks up his battered wife and cutting her 
     into 12 pieces he sends her remains throughout the land.'' 
     Judges 19:30

[[Page S6193]]

       D: 300 A.D.
       M: In Rome the Emperor has his young wife boiled to death 
     when she is no longer of any political use to him. 
     Constantine 1st Christian Emperor.
       D: 1517.
       K: ``When my wife gets saucy, she gets nothing but a box on 
     the ear.'' German reformer, Martin Luther.
       D: 1804.
       M: ``Women are like walnut trees, they should be beaten 
     daily.'' Napoleon Bonapart.
       C: Throughout history a man's right to beat his wife was 
     clearly acknowledged in the law.
       M: 1395.
       D: It is the husband's right to inflict extreme punishment 
     on his wife because it is reasonable and solely for the 
     purpose of reducing her from her errors.
       C: Supported by the Church as his spiritual duty.
       M: 1850.
       K: ``Woman was created after man, therefore she is a 
     byproduct of him. She was created in response to his needs. 
     She was the agent of his downfall and the cause of his 
     banishment from paradise. All of these things are proof of 
     her inferiority.''
       C: And implicitly condoned by society.
       M: 1791: French citizen. Lavacher batters his wife during a 
     meal with two male guests. Their response.
       D/K: It is not appropriate to ill-treat your wife in front 
     of your friends.
       K: Because society believes.
       M: It is his right.
       K: It is his duty.
       D: It is God's will.
       C: It is her fault.
       M: It is her cross.
       All: She must bear it.
       K: Perpetrators and victims also believe.
       D: 1963: the Perpetrator.
       M: ``I'm sorry I hit you, but it was your fault, you 
     provoked me. You'll just have to learn that I'm the boss.'' 
     Mickey/Michigan.
       D: 1996: The victim.
       C: ``All the time he was beating me I believed his mind 
     games and thought this is my fault maybe if I try harder to 
     be what he wants.'' Heather/Bellingham.
       M: For 100's of years wife abuse has cycled through the 
     public awareness.
       C: A focus of concern.
       K: The early 1600's.
       D: Puritan leaders take a stand against family violence 
     because they believe that it weakens the community and 
     offends God. Citizens are encouraged to watch neighbors. To 
     stop domestic violence as it occurs and report these cases to 
     the authorities.
       K: The church strongly supports this stand. Puritan 
     Preacher Cotton Mather.
       M: ``For a man to beat his wife is as bad as any sacrilege. 
     Any such rascal were better buried alive than to show his 
     face among his neighbors.
       D: This stand by community and church eventually impacts 
     the law.
       K: 1641.
       C: The Massachusetts Body of Liberties. A Civil and 
     Criminal Code, becomes the first American reform making 
     domestic violence illegal.
       M: ``Every married woman shall be free from bodily 
     correction or stripes by her husband.''
       C: Over time this defense of women becomes clouded in a 
     confusion of perspective.
       K: From the late 1600's to the mid 1800's
       D: A time of silence.
       C: ``What goes on behind closed doors should stay behind 
     closed doors.''
       K: This social attitude weaves a fabric of silence 
     surrounding the issue of wife abuse.
       M: I do not see it.
       D: I do not hear it.
       K: I do not know it.
       C: I do not feel it.
       All: I cannot help it.
       C/D/K: Song: ``Can You Hear the Voice of the Women Softly 
     Pleading. No More Silence in Their Shattered World.''
       M: A focus of concern.
       C: The mid-1800's to the turn of the century.
       M: Taking a stand, women begin campaigning for radical 
     social change, one of their issues.
       D: Relief for battered women.
       K: 1871: The court rules:
       M: ``The privilege, ancient though it may be, to beat her 
     with a stick, to pull out her hair, to choke her, to spit in 
     her face, to kick her about the floor, is not acknowledged by 
     law.''
       D: Suffragists realize that although this law clearly 
     forbids wife abuse, society does not consider wife abuse a 
     crime and so it goes unpunished and unabated.
       K: 1876.
       C: Lucy Stone, editor of the Women's Journal takes a stand 
     against the ineffectiveness of these laws by demanding that 
     they be backed by appropriate penalties.
       D: ``The law for the use of the whipping post should exist 
     in every State. An abusive husband will not fear a month in 
     jail nor a fine, but he will dread the pain and disgrace of a 
     whipping.''
       M: Laws specifying punishments for wife beaters are passed.
       D: But over time, public interest wanes. Although laws 
     exist to protect women, public apathy renders these mandates 
     useless and for the next 70 years a silence of indifference 
     drowns out the prayers of women.
       CDK: Song: ``Empty Eyes With No More Tears To Cry.''
       M: A time of silence.
       D: 1967. A desperate woman calls the police.
       C: ``My boyfriend is mad at me, he's going to beat me up.''
       D: The dispatcher replies:
       K: ``Call us again when he does.''
       M: The Civil Rights movement of the 1960's focuses public 
     attention on the rights of minorities including the rights of 
     women. The feminists movement of the 1970's continues this 
     struggle. One of it's issues, public and judicial support for 
     battered women.
       D: Time and time again the terror of abuse pushes women to 
     desperation. Without support from neighbors, police, or the 
     judicial system. Women are pushed into violent acts of their 
     own.
       K: A focus of concern: 1977.
       C: Francine Hughes, battered wife of 15 years takes the 
     only stand she can. She douses her husband's bed with gas 
     while he sleeps. Francine lights a match and is finally freed 
     from his abuse.
       K: Jennifer Patri. Evelyn Ware. Sharon McNearny.
       M: Patricia Ross, Marlene Roan-Eagle, Barbara Jean Gilbert.
       D: Idelia Meija, Hazel Morris, Bernestine Taylor.
       C: Elsie Monic, Shirley Martin, Martha Hutchinson.
       All: Shot and killed her husband.
       K: It is tragic that these women are left alone to take 
     such drastic measures. However the stands which they take 
     shatter the silence surrounding wife abuse and screams for 
     society's intervention.
       D: Eventually society does intervene and significant 
     changes occur.
       K: Public awareness, concern and support for battered 
     women.
       M: The issuance of ex parte protection orders.
       C: Mandatory arrest laws and criminal penalties for 
     perpetrators.
       M: Shelters and legal services for women in crisis.
       K: We are told that history repeats itself and we have seen 
     how the issue of wife abuse has cycled through the public's 
     conscience. The time to stop that cycle is now while battered 
     women are still a focus of concern.
       M: During the 10 minutes of this presentation, 66 women 
     have been beaten.
       K: Sometime during the next 3 hours one of these women will 
     die.
       D: Will we again allow the silence to fall?
       [All spots off.]
       CDK: Song: ``Crying Jesus Help Me.''
       [single spot on.]
       M: ``Today in my small natural body I sit and learn, my 
     woman's body, like yours, target on any street taken from me 
     at the age of 12. I watch a woman dare, I dare to watch a 
     woman, we dare to raise our voices.'' Victim 1975.
       C: Song: ``Can You Hear * * *''
       K: Can you hear the prayers of the women?
       D: or is the silence too loud?
       [spot off/close.]

  Mrs. MURRAY. I encourage all Members to read these young women's 
powerful work, and I encourage you all to help all our students strive 
to be the best.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN addressed the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Lieberman pertaining to the submission of Senate 
Resolution. 263 are located in today's Record under ``Submission of 
Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')
  Mr. GRASSLEY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the 
pending business so that I may speak as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________