Rego Park Homepage | History | Community Information | Contemporary Profile | A "REal GOod Place to Live" | Creative Accent | Domestic Abuse | Conclusion
Overall, the Bukharans have improved the neighborhood of Rego Park by creating businesses, and stabilizing the area. However, the Bukharans still have to deal with the huge social issue of domestic violence. It is clear from the stories in the news today that the issue is a large one and that it has serious consequences for many families, and for the community as a whole. It is crucial that the community learn how to work through these issues and the ever-growing gender division. Most Bukharan families are dealing with the issue of shifting gender roles in New York City, even if they don't engage in domestic violence. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union still continue to move into the Rego Park area, and the community must determine a way to keep these issues from developing in the first place.
The American legal system has proved not to be the most effective way in dealing with these issues, as seen with the Mozoltuv Borukhova case. Still, some people fear to bring these cases to the Rabbis, because they think the Rabbis are "old fashioned" and that they will always side with the men, like traditionally they have. It is imperative that the Rabbis instill faith in their community that they can adequately deal with these issues. It is true that the Rabbis can probably deal with these issues in a better way than the American legal system, because at least they can understand where the Bukharan men and women are coming from. The Rabbis also personally care about the couples that come to them, whereas American lawyers usually just view them as clients and a way to make money. And it is also true that the Rabbis have been very active in trying to deal with these issues, but that is not enough. They must re-instill the community with confidence in the Rabbis to deal with these issues fairly and in ways that take both the men's and women's feelings into account. The Rabbi's already have a series of classes to deal with these issues, however many of the classes are for women and for men separately. Maybe they should have a class for both men and women, so that they can all share their opinions regarding the issue together, and maybe come up with solutions for the problem, and ways in which to prevent it in the first place. Because it is also inevitable that people will sometimes have to use the American legal system to deal with these issues, I suggest that they teach their community how to best use the legal system, with as little pain and shame involved as possible.
It is also important that newspapers, reporters, and journalists not only focus on this issue of domestic abuse among the Bukharans, but that they also focus on all the great aspects of the community. Reporters tend to focus on this one issue in the community, and they usually blow it out of proportion. Although it's true that this is a big issue, it is not an issue that is found in all of the Bukharan families, like reporters sometimes make it sound to be. By focusing on this one issue, reporters bring shame to the community, who should be praised for what they have accomplished and achieved in their short time in New York, such as their high levels of educational attainment.
I hope you had as much fun learning about Rego Park as I did!!