CBS Covers Campaign Against DART's Anti-Father Domestic Violence Ads (Video)
October 29th, 2008 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
"In 2008 in Dallas, Texas, we're running ads on our buses saying that a black man is going to kill his wife...what does this say to young black men? I'm shocked."--David Russell, on CBS
CBS in Dallas did a TV report on our protest campaign against Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Anti-Father Domestic Violence Ads. Several protesters attended a public meeting of the DART Board yesterday evening.
According to the report:
1) The DART Board distanced themselves from the ad, saying that it was DART's staff, not the Board, who decided to place the ads.
2) CBS' Stephanie Lucero said that The Family Place, the domestic violence agency which placed the ads, "is not backing down." That's irrelevant, of course--our campaign does not seek to change the minds of misguided radicals such as Paige Flink (Family Place Executive Director), but instead to show DART that the ads are offensive and inappropriate.
3) Protester Dave Piering said, "I hate to see that many children might fear their fathers simply because they read these types of ads."
4) Protester David Russell said, "In 2008 in Dallas, Texas, we're running ads on our buses saying that a black man is going to kill his wife...what does this say to young black men? I'm shocked."
The video can be seen here.
Flink, apparently worried over the strength of the protests, hustled to the DART meeting to defend her bigoted ads. After the meeting, Russell told me:
Flink spoke in support of her own ads along with two men who she brought with her. However, they avoided answering the challenge that the ads might depict males negatively or confuse children who see them but lack the maturity to understand the underlying messages.
We've made progress but more pressure is needed. Send your letter (even if you've already done it) by clicking here. More importantly, call DART's executives by clicking here.
DART is often criticized in Dallas (one local resident told me "they're everyone's favorite punching bag"), so it will take more pressure to get them to properly address this issue.
We've now received over 50 endorsements of our campaign from Domestic Violence Authorities, Educators, and Mental Health, Medical, & Family Law Professionals--to view the list of endorsers, click here.
The text version of the TV report can be seen here.
Thanks to the Dallas activists who responded to our last-minute request to attend the meeting.
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October 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
"The DART Board distanced themselves from the ad, saying that it was DART's staff, not the Board, who decided to place the ads."
That's classic. Captain of the ship and all. There were two honorable courses of action for the board: either back their staff's decision, or order the ads removed. The board, of course, did neither. Such a wonderful example of leadership.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Looks like we really need to keep up the pressure.
Given the international scope of this site's readership I think it would really help to focus minds if more people called from abroad. I doubt they get too much criticism from outside Dallas itself.
Also would be good to emphasis the recent victory over DV in California and thus the potential legal consequences of such a discriminatory campaign.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Just watched that news clip. You can almost tell from Flinks body langauage that she is essentially saying "Oh well..I dont care if you dont like it".
The arrogance of that women is amazing.
TOMD
October 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Earl Weaver, the long-time manager of the Baltimore Orioles, was notorious for being a genius and for arguing with umpires in a spirited, often explosive manner. Even though arguing with an umpire never causes them to change their minds on the play being argued, I once heard an umpire candidly admit that umpires were subconsciously careful to try "get it right" when they were working a game Weaver was managing.
We all need to be Earl Weaver. Hopefully Glenn's efforts will cause DART to reconsider. But regardless -- DART should think twice the next time an ad like this is presented. They have alienated half their ridership.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Because "The Family Place" receives Federal and State funding, perhaps the local congressman can be notified about this effort along with a very pointed reminder that public monies are being spent. Also, any journalist covering this story should be reminded that tax dollars are being spent.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
It annoys me that they can only comment on how the black child 'will beat his wife' supposedly. Race is of no factor when you are tarnishing men.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Misanthrope though I am, I still hesitate to believe that the parents of the actual poster kids have approved this repugnant misuse of their children's images. If I had kids who wound up on posters like that, it would fill me with murderous rage.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Folks D magazine has done a story that really tells what the Family Place is all about. You all have to read this.
http://www.dmagazine.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=test&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=7155F7796F354F21B1183937D847D6DF&AudId=29CB3DCAC7E94A08B642EC371FE6E70B&tier=4&id=71321C9B4EDC4902A7A01E2F15BCE4CF
October 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am
And their financial statement from 2006 shows almost 3 Mil in govt grants
http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=grantexplorer&npoId=237424
October 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Taken as a whole it seems to me that ms Flink is doing her best to manufacure clients for her "business". The 2 links I posted really tell me from reading between the lines that this organization really over exagerates thier numbers to make sure they qualify to stay on the govt tit.
