Corporations, including the Phillies, need to do more to address domestic violence | Opinion
Major employers in our region have a responsibility to rid their policies, practices, and culture of anything that normalizes or forgives abuse.
As the leader of Philadelphia’s comprehensive domestic violence service provider, I was discouraged to learn that the Phillies decided to re-sign Odúbel Herrera. Herrera was arrested in May 2019 for attacking his girlfriend in an elevator in Atlantic City. He put his hands around his partner’s neck — an act widely recognized by domestic violence advocates as a “red flag.”
As anyone in our field will tell you, strangulation indicates a higher risk of lethality for the victim or survivor in an abusive relationship. It’s one of the screening questions that our hotline counselors use when conducting a lethality assessment with callers, designed to triage the city’s 200 in-demand domestic violence shelter beds for those who need them most.
Now, I am not familiar with Herrera himself, and I am not saying that people cannot change. In fact, our friends at the treatment facility Courdea do amazing, restorative work with former perpetrators of abuse every day. But the heart of the matter is that Herrera’s re-signing exposes the still unmet need for corporations like the Phillies to live out their role in the effort to eradicate domestic violence.
Major employers in our region have a social and corporate responsibility to examine their policies, practices, and culture to rid them of anything that normalizes or forgives abuse. The failure to do so will only perpetuate this dangerous form of violence even further, and that is something we cannot allow when lives are on the line.
Philadelphia’s domestic violence homicide rate more than doubled in 2021, reaching a record-high number of people killed at the hands of a loved one. This is an issue that impacts one in four women and one in 10 men. Domestic violence is shockingly pervasive and often deadly. And it’s also preventable. But domestic violence will only end when all of us as a community — from Little League coaches to MLB players — are truly committed to stopping it. When we decide that the stakes are too high to look the other way any longer; too high to compromise.
For corporations, this may mean making decisions that aren’t best for your bottom line or team roster. It will demand more than a campaign during Domestic Violence Awareness Month or an annual staff training. It will mean an unflagging commitment to believing and supporting survivors while holding perpetrators accountable — no matter the cost.
“Major employers in our region have a social and corporate responsibility to examine their policies, practices, and culture to rid them of anything that normalizes or forgives abuse.”
Only then will we start to change our culture and create a future where victims aren’t afraid to press charges against their abuser. Survivors must feel safe enough to share their experiences and seek justice without fear of reprisal.
Those in the spotlight, like professional athletes and the corporations that employ them, have an outsized influence over our community’s culture. Their actions or failure to act sets a far-reaching tone. The Phillies’ decision to re-sign Herrera falls far short of the culture that we as Philadelphians need and deserve.
I’d like to close with a word to those reading this who are experiencing relationship abuse.
I want you to know that the abuse is not your fault and that you don’t have to go through it alone. Despite setbacks like the one I’ve just critiqued, there is a community of survivors and advocates — myself included — who are here for you. We have walked in your shoes, and we understand what it’s been like, barely surviving the layers of abuse; how it breaks you down and feels impossible to escape from. I am here to tell you that there is hope and there is freedom. You can lead a different life: a safe one.
We at Women Against Abuse are a familia, ready to walk alongside you on the journey to safety. We have confidential emergency safe havens, transitional housing, hotline counseling, and exceptional legal aid, all free of charge and accessible through the 24/7 Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-866-723-3014 or by chatting with an advocate through WomenAgainstAbuse.org.
I urge you from the bottom of my heart to reach out when you’re ready.
Joanna Otero-Cruz is the executive director and president of Women Against Abuse.