Rally against domestic violence to take place in South Dallas

DALLAS - The numbers are numbing. More than one-third of all domestic violence victims in Dallas are African American women.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a rally against intimate partner violence and sexual assault

s hopes to draw attention to the problem and make some lives whole again.

The rally against domestic violence and sexual assault happens at the Martin Luther King Center Saturday.

South Dallas and Oak Cliff have some of the highest rates of domestic violence.

"75216 is actually possibly the most dangerous zip code for women in our city," said Jan Langbein with the Genesis Women’s Shelter.

At East Oak Cliff near Lancaster and Loop 12, Genesis Women's Shelter opened an outreach center in this zip code.

"We're full all the time," Langbein said. "The phone is ringing all the time. We know that there is not enough help out there."

Genesis now has a 24-hour text line put in place after phones went down during last February’s winter storm.

"It has been such an incredible safety measure. We have had texts from women who say, ‘He's in the shower. I've only got about five minutes’ or ‘I’m in the shower. He's downstairs, but I may have to hang up right away,’ And I have to tell you, it has by passed. The number of help line calls is almost 2-1. 

"Over the last year or, so there's been a change in the makeup of the domestic violence unit," said Dallas Police Sgt. Jonathan Bruinsma. "And what that has allowed us to do is put dedicated resources into investigating these crimes."

Bridget Vinson-O'Neal teaches a state-accredited 24-week course to help offenders be different

"It’s intensive specifically geared towards changing the behavior the abusive behavior," he said. "It's the first one that I'm aware of in this area, and we want to bring awareness to the reasons why domestic violence happen."

The rally happens at the King Center starting at 11 a.m.