I have a much better picture of this womans motivations now
TOMD
October 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Just an idea. Since this domestic violence group receives funding and grants by the VAW, Would it be a good idea to begin pressuring them as well. I know some places who receive government money have to conform their actions within the ethics of the government agency they represent.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
The Other Mike D Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am
And their financial statement from 2006 shows almost 3 Mil in govt grants
http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=grantexplorer&npoId=237424
*************************
That is a very interesting article and everybody should read it. I just archived it in case it gets "disappeared"
I quickly read the article and what I took from it was: The Family Place is a DV industry company trying to grow. Just like every organization that becomes industrialized, the organization and growth becomes an end in itself.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Even before I read these latest articles I was thinking that perhaps DART isn't the main villain in all of this; IMO the real bad actor here is Paige Flink. Therefore, I think we should expand our efforts to include Flink. I think we should look into financial irregularities and other abuses of public resources by the Family Place and thus build a case against the organization and Flink in particular. If we can't shut down the Family Place, then sacking Flink should be the least we are willing to accept as restitution for this very serious incident.
At the very least that woman needs to loose her job over this debacle.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I brought up contacting the VAW because of viewing the local policies for approved treatment providers. Their policies state that they must do business and remain within boundaries of professional ethics while working with the court.
If these ads violate policies which the Vaw would not take part in, they could and have the authority to order their removal.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I have a grandson who lives in Dallas. Fortunately, he is only two and one half years old and can't read these ugly ads.
Also,
"The DART Board distanced themselves from the ad, saying that it was DART's staff, not the Board, who decided to place the ads."
Typical, typical, typical bureaucratic ploy. It is the first tactic all bureaucrats, large and small, learn. That is, whenever cornered point the finger in another direction.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Johnnyp Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
The Other Mike D Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am
And their financial statement from 2006 shows almost 3 Mil in govt grants
http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=grantexplorer&npoId=237424
*************************
That is a very interesting article and everybody should read it. I just archived it in case it gets "disappeared"
I quickly read the article and what I took from it was: The Family Place is a DV industry company trying to grow. Just like every organization that becomes industrialized, the organization and growth becomes an end in itself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From that link...
Through our 28 history over 14,000 women and children have been sheltered.
Not a single word about any men helped. So much for "Family"
October 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
This is the kind of thing we need to be doing more of.
Way more.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I think the Family Place is going to lose a bunch of funding. The management sounds like the old management of the cigarette companies.
Simply deplorable.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
If you read the entire “D Magazine” article about The Family Place, it sounds like a total quagmire of unethical mismanagement bordering on fraud.
Among the violations of policy and law are the following:
• distorting and misreporting statistics about the actual numbers of clients served
• low morale, extreme divineness, and a climate of coercion among staff
• mismanagement of funds – the director makes $100,000 a year and enjoys a nice well-appointed spacious office
• fudging numbers to secure federal grants, especially HUD which pays salaries
• male bias that mandates that women provided temporary housing cannot associate with men or they will be evicted
• promoting divorce as a criteria of success – 69% of women served get divorced
• more statistical fraud –claims that 50 women per year receive temporary housing, the actual number from 1994 – 1999 was 131, or 22 women per year
The Family Place’s director Paige Flink appears to be less a doctrinaire radical feminist than a meglomaniacal social climber with an obvious narcissistic personality. She has fired numerous people for disagreeing with her, including staff that she championed and promoted before they became too uppity.
The Family Place is currently defending lawsuits for racial discrimination filed by former staff. Former clients are suing for having been abused while resident at The Family Place.
All in all, this women’s shelter sounds like a very healthy environment - for sociopaths.
