BEVERLY EAVES PERDUE
GOVERNOR
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH and DAY OF UNITY
2010
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, domestic violence is a pattern of control in an intimate relationship where one person uses coercion and
violence to gain power and control over his or her partner; and
WHEREAS, domestic violence includes not only physical abuse, but also mental abuse, emotional abuse, financial
abuse, isolation, and sexual violence; and
WHEREAS, women of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to violence by an intimate
partner; and
WHEREAS, approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner
annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice; and
WHEREAS, local domestic violence programs in North Carolina responded to 126,016 crisis line calls and served
51,873 victims in FY 2009, according to the Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission; and
WHEREAS, 100 women, men, and children were murdered in 2009 in domestic violence-related homicides,
according to the North Carolina Department of Justice; and
WHEREAS, North Carolina ranked ll'1' in the nation for the number of per capita homicides committed by men
against women in 2007, according to the Violence Policy Center; and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that anywhere between 3.3 million and 10 million children witness domestic violence
annually; and
WHEREAS, approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused
by a dating partner; and
WHEREAS, physical abuse during childhood increases the risk more than two-fold of future victimization among
women and the risk of future perpetration of abuse by men; and
WHEREAS, 40 percent of girls ages 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a
boyfriend; and
WHEREAS, by working together we can break the cycle of violence and build communities that are safe for
everyone; and
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BEVERLY EAVES PERDUE, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim
October 2010, as “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH" and October 1, 2010, as “DAY OF UNITY” in
North Carolina. I further urge our citizens to increase their awareness and education of this destructive force which deeply
affects a large number of facgilieskn^ur State each year and to become part of the efforts to stop violence in families.
IN
the Capitol in
Independence
of the
set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at
of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, and of the
the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BEVERLY EAVES PERDUE
