Thank you.
This road has been fraught with challenges, and we’re kind of just holding hands and feeling out the path in the dark here, to be honest.
We’re not an organization. We’re not hired. We’re not continuing to post and update for any other reason than we’re just really tired of seeing the wrong thing happen. And honestly we don’t know what to say to make this issue important to people who don’t already see it that way, but to us it is a lot more than one person one time that we’re standing up for. We’re standing up against the systemic exploitation of victims for the benefit of assailants.
We’re standing up for our daughters. Our sisters. Our friends, our family, our communities - our selves. We’re standing up for the stories we’ve heard, but also for the stories that have not yet been told. The stories that will never be told.
Recognized nationally in the United States in some fashion for the past 42 years, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. While “domestic violence” is defined as a pattern of abuse in a relationship by one party to maintain power and control over a partner whereas sexual assault does not always mean there is a relationship, these abuses are related and often inextricable linked.
And fighting against individuals who seek to control and abuse power is a huge problem in and of itself. But when it’s the courts and the judges who abuse their power to control a situation with their own idea of what justice should be, that becomes a much bigger problem. That’s sending the message that our legal system is comfortable knowingly abusing victims.
This needs to be taken seriously.
Because it is.
Thank you again.
Thank you forever.
Thank you for not giving up.
Thank you for using your voices.
Thank you for checking on your friends and family.
Thank you for speaking up for what’s right even when it’s hard.
Thank you for using your words and actions to protect those who have been hurt.
Thank you again, and again, and again, forever.
Please keep caring. It does make a difference.