Yep....It's Sweeps
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Sweeps is that time of year when Anchors talk about their battle with the bottle, or cancer, or sexual assault, or anything else that they think will goose the ratings.
These stories and admissions only come 3 times a year in the major ratings period.
So, let's take a look at one of those stories for sweeps.
KWKT (Waco) Anchor Leslie Rangel and her mother, Alejandra Rios, have chosen to share their story of survival.
According to Rangel, 50 percent of Latina women will not report abuse for misunderstandings of their rights when it comes to deportation and legal child custody.
Rangel says that her father was abusive and that she and her mother needed to escape.
"I was eight years old. And even now I sit and wonder, how could an eight-year-old possibly know that this situation wasn't right?," Rangel says.
"I was always scared because you don't know what's going to happen next, if you're going to do something to upset the person," Rios says.
"We were going to school that morning, and there was some sort of argument between my mom and my real dad. It involved taking my youngest sister to school or to daycare," Rangel describes. "I remember seeing my mom and her saying 'Give me back my baby.' As a child, I'm just like, 'What do I do?' I don't remember if I began helping my mom fight my real dad, that might've happened, I don't know. [I know that] at one point he threw her on the bed and he shook her. Seeing the look in my mom's eyes, is something that just breaks my heart. As a child [who] had to see it. But it's a look I don't think any child should ever see in their parents' eyes."
It was thanks to that fear she witnessed in her mother's eyes that prompted eight-year-old Leslie to call the police.
"My girls, they gave me the strength. Especially Leslie. She was so little and I didn't speak English, and the police wanted to know what happened," Rios says.
The officers quickly showed up.
"I just remembered being super scared, but then Leslie says, 'Mommy, [the officer is] asking if he hit you.' And then I said, 'No, I fell," Rios remembers. "She said 'Mommy, he's asking if [dad] hit you' and I said, 'No, I fell.' [So I knew the police would do nothing unless I reported the abuse] and I just kept saying no. [Their father] always controlled me with his eyes. He was looking at me like saying, 'You'd better not say anything because you know what's going to happen.' I saw my daughter's eyes, and she was like 'Mommy, the officer is asking! Tell him! Tell him!'"
In domestic violence situations, many victims keep quiet about injuries, thinking their abuser could get more violent.
The National Latina Network says the biggest reasons Latinas don’t report intimate partner violence are fear and lack of confidence in the police. They also feel shame, guilt, loyalty and/or fear of partners. They fear deportation. And in many cases, like Rios's, there is previous experience with childhood victimization.
This mother had much to be afraid of, but says her eight-year-old Leslie gave her strength.
"When she told me, 'Tell him, mommy. It's okay. Tell [the officer]. Tell him what he did to you.' Then the police [officer] says, 'Did he hit you?' [I finally] said 'Yes.' And then the police said, 'It's all what I needed to know.' [I remember] he kind of wrote stuff [on a notepad] and he says, 'Grab your stuff. Whatever you need now. We're going to take you away from here,'" Rios says.
Rios and her three daughters were taken to a women's domestic violence shelter - emergency housing to help get away. They describe it as a place of hope.
"That minute I felt like I was born again. Like, 'Okay, I can breathe,'" Rios describes that moment 20 years ago. "We left and went to a shelter, and our life started right there. If it wouldn't be for a shelter, I don't know where we could end up."
"You are worth more. You are enough," Rangel says to women out there in similar situations. "Anybody that is willing to put your face at the end of their fist is not worth your life."
H/T KWKT
