Women In Black Speak for the Voiceless November 25
Silent Vigil to Highlight Local Victims of World’s Violence Against Women
Boone’s Women In Black’s silent vigil last year outside the Jones House to highlight the pandemic of violence against women. Organizer Marg McKinney and OASIS associate director, Rebecca Gummere who stood vigil despite 2008’s bitter cold, encourage local men and women to take part in this year’s vigil on Wednesday, November 25, at 1:00 p.m. during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. When Marg McKinney and Rebecca Gummere dress in black to stand outside the Jones House at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, they’ll be joining events worldwide to highlight the pandemic of violence against women.
But while raising awareness about the violence against women in wars abroad will be in their minds, their focus that day will be Watauga County, and they hope that more locals—both men and women—will join them.
“You don’t have to look across the ocean to see violence against women,” said Gummere, associate director of OASIS, the Watauga County organization that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In the past year, OASIS has helped 232 domestic violence victims and 26 sexual assault victims, only two of whom were male.
She called on local men to join women that day. She said there are many good men in the community who don’t want statistics such as these associated with them, and added, “Men have women in their life they want to care for, and there are men who have women [in their life] who have [previously] been hurt.”
The participation of both men and women in raising awareness about violence against women can help “to make the community healthier and safer,” she said.
Women In Black has been holding silent vigil every Friday at the Jones House ever since the first day Baghdad was bombed, drawing attention to the problem of violence against women. On November 25 the vigil takes place two days early to coincide with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
“It will be the usual silent vigil, with people from OASIS,” said McKinney, a long-standing participant of Women In Black, a loose organization of about 15 locals. McKinney also said she hopes “other folks from the community will join.”
The group is sending out information to churches and various community organizations to alert them about the event.
Violence against women “is still under the carpet locally,” said McKinney. “One of the important things we have tried to emphasize…is that violence is right here and this is not just about some issue that doesn’t directly involve us.”
Participation in Silent Vigil “Powerful”
Last year it was a bitterly cold, snowy day when Gummere, associate director of OASIS, stood among signs of statistics about violence against women on the steps of the Jones House. It was her first silent vigil with Women In Black. She found it so powerful that this year she invited her staff to join.
“It’s a way to make a statement about something that is really important,” she said. “Just to stand there on the steps and be silent witnesses [evokes] different reactions. People shake their heads, they look sad or alarmed. Some stand and stare. It was powerful as a participant to be silent, to be aware of the violence against women around the world and locally.”
Gummere said that 86 percent of sexual assaults go unreported, while 75 to 80 percent of sexual assault victims know their assailant, so it is harder to get their story believed.
“We know there are people suffering abuse…who are afraid to report [it] or get help, or who feel the abuse or assault is somehow their fault. Our culture continues to hold victim-blaming attitudes when it comes to gender-based violence.”
She encourages as many residents as possible to turn up outside the Jones House at 1:00 p.m. on November 25 and “stand there and speak for people who don’t have voices.”
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