I hope the media will dig a little deeper than just the bus posters. They need to ask - "What kind of people thought these posters were a good idea?"
October 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I called and emailed yesterday, and I just tried to email again today and got a message that Dart is blocking all emails from this site (or something to that effect).
Think they're getting the message?
October 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
You can find the names of the members of the DART board and their contact info at the following web site:
http://www.dart.org/about/board/boardbios/boardbios.asp
October 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Feminists have so little competition for so long that they simply do not know what to do when confronted with the truth let alone anything that is organized. We should take heart of the fact that we caught their attention as well as the media's.
I think also that men have been dormant for so long that we forgot what we are capable of if we act as a group. As terrified as the press is of covering anything politically incorrect that might put them in the position of being type cast as racist or sexist there elements within it that are as disgusted as we are with the status quo. I think about how quickly the press reacted to Alec Baldwin's / Kim Basinger's PAS controversy a couple of years ago. I think that feminists were expecting Baldwin to get rolled and publicly spanked but instead they used the opportunity to shed light on PAS.
I would remind everyone that men will never have clout until we organize and begin to master the media they same way our advesaries do. When that happens there are a lot feminists that will rue the day they used such smear tactics to promote their own selfish agenda. There are many areas that feminists are extremely vulnerable and there is no reason we should not exploit that to the fullest. I have a feeling that a $25,000 add campaign on the same medium talking about female DV would generate 10X the media reaction. It would also be the cover that many in the media need to cover this without being labeled racist / sexist.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
How would the lesbian community feel if fathers orgainisations paid for a bus add that warned young girls that statistically, lesbians are the most violent relationship in America, and if you want to steer clear of violence... stay away from lesbians??/
October 29th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
"menscollegeactivist.org Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
How would the lesbian community feel if fathers orgainisations paid for a bus add that warned young girls that statistically, lesbians are the most violent relationship in America, and if you want to steer clear of violence... stay away from lesbians??/"
Simple...You would be crucified and your testicles hung up somewhere in either San Francisco or Greenwich Village as a trophy.
Thats the whole problem if any of these are changed to anything other then they are its a media feeding frenzy..as they are the perception is a bunch of whinning men who have most certainly commited DV are just upset...no big deal.
Thats what has to change.
TOMD
October 29th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
yes i would like to mirror the sentiments that it is time to take this to the local governance and state level politicians- refusal to remove these ads at this point is really a statement the men's voices do not matter- and the outpouring of objection from women and men is a testament to how offensive the ads are, but even more so, how offensive it is to refuse to do the right thing. I think we should also begin advocating and soliciting mental health professionals in Dallas to reach out to families with children and inform parents how to talk to talk to children about public displays of misandry.
I think we should also submit this to Amnesty International as a form of Human Rights Abuse which based on their agenda will be heartily dismissed, but will serve notice of their hypocrisy.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
"The Family Place’s director Paige Flink appears to be less a doctrinaire radical feminist than a meglomaniacal social climber with an obvious narcissistic personality. She has fired numerous people for disagreeing with her, including staff that she championed and promoted before they became too uppity."
Roy, I'm beginning to notice that this is a pattern. There have been a couple of stores on MND about similar happenings at other shelters.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Again, sorry, I should like to add that Dallas area schools should be alerted and prepare to reach out to parents and boys to address this public display as well. Educators should be made readily aware and called upon to reach out to the children and instruct them that dads are not to be feared, and little boys don't inherently grow into adult abusers.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
"wanderer Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Again, sorry, I should like to add that Dallas area schools should be alerted and prepare to reach out to parents and boys to address this public display as well. Educators should be made readily aware and called upon to reach out to the children and instruct them that dads are not to be feared, and little boys don't inherently grow into adult abusers."
That would be nice... but in actuality the public schools might use the ads to add to their indoctrination program that teaches women are the Universal Victim(TM) and men are villains. (sorry for letting my skepticism show)
October 29th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
roy Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Roy, I do not see Fink as evil... I just see her as an overly aggressive entrepreneur. She is ambitious and trying to grow her business. Lots of CEO types do that.
