Congresswoman Debbie Dingell grew up living in terror, as too many children do.
Her father was abusive, but in those days, no one talked about it.
Let's face it. Too often, even today, we shy away from domestic violence, bleating that it's a "private family matter" when women and children are beaten bloody by the husbands and fathers who purport to love them.
Dingell recalled in a 2012 op-ed for the Washington Post one particularly horrific evening, when her father almost shot her mother, and she tried to grab the gun. But it was hardly the only time:
"I will not forget the nights of shouting. The fear. The dread that my brother, my sisters and my parents would die. I will not forget locking ourselves in closets or hiding places hoping we wouldn't be found. Calling for help, but finding no one willing to help, to acknowledge the problem, or intervene.
"We survived that occasion, physically. Emotionally, I am not so sure."
Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. She can be reached at susan@sjdemas.com. Follow her on Twitter here.