ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\nA few changes were announced in the meeting, including a brand new domestic and homicide unit through the state’s attorney’s office to hyper focus on the cases, and a partnership with Uber to help get survivors to court.<\/p>\n
“I am a victim of domestic violence and I am surviving, ” Cassandra Taylor Bridges said.<\/p>\n
Taylor Bridges says she is still fighting for the rights of survivors.<\/p>\n
“A child witnessing a mother being physically beaten and bitten like a dog,” Taylor Bridges.<\/p>\n
She says, like many survivors of domestic violence, the court system did not to protect or her family. It’s why she came to the first Chicago, Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force meeting to advocate for change.<\/p>\n
“I was called the angry Black woman,” Taylor Bridges said. “They were also convinced that I made things up.”<\/p>\n
According to data presented by Chicago 77, in the city of Chicago, while fatal shootings decreased last year, domestic fatal shootings increased 50%, and 71% of homicide victims in domestic cases were Black.<\/p>\n
“The disproportionate numbers are telling a story, and it’s and it’s, we only have the city of Chicago data, but I guarantee if we’re looking at the county data, will be really similar,” Chicago 77 executive director Katie Dunne said.<\/p>\n
Changing the numbers is the mission of Andres Roque, whose twin sister Maria was shot killed by her abuser in 2023.<\/p>\n
“I wish she was still here and she could speak her own story, not me at all,” Roque said.<\/p>\n
He’s say there needs to be more safe zone for survivors. The task force announced Chicago’s first family justice center, a one-stop shop where survivors can find the resources they deserve. It comes as Roque tries to now care for his sister’s children.<\/p>\n
“For them, to see that they’re not alone. And there’s other survivors, they are getting the same help,” Roque said.<\/p>\n
Data from Chicago 77 also shows that in the state of Illinois, per capita death by a spouse or an intimate partner exceeds the combined rates of the state of New York and California.<\/p>\n
You can contact the Illinois domestic violence hotline at 1-877-863-6338 click here<\/a> for more information.
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