The real issue is... with commercial businesses, most people already view their advertisements with skepticism, but with non-profits doing things for the "public good", that level of skepticism does not exist.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I am sickened that their anti-male, anti-child hate speech is being subsidized by the government. They are destroying family values and we're being forced to pay for it. Shame on them, and shame on the people who are accepting their dirty money.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
To the other mike d:
You make a good point about being hung by our balls. Wo be to the first person or group that takes this on.
But this is precisely why we need to organize. Not only having a permanent institutional presence that can stay on one issue for a long period of time but a group that has enough money that it can fight back by buying it's own media and therefore pressure the main stream media.
We could not take on the whole world at once but the long term effect of sustained media campaigns would be devistating to our opponents. Remember, we are not asking that women be prosciuted for all dv claims or that men should never be accused or tried for dv. We are simply asking that due process is used for everyone and that women are held accountable at the same rate that they participate in dv. The simple fact that women would be treated with equality is what they are frightened of. This cover story about men trying to cover up their own dv is just squid ink.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
they sure seem to be blocking anything with certain key words in them.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
AKA CYA = gutless,irresponsible and ashamed
October 29th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
If in fact The Family Place is blocking e-mails, then that info needs to be sent out to the Dallas TV stations and the newspapers, because I think they will view that as "this story has got legs" and after all, they have air time and column inches to fill.
The few real journalists will want to ask "Who at The Family Place is blocking e-mails and why?"
Interesting that a social service grounded in an ideology that promotes equality and diversity would so quickly resort to Stalinist censorship...
It's worth a shot to copy your rejected e-mails and the automated reply you got from TFP to the local media and see if they want to keep the story alive.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Roy provided some good analysis of the article 1994-1999 average 22 women served.
Couple that with the $3m in federal funding number and you get a cost of over $135,000 for every woman sheltered. I doubt if most of the sheltered women were there for 365 days so the daily cost for a woman to receive shelter there is probably in the thousands.
Wow!
Flink's PONZI scheme makes Wall Street look good.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I think another entity that has profited from this ad campaign has been over-looked, the printers. I know nothing about that industry but I’d have to think that getting such ads produced isn’t cheap. Shouldn’t printing companies have some moral compass as well? Or was the job so lucrative that it couldn’t be passed up?
October 29th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I love what that one commentor said on the Canadian newspaper column:
"The Dart Board made themselves a target".
Classic! :-)
October 30th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Since Dart and the Family Place are stonewalling it seems to me that it might be a good thing to direct a flood of correspondence to CBS News to let them know that their efforts are appreciated.
It's not often that we see a piece sympathetic to MRA causes in the main stream media,
I think they should be encouraged to keep at it.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Could it be that they are resisting pressure because they're getting more support than protest? I doubt that they would just ignore massive protest. I haven't written to them yet. As I've said 1000 times, I have no problem with the ads. But I think I'll write to ask if they will at least cover the whole spectrum of DV. That being women aren't the only victims.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I contacted the city to see what their response was, and they seemed unaware of the controversy. Maybe give them a ring, and inform them of how this reflects on their city.
Just heard it on national radio in the news at the top of the hour, but of course they left out describing the ad with the girl who says her husband will kill her.
TOM LEPPERT, MAYOR 214/670-4054
1500 Marilla St., Room 5EN, 75201
DR. ELBA GARCIA, MAYOR PRO TEM -- Place 1 214/670-4052
1500 Marilla St., Room 5EN, 75201
October 31st, 2008 at 9:31 am
I read the article TOMD posted from D Mag and my first reaction was, "they make how much?!" I could not believe the income of the staff at TFP. It also seemed apparent that Dauphine's hx of being abused was used to invalidate her concerns, accusing Dauphine instead of taking things too personally. Dauphine struck me as the kind of person who long ago decided not to be a victim. Yet, she was victimized by the same institution who taught her that accountability. Dauphine obviously grew out of that "system" thinking and when she began to think for herself, and empower other women to do the same, she became a threat. Sounds all too familiar to me - this is a widespread problem among many social service agencies: Rule #1 - don't ask questions; Rule #2 - don't point out the discrepancies.