Former Memphis news anchor Dee Griffin was the keynote speaker at this week’s YWCA annual luncheon to benefit domestic violence victims.
She sat down with anchor Katina Rankin to share her personal experience with domestic violence.
“’What am I supposed to do, Daddy?’ And he said, ‘Use your words.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Use your words.'”
Former Memphis news anchor Dee Griffin is remembering some of the last words her father said to her before he died.
Griffin says her father’s words gave her strength to stand in front of the crowd and talk about her experience.
“I wanted to work it out with my husband because I kept thinking I didn’t want to be a single mom. My baby deserves to know its father. Maybe this is part of the first year.”
Griffin says her first year of marriage was violent. She claims it began with verbal abuse, then turned physical.
“At one point, he had me pinned up on the refrigerator, and he had me by my neck and he was squeezing really hard, and I was going up on my toes,” she recalled.
“If somebody has their hands around your neck, and they’re squeezing, that feels like death, death is coming.”
In her case, Dee says a neighbor came to the rescue.
“He punched me. I said, ‘You punched me in my stomach. Please don’t punch me in my stomach again,’” she said. “The neighbor heard me, and that’s when she called police… I bit into his shoulder and he released.”
And with that our story ends how it began, with Dee listening to her father and taking his advice.
“He said write, he said talk, he said speak, use your words. I said to help others? He said yes.”
Which is why Dee Griffin said she returned to Memphis.
The YWCA has a local domestic violence crisis hotline. It is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The number is (901) 725-4277.
