Queens orgs highlight domestic violence resources for South Asian community

A group of service providers dedicated to survivors of domestic violence gathered at the Queens Family Justice Center for a discussion about their efforts to support the South Asian Indo-Caribbean community. Photo via nyc.gov

By Rachel Vick

Domestic and partner violence impacts two out of every five women in the South Asian Indo-Caribbean community, and Queens organizations are working to create safe spaces for their recovery.

A group of providers in Queens are working to support the third largest immigrant group in the city, and gathered at the Queens Family Justice Center on Tuesday for a discussion on what they see on the ground and how to best serve the community.

All of the panel’s participants on Tuesday agreed that the key is providing care without pressure or judgment, focusing on culturally sensitive and language appropriate responses.

“We continue to see young women losing their lives to gender-based violence and we know that in addition to providing services, you also have to do culture shift work,” said Jahajee Sisters Co-founder and Co-Director Simone Devi Jhingoor. “There's oppressive values and norms that we hold as deeply ingrained in South Asian and Indo-Caribbean culture that we must dismantle and that is the root of the work that we have to do.”

The roundtable held in partnership with the Mayor’s Office to End Gender Based violence Commissioner Cecile Noel was moderated by Jhingoor and Pooja Raj-Green, senior associate director of counseling and youth services at Sakhi for South Asian Women.

They said their work is constantly changing to meet the needs of the community, shifting during the pandemic as people were stuck in homes with their abusers.

As many as 40 percent of South Asian American women experience domestic violence and a little more than half contact the police. Safe Horizon saw a 20 percent increase in requests for shelter in 2020, and Sakhi for South Asian Women had the number of mental health referrals double .

“We're not just navigating a global trauma, but a hidden trauma within their own homes,” Raj-Green said.

Providers like the South Queens Women’s March Founder Aminta Kilawan-Narine pointed to options to subtly provide resources, connecting with providers and community partners so anyone interacting with potential survivors can appropriately respond. They emphasized the importance of never putting blame on the survivors, and trusting in their agency as a free-thinking and feeling person.

They have found ways to build community and solidarity through other events focused on healing like art programs and seminars.

“You just never know when you’re coming in contact with a survivor,” said Christine Perumal, director of the Domestic Violence Law Project at Safe Horizon. “It's just as important as advocates and any other individual who doesn't do this work on a daily basi to have the necessary tools to pass along that information.”

Richmond Hill resident Mandeep Kaur committed suicide in August after living in an abusive marriage for years. Her death rocked the community.

She left behind two daughters and a gap in the neighborhood she had been involved in, and people of all ages and genders rallied in response to bring attention to partner violence in the community.

Among them was Manavi Executive Director Navneet Bhalla, who brought her teenage daughter and 10-year-old son to a vigil to break through any stigma and so they could learn about the dangers early.

“I'm a Sikh woman, I'm from the Punjabi community [and] it created an opportunity for us to talk about it as a family but also to recognize we all know there is deep rooted patriarchy within the South Asian community,” Bhalla said.

She added that after giving a presentation on domestic violence at a Punjabi camp she had numerous people reach out to express that they hadn’t realized they were in an abusive relationship and that they needed to look into getting help.

Women for Afghan Women U.S. Director Naheed Samadi Bahram said that though some women have their abusers threaten fates similar to women who have been murdered for trying to leave, what they need to in response “is educating the community making sure they have the resources and they understand that there's safety at the end of the storm.”

Many of the providers had been working in the field for decades, but even newer organizations have noticed a shift in their ability to be direct about the issue of domestic violence instead of operating under the guise of women’s health issues.

Providing a safe space is only part of the battle, according to the providers.

Important partnerships with trusted leaders like elders and Imams — who can be the first point of contact for community members or used as mediators — have helped create a bridge to services.

“We want to be put out of business,” said Kilawan-Narine. “But the reality is we're going to be around for a long time and need to figure out the resources and lean on each other in that way.”

Each emphasized that partnership is a crucial element to addressing domestic violence and supporting survivors, and have the support of local lawmakers.

“There's chronic underreporting of domestic violence and the term domestic violence is not even in the vocabulary of many South Asians and… until women are free from gender-based violence, our world simply cannot realize its full potential,” said Assemblymember Jennifer Rajkumar. “Today, we gather together to end isolation of every domestic violence survivor in Richmond Hill, and in our world, we aim to remove the barriers to them seeking help.”