Hanging Out the Dirty Laundry
The Clothesline Project
As a reporter, I get to drive around town and cover those events that seem to pop up everywhere. This past week I stopped to watch a group from Safe Homes that were hanging up t-shirts for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I stopped to investigate and have been haunted by the shirts ever since. Sometimes the news isn't good but needs to be reported.
One in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.
The first shirt had a simple message of hope and it stated, "Make Love not War, make it sure not sore."
Another read, "He beat me then brought me flowers. He choked me then brought me flowers. He killed me and sent flowers to my funeral." She was just 22 years old and the shirt was designed by her mother who was also a victim of domestic violence. They covered the t-shirt in flowers.
I walked the "Line" and touched each shirt. Some were tougher than others and the tears spilled from my eyes when I got to the last t-shirt designed by a motherless child. There were two little handprints on the front and a child scribbled a simple message, "Where did Mommy go?"
In 1985, Mrs. Haney was killed with a baseball bat - in front of her two young children. The judge, Judge Luke Charde, let him go and Mr. Haney never served a single day in jail. The Judge has since left the court system and I wonder if he remembers the abuser that he set free.
Be the voice for those who have lost their voice from fear and intimidation. If you hear or see a woman or man being abused, call 911. Stop the violence before this cancer spreads any further.
The children raised in a domestic violent situation grow up to continue the cycle 85% of the time according to the National Domestic Violence Awareness statistics.
It has been 72 hrs since I walked the Clothesline and I can still vividly see the t-shirts, each shirt was a life that was touched, destroyed or ended at the hands of an intimate partner.
Domestic violence dates back to biblical times. In 2 Samuel 13, Amnon raped his sister Tamar.
"No, brother!" she said, "Don't hurt me! This kind of thing isn't done in Israel! Don't do this terrible thing!
He did it anyway.
Sources:
http://www.dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resources/C61/
http://www.safehomesorangecounty.org/WhatIsDV.aspx
Published by Michele Starkey
Optimist who enjoys writing, laughing and spreading good news. If I have but one life to live, I hope to make mine memorable. My epitaph will read: she lived, she loved, she left. View profile
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50 Comments
Post a Commentwell written - thank you
I always wonder how somehow domestic violence killings are treated as if they are somehow different from murder in legal terms. Murder is murder and assault is assault, no matter who does it to whom. The legal system needs to wake up and realize this. Thanks for this article, Michele. It really draws attention to a big problem that has existed for millennia and is not being handled properly.
Powerful stuff here!
So many wounded unhealed people doing so many bad things. You are right though, we cannot look the other way.
Your article brings awareness to such a tragic subject. Well done.
This is such a sad state! Thanks for reporting on this and bringing some awareness to this terrible and serious issue!
Very touching, I hate that this happens in today's world..
Thanks for such a wonderful article. People don't know what other people go through, and yet they keep smiling, while being tortured by what some call love.
Excellent reporting on something that is totally out of control worldwide. The one that really got me was, "he killed me, then sent flowers to my funeral".
By the way, the shirts are very powerful and sad.