Whereas: The nation is now realizing how extensive the Boys-Will-Be Boys ethos compromised the New York City police department's response on June 11 to the 47 complaints by women that they were being mauled, stripped and robbed by gangs of thuggish young men;
Whereas, reporter Mark Fazlollah has documented for Women's Enews on June 15 that police departments in Philadelphia and most likely such other cities as New York, Houston and Milwaukee, and perhaps others, often ignore women's rape complaints;
Whereas, the U.S. Senate as part of its campaign to encourage women to marry and live with the fathers of their children, all the while claiming they are concerned about families living in poverty and violent young men, passed a resolution designating June 18 as “Responsible Father's Day,” calling upon fathers around the country to use the day to reconnect and rededicate themselves to their children's lives;
Whereas, good fathers don't need Congressional resolutions;
Whereas, it is extremely unlikely that such a resolution has any noticeable affect on estranged fathers, especially those behind on their child support payments;
Whereas, family violence leaves some children better off disconnected from their fathers;
Whereas, members of Congress who care about the relations between women and men, could have better spent their time pushing for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act;
Whereas, these same members who care about women and children living in poverty could busy themselves rewriting the welfare reform law that thrust thousands of families into poverty and left single mothers more vulnerable to family violence;
We call upon Congress to stop the pro-father rhetoric and actually do something that will send a strong message to young men in this country that for boys to become men, they must disavow violence and to rewrite the welfare laws committing the nation's resources to caring for its impoverished children, again sending a strong message to young men about the nature of responsibility.
