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Brown Shares Slain Sister's Message On Domestic Violence

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Published: October 20, 2008

TAMPA - Nicole Brown Simpson came to her sister in a dream three weeks ago, urging her to continue educating people about domestic violence.

"I hadn't dreamed about her in 14 years," Denise Brown said recently from her California home.

Not since the days after the fatal stabbing of Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994. Not since the national spectacle that the double-murder trial sparked after Nicole's ex-husband, former football star O.J. Simpson, was acquitted.

"You need to do murals," Denise Brown recalls her sister saying.

The message meant a change for Brown, who oversees the Nicole Brown Foundation and travels nationwide - this week she's in Tampa - speaking about domestic violence. Now, she'll incorporate artwork to help get the word out: There is no excuse for abuse.

Brown is the keynote speaker Thursday at the annual Mabel H. Bexley Gift Of Peace Breakfast, a fundraiser for The Spring of Tampa Bay, the largest domestic violence shelter in Florida.

Statewide, the rate of domestic violence offenses per 100,000 people has dropped during the past decade by more than 30 percent, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In 2007, the most recent data available, Hillsborough County reported 8,841 domestic violence crimes ranging from assault to murder, a 10 percent drop from 2006.

Brown says everyone can make a difference.

"If you know about something, you can do something to change it," Brown said. "We can stop the cycle of violence."

That cycle takes a toll, Brown said, especially on children. Those who grow up in violent homes often become victims or, eventually, abusers.

Brown thinks about the pain felt by her sister's children. Sydney and Justin were 8 and 5 years old when their mother was killed. Their father later was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman in a civil lawsuit.

Today, Sydney is 22 and preparing to graduate from Boston University. Her brother, who is 20, attends Florida State University, Brown said.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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