Black Women Bear Brunt of Domestic Violence

By: Nia Ngina Meeks

LeAnna M. Washington is busy at work these days like many of her colleagues in the state senate, looking to push through Pennsylvania’s budget, finally freeing needed dollars to strapped social service agencies that aid the most vulnerable. 

Washington once was among them.



Well before she was called “senator,” looking to right wrongs, she was called “Cookie,” looking for love. When she was 18, she figured she found it.She became a married woman, with a black eye as a honeymoon present from her new groom – the first of many.



“It was the big secret,” Washington told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “But women being beaten was not unfamiliar to me. And I got used to being beaten.”



As have many black women across the country.

Black Women Bear Brunt of Domestic Violence....