Survivors,
victims give a voice
Jeff
Overley/On-line Forty-Niner
Psychology
major Fernando Ocana views an exhibit by
"The Clothesline Project," a movement
intended to highlight the problem of violence
against women. Survivors or their loved
ones designed the shirts, with each color
representing certain types of violence.
By
Richard Ables
On-line Forty-Niner
Students
and volunteers unveiled T-shirts and held
a candlelight march across campus to speak
out against domestic violence and sexual
assault during the annual "Take Back
the Night and Day" and "Clothesline
Project" Wednesday.
The
event, which was organized by psychology
students and members of Long Beach's Sexual
Assault and Crisis Agency, was designed
to let survivors and loved ones of victims
speak out about their painful experiences.
From
8 a.m. to 5 p.m., T-shirts of assorted colors
representing the different types of abuse
experienced were displayed outside the Cal
State Long Beach Bookstore and surrounding
areas. Each shirt displayed the messages
of victims wanting to be heard.
The
rally and march began at 6 p.m. and lasted
until 8 p.m. After gathering and lighting
candles together, activists circled the
campus for nearly an hour holding posters
with anti-violence slogans and shouting
out against abuse.
An
estimated 1,400 women die each year in the
United States, according to the National
Organization for Women. That is about four
everyday.
Since
their beginnings, Take Back the Night and
the Clothesline Project have broadened their
reach from representing only women, to letting
anyone who has experienced violence speak
out.
"Many
of the people speaking at the event have
spoken before, but there are always new
speakers who have never felt comfortable
enough to tell their story until now,"
said Courtney Ahrens, psychology of women
professor who helped coordinate the event.
"It's also a great way for students
to become politically active."
Take
Back the Night, which began in San Francisco
in 1978, is modeled after the original movement
of the same name that started in England
in the 1890s by women who were tired of
walking the streets at night in fear.
The
idea for the Clothesline Project was inspired
by the AIDS quilt started in Cape Cod, Massachusetts
in 1990 by a small group of women who were
appalled by the staggering statistics being
released on violence against women. The
concept of a clothesline seemed ideal since
laundry has been primarily viewed as women's
work in the past, making the metaphor of
"airing dirty laundry" appropriate.
By hanging T-shirts on a line, survivors
can literally turn their back on the pain
in their pasts and walk away from it.
This
year's T-shirts have Spanish translation
cards attached to them so that more people
can understand the survivors' messages.
"SACA's
services are available in both English and
Spanish and having the translation on the
shirts lets people know that," said
Brenda Quintero, a volunteer for the organization.
The
sexual assault agency offers a variety of
free services to survivors of sexual assault
and their loved ones including a 24-hour
counseling hotline, group counseling, support
throughout the legal process, self-defense
classes and the Sexual Assault Response
Team that helps survivors of rape through
the medical exam process. The agency has
offices in both Long Beach and Redondo Beach
and can be reached at (562) 597-2002, or
(800) 597-5121.
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