“Standing here in the center of power in our nation, I can only think of all those who were made to feel powerless by their abusers, by a system that failed to protect them.” That’s how it started Angelina Jolie his speech this Wednesday at the United States Capitol, where he urged renew the Law on Violence against Women (Violence Against Women Act, VAWA).
During her heartbreaking intervention, in which she demanded greater protection for victims, the actress pointed out that “the reason why many people find it difficult to leave an abusive situation is that they have been made to feel worthless“When there is silence from a Congress too busy to renew VAWA for a decade, it reinforces that sense of worthlessness,” he said.
Jolie warned senators that their vote to pass the new law is one of the most important they will face this year. “The harsh reality is that domestic violence is normalized in our country“, declared the actress, who recalled throughout her speech the women and children who are victims of abuse and those who have been murdered.
“Victims of abuse in this country deserve as much consideration, respect and attention from Congress, if not more, than any other crisis we face,” Jolia told the chamber, praising victims of abuse who, despite having been denied justice, they have worked for years to secure basic protections for victims.
The actress, with a broken voice, he was moved when remembering “the children who are terrified and suffering in this moment and the many people for whom this legislation comes too late“. Jolie ended her speech on the verge of tears, remembering “the women who have suffered through this system with little or no support who still carry the pain and trauma”, to “the young adults who have survived the abuse and emerged stronger, not thanks to the child protection system, but in spite of it” and “the women and children who have died and could have been saved“.
Renew VAWA
The law Jolie was referring to first went into effect in 1994, and from time to time, the US Congress reapproved funds to keep it alive and include protections for certain groups, such as same-sex couples. But nevertheless, under the government of Donald Trump, the rule ceased to be in force because the Republicans refused to include protections for trans people.
This Wednesday, Democratic and Republican senators announced that they had reached a agreement for a revamped version of VAWA to come into effect. With her presence, Jolie supported that proposal and urged Congress to move it forward as soon as possible.
The actress has been involved for months in the negotiationss for VAWA to come back into force and has succeeded in including provisions to tailor court procedures to child victims of violence, as well as adding a clause to fund technology to recognize bruises on different types of skin, crucial for African American, Hispanic, and Native American women.
The final text, however, does not include a provision that was key to the Democrats and is known as the “boyfriend loophole”: Federal law currently prohibits those convicted of domestic violence from having firearms in the home, but it only applies to people who are married to or have a child with the victim, so Democrats wanted to expand it to those who are not part of a marriage. However, the powerful lobby of the National Rifle Association (NRA) campaigned against this idea and managed to drag a large part of the Republicans in the Senate